Chipper-shredder magic + bonus preying mantis

Why is Alek so happy?  

Looks like he has some sort of device that's doing something interesting

It's a magical chipper shredder!  Alek reports that when we chip/shred the dried compost it takes up a third as much space as it does unchipped & unshredded.  Tom Brady from Glendale Waste Management has donated it to us!  What a capital guy.  

Here's Alek's report: "IT DOES MAGIC.  Oh my god.  Its very basic... but wow, it does the trick!  I emptied one of the compost bins entirely, Sue harvested the mature compost, and we put more than a whole wheel barrow's worth of compost into the shredder, and now its only taken less than 1/3 of the compost bin!  The shredder is a hazard and may be dangerous so people shouldn't touch it without someone trained on it being present. We'll use it again on our community service day."

Photos taken by the terrific and colorfully coiffed new gardener Sue Jekarl.  Thanks, Sue!

And now, the bloggy bonus:

Would you look at that preying mantis!  Bronwyn took these pictures of him/her while he/she fiddled around in her okra.  

He or she is huge.

This is probably the one I saw the other day in my plot--as I was staring at it from close range he or she grabbed a bee out of the air and stared eating it while the bee flailed helplessly.  I heard the crunches as the mantis ate it, bite by bite.  Gross!  Ah, nature.