Re: Advice on shredders
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Advice on shredders
- From: D* W*
- Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 17:10:11 -0700
I bought a secondhand shredder and used it for about two years. It
required heavy gloves, goggles, ear protectors. It worked well and turned
mountains of fruit tree, grape vine and blackberry prunings in to a modest
pile of mulch. Then last year it wouldn't work and refused to allow itself
to be repaired. After many hours of skilled mechanical work which I
fortunately didn't have to pay for (how could I survive without certain
family members?), I gave up and all fall until Christmas I made daily trips
to the municipal composting facility with the back of my pickup filled
roof-high with jumped-on branches, securely tied. (I learned fast how to
do a proper job after my first load ended up strewn along the highway, with
the cars behind me dodging the flying debris). What I use for mulching now
are leaves which the municipality vacuums from the curbs where homeowners
pile them. Last year I had two vacuum truckloads dumped on my boulevard.
I had to get them moved fast as they were partly on the road, but moving
them in a wheelbarrow was pleasant, quiet work - much preferred to that
noisy shredder.
Diane Whitehead, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
