A bale of pine straw takes about 10 minutes to make, five if you’re paid by the unit and have mouths to feed. But even speedy baling doesn’t guarantee a livable paycheck.

The bales I make in this baler consistently weigh 15 pounds. When I have an excess, I put them up for sale on Craigslist and mention that they weigh 15 pounds compared with the 40-pound bales we ...