"Tying Up"

On a painting trip to Amish country with "The Contre-jour Artists"—my painting buddy, Mark Gingerich, and two other fellow artists—we employed our typical modus operandus.  We wandered county and township roads looking for something that strikes our fancy.  Seeing a field of corn shocks, we pulled down a convenient lane.  As we set up and started painting, the landowner walked up to the fence with his two young daughters.  We talked for a while, getting his permission to paint his farm.  He ambled off with work to do, tying up the old shocks with heavy twine with the able (?) assistance of one of his girls.  (Oh, BTW, "contre-jour" is French for "against, or into, the light," my personal favorite lighting conditions for a painting.)