Piles of fallen pine needles carpet the ground by many homes in Southwest Florida. They can be raked up, used as mulch, as an aid in composting or just left to slowly disintegrate. But Bonita Springs resident, Tom Firth, has another use for these needles that fall from the tall pine trees. He turns them into baskets. It is an art he has been perfecting since 2018 when he made his first basket and became hooked on the hobby.
“It is fun, and it is creative,” Firth began. “I think of all these designs myself. I lay in bed at night and think ‘I have this color needles and this color thread what should I make’. Half the fun is thinking about it and coming up with a plan. Sometimes it does not come out like I planned, but there is no wrong. It is my own creation.”
It all began when the local hair stylist was cutting a customer’s hair, and she suggested he join a pine needle basket weaving group.
“I started by watching this friend of mine and I was just taking to it and liking it,” he described…