Shredder, My New Love

I am involved in a new love affair - yes, you read it right.  My new love's name is Hawk Shredder which is made in China.  It is simply wonderful, it helps me out and does things that fills my heart with joy and it didn't put in in the red, in fact, in shaa Allah, within 1 year will help me save money.  What more could a woman want?
Am I gushing over a shredder/chipper?  Yes, I am.  I have been looking for a shredder for over two years but I didn't want to over-invest.  After all, one of the principles of the farm is to be sustainable economically so any investment should be able to pay for itself.  Otherwise it would not be practical. This item is important to the farm, not a toy.

Being an organic farm that is more focussed on maximising nature's bounty (which is our tag line), an inherent principle is to go for natural farming where possible and using what we have to the maximum potential.  For us, it is important to keep the soil alive and to continuously feed it so it will be healthy, enabling us to grow edibles using more natural methods.

Top soil is important as well as the soil composition.  An important element in our farming methodology is the use of organic mulch, free of pesticides and chemical fertilisers.  In our initial stages, we used bought organic matter but over the years, we have begun to recycle our organic waste such as banana pseudostems, ginger torch leaves and stems, grass and various other plant-based matter.  In this manner, we can feel confident of mulch matter being free from chemical pesticide, herbicide and fertiliser.

As in all love affairs, it is not perfect.  There are ups and downs.  The downs are the shredder cannot handle recyclable wastes that have high water content nor with lots of stringy fiber so it doesn't handle the banana pseudostem.  It will cause the shredder to clog up and overheat.  The up is there are many options at the farm - the tebrau, bunga kantan stems and leaves and all sorts of other vegetation.

You also need to get attune to how it functions - don't stuff the input chutes or you will have problems with it clogging up.  Just take it easy.  Every once in a while, you will need to clear the output chute.  As the shredded material will be moist, it may clump up so it doesn't drop off easily.  Get a feel on when you need to speed up the engine and when you can just have it at a steady pace.

As with any relationship, you have to maintain it.  Be sure to use good quality 4-stroke engine oil - no need to go overboard on this as the prices of the oil for 1 litter range from between RM 10 - 50.  Periodically clean it so that it doesn't dry up on the insides and create blockages.

All in all, I am happy with it as we have been running the shredder about 3 times a week, 2-3 hours each time.  I now use a lot of mulch all over the farm, around my fruiting trees, my vegetables, and also as an organic additive to the soil.  At the rate that I am creating and using mulch, the machine along with the lubricants and petrol would have paid for itself in 6 months.