A 15-second video of a Westlock man’s invention to “cut corners,” or rather cut hedges, has exploded over the Internet.
Glen Onyschuk was tired of spending at least half a day trimming the top of his 150-foot long and three-feet deep hedge on his property two kilometres west of town.
“The tops were so thick and high, so I said (to daughter Britiney), ‘You do the sides and I’ll do the tops,’ — this was last year — with the gas mower and it was still taking a long time,’” Glen said. “I just figured there had to be a better way and there was an old lawn mower sitting around so I thought I’d try it.”
Within 15 minutes, Glen grabbed his lawn mower and tied it to the bucket of his compact utility tractor et voilŕ, he could trim at least a foot off the top of the hedge in mere seconds, cutting down the total trimming time to less than an hour.
“It’s quick and easy. I just ratchet strapped it and it worked,” he said.
This year Britiney decided to show her family and friends what her “redneck genius” dad had come up with.
“We made fun of him because we didn’t think it would work because it never works,” she said. “But it worked so I thought I better take a video of it. Thought it was pretty ingenious afterwards. I knew it would be popular with our friends and family; I didn’t think it would go off like it did.”
Britiney posted the video clip on Facebook July 16 and within a week it saw 30 million views and has been shared over 100,000 times.
The video has since been covered by CBS News and Gulf Coast Today, a news broadcast based along the Gulf Coast of the United States, who asked to share the video on their show, which has since garnered another 17,000 views.
“After I posted it, it took me a while because I had to change it to public because our friends wanted to share it,” she said. “So when I figured that it out it started going pretty quick. I think it had 5,000 views by the end of the day and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a lot,’ and then by the next day that was when it really started to go and get millions.”
She’s also received more than 2,000 friend requests from strangers and the video’s popularity has people friend requesting Glen and Britiney’s sister.
“Friends of mine that I work with are getting friend requests just because they’ve commented on it,” she said.
Glen’s wife Connie joked that he couldn’t get through the door because his head was so blown up.
“Light on the red neck, heavy on the genius — that’s his slogan,” she said.
The Onyschuks have been fielding requests from websites and Facebook pages all over the world. Glen had a man from the U.K. ask for an interview and a few websites have also asked to run the video but Britiney said she’s only doled out permission to a few.
The video has also attracted a few like-minded people.
“This guy on Facebook he sent me a picture of this bicycle and it’s a lawn mower mounted onto the front of this bicycle,” Glen said. “He thought I would be interested.”
Whether those millions of views will turn into a $1-million moneymaking idea, Glen isn’t so sure, but he is considering making an appearance at the ag fair parade next month.
“Being that it’s already out there, it would be pretty tough to sell,” he said. “It makes my trimming easier, that’s all.”
“We need Ellen,” Britiney added.
If Ellen DeGeneres is paying attention, the Onyschuks are around.
