Those string shredders are absolute garbage, so don't bother. They are made for dry leaves, and even then, the smallest little twig will jam it up or wreck the string. I've given up completely on shredders, because even big ole gas powered ones don't do well with wet vegetation. I borrowed one from a friend to try out, and when I started feeding some cucumber vines in, which were still green & wet, it plugged it all up. So, there are 2 methods that I find efficient; the first is to make a pile with whatever you wish to reduce in size, and just have at it with a flat edged transfer shovel. It actually chops up pretty nice. The second, even more stress relieving way is to get a machete, and tear some stuff up. I'll either just pile stuff up and hack away, or use an old table, slide stuff off the edge a bit, and slice it off. Just keep feeding the stuff off the table edge, and keep slicing it off. You don't need to have stuff SUPER tiny, so don't get carried away. And yes, as gardengyrl said, BE CAREFUL if you use a machete! Fingers don't make good compost. Joe

"There is a plant hormone called auxin (plant types here know it well) that heals tree wounds. Unfortunately it is only found within a foot or less after a fork." Sorry, but that's simply pure rubbish and is not even close to a valid reason for the way trees should be trimmed! _____________________________________ Trees don't "heal". They grow over (cover) their wounds. When terminal/heading cuts are made (as in when a tree is topped), the tree grows to cover over its wounds by growing new branches at or near the cut. At least two problems occur at heading cuts. First, the time it takes for new branches to develop into the size it takes to develop enough growth to cover the relatively large wounds is often longer than it takes for the exposed wood to rot. And second, the branches that do form at these heading cuts are often poorly attached and fail as they grow (rewounding the tree). So the problems are timing (growth not fast enough to prevent rot) and structural quality (poorly attached branches).

Things are changing hourly, lol. Good thing we are in a festive mood. Our boiler stopped working, scratched our heads about that mysterious 'boiler' room downstairs and the temp seemed sorta fine. Turns out we have two...one for upstairs and one for down. Rarely use the downstairs heat as it is half in soil built into a hill and keeps a nice 65. DH was fussing down there and cranked the heat... Called a # on the unit and the owner of the company stopped by in an hour and changed the thermostat. (when does that ever happen!?) Turns out he installed the originals and was full of stories about the neighborhood and our original owners...and yes, we need a new boiler and it is ordered...MerryChristmas, yikes. $ Had to postpone our trip by a couple days...travel xmas morn. Menu is still the same. Pork butt is in the oven on low and slow for tamales. Ground all my spice mixes. Making 3 mustards. Toasting croutons for the oyster stew that is now going to be a seafood stew Saturday. Soaking salt cod for cakes. Managed our shopping trip after the boiler was semi-fixed. Near a re-peat of the Thanksgiving shopping...one of everything for a mixed veg roast with the turkey. Crazy crowded but they had all lanes open for quick check-out. Jolly crowd and seems good moods are all around. Scrapped Costco and Rockland Bakery as the traffic was unusual for 2pm and it has been gray and raining for two days. Can live without any of that. Guessing it is gift shopping and kids are off school tomorrow so mom's are doing the last minute things. Always amazed what little it costs for feeding 6-8 for 5 days when so much of it is harvest garden goods. Food, meals and cooking is always my gift so no other shopping is needed and the type of shopping i don't like is gifting and wrapping. Need a substitute for file/sassafras. DH has everything for an oyster/andouille gumbo he is insisting on making...thought i had some deep in the cupboard. (but it would have been 20yrs old) If this was colder temps we would be deep in snow right now. Wow is it raining non-stop....

Observant of you. Now read about how they start. That's really interesting! Mighty brooms from little insects grow.