Farm Diva’s Best Friend

Have you ever seen the Red Green show?  If not, you ought to make a point to find it somewhere and sit down for an episode.  Or two or three.  A regular segment of the show is The Handyman’s Corner, during which Red will impart bits of wisdom to his male viewing audience.  “If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy”, is Red’s motto.  And handy he appears to be, using the handyman’s secret weapon, duct tape.

Yes, duct tape is a wonderful tool, to say the least.  Red has constructed the most amazing things out of duct tape.  He’s converted a hot water heater into a submarine and created a car wash out of an old clothes line and his father’s day ties (I’ll be there are a few dad’s out there who’d like to know how to do that!)

But as handy as Red and his duct tape are, I wouldn’t trade it for the Farm Diva’s best friend, baling twine.

Baling Twine, a Farm Diva’s best friend! 

I realized the importance of baling twine as a young teen.  There was snow on the ground and I felt I should have a sleigh in which to go over the river and through the woods with.  Except not over the river.  I had a horse and sled, but no harness.  I looked around the barn for what might double as a harness and spotted the baling twine. Bingo! I grabbed a handful and kept myself busy for half the day, braiding it into a thick strand and creating a crude collar for my horse.  The collar had two long lines of a smaller braid that stretched along my horse’s sides and down to my little red, plastic sled.  The reins that stretched from the bridle to my hands were also made of twine.  Cool Beans!  I was ready to go.  Never mind that the snow had melted by this time and there was only a dusting of it left; my horse and I plowed our way over the rocks and through the trees that afternoon, thanks to baling twine. It certainly wasn’t the scene I’d originally pictured in my mind, but I was happy…until the horse’s back feet began filling with snow balls and throwing them in my direction.

 Sleighing aside, there are many other uses for baling twine.  You can make a clothes line out of twine.  You can tie corral panels together and make dividers in your horse’s paddock.  You can have peas growing up a twine trellis.  You can even make a makeshift halter for your sheep out of baling twine.  While visiting your grandfather’s farm, you can make a lasso out of baling twine and rope his calves while he’s not looking.  Try doing that with duct tape; it get’s stuck in the calf’s hair.

Battle of the riding mowers 

City Boy hates my obsession with baling twine.  It never fails that a piece of it will find it’s way to into the blades of his riding mower.  I try to explain that if his riding mower looked more like my riding mower, he wouldn’t have these problems.  For some reason, I only get a dirty look as a response as he’s pulling bits and pieces of my beloved string from the blades.  He just doesn’t understand, which is okay, because even if he doesn’t find me handy, at least he finds me amusing…