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It’s been a good day, mostly because I used power tools, got dirty, and smell like trees right now.

First, we had some neighbours with heavy machinery come help us get our brush pile under control. The wind tends to take a lot of branches off our mature trees over the course of the year, and the pile has built up.

They hauled off the really big stuff for firewood, leaving all the smaller, brushy pieces because a friend of ours insisted we borrow his garden shredder. I didn’t have great expectations for it, as its just a little Yardworks (Canadian Tire) electric model that only takes branches up to one inch, but I thought I’d try it out at least, and it turned out to be pretty slick. Hence, that brush pile started looking like a gold mine of mulch.

I’ve been chipping away like nobody’s business (and pushing the one inch limit a little with no complaints from the equipment) and have a very respectable pile of chips to show for it. Combined with all the lovely decayed leaves at the bottom of the pile, my flower beds are going to be so happy! (I recently learned that wood chips are not a great choice for mulching veggie beds though–they tie up too much nitrogen.)

A garden shredder has been something I had seen as an extra, but it’s now on my wish list. Between the hauling of fallen trees, the vibration of a chainsaw, and the alchemy of turning garbage into mulch, I’m feeling pretty powerful today. I know, I know, my little set up has nothing on the professional gear my arborist sister uses, but I’ve got sawdust in my nose, and I’m proud of it.