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.

When you build your own wooden hay baler, you can hand bale hay without the need for equipment, so you can shape and put away hay. I have a 10-acre farm east of Noblesville, Indiana.

A. Does pine straw make a good mulch to use with tomato plants in a raised bed? — R. Jeffers, Virginia Beach Q. Like any mulch, pine straw has pros and cons. Among the pros: It’s lightw… ...