A Handy Broom
Brooms can be made from a variety of materials, such as broomcorn sorghum, straw, and plastic. A full-sized broom can help keep a home clean and tidy, but what about the often overlooked hand broom? These miniature brooms can clean small messes, such as ash around a fireplace or sawdust in a workshop. Dual-purpose hand brooms can be made easily from collected pine needles, and they’re not only functional, but decorative as well!
Only three things are needed to make these hand brooms: pine needles, scissors, and twine. Alternating the color of your twine to your liking for a personal touch is a great idea, but for this example, I’ve used a basic tan jute twine made from natural fibers.
Pine tree species vary across the world, but my area commonly hosts the loblolly and longleaf pines. You’ll need to collect needle clusters at least 8 inches long for this project. (The Virginia pine has a short needle length of 1 to 3 inches, which would be unsuitable.) Dried needles are easy to collect with a rake from the area surrounding your trees, especially during fall. For green needles, if you know someone who’s harvesting pines for lumber, you may be able to collect them then. The responsible method is to simply check under the trees after a good wind. Clusters of green needles
