Move over Numbnuts, We're taking this Industrial !

So, for a very little diorama I am working on, it's Z scale at 1:220 scale, I need a bit of forest litter for under some trees.  So I best make some, hadn't I.

So it was off to the side of the shed where Sarah up the road keeps a few native bee hives and I grabbed a few handfuls of dead leaves from whatever tree next door drops them there.  They were nice and dry and crunchy.

Out with my mortar and pestle and I ground them up into a fine powder and bits and pieces.

Then I got one of my really fine sieves I got from some kitchen section in the shops somewhere and sieved the results.  Came out quite well - bit of effort, but hey - pretty much free.  The remnants that were not needed were chucked into the garden as compost.

Old bottles and containers are always hoarded around here as they do come in handy.  Old spice jars are just the shot as they have the right sort of top to dispense the scatter.

So I poured a few sieves worth of scatter into them for use later.

Then I realised I needed a few different colours of scatter.  I needed a faster way - so now it was time to go Industrial on the job !

I went across the road to the footpath that has some Lilly Pilly and Paperbark trees growing on it.

And under my Poinciana I grabbed a few handfuls of the compost I make from the leaves, twigs etc that drop down. 

So I brought it all in to my bench and got down to it.  

Now, being that Black & Decker are not too bad a brand of power tools, I of course had a nice chopper they make. Normally seen in the kitchen, mine has never see it - it has always been in the garage and used to make scatters :-)

Each material in turn was thrown in and ground up for a minute or two.

Then they were passed through the sieve.

And then placed into some plastic jars until needed a little later.  And the cost of course was nada.

PS. Normally I would put the makings into the oven at a very very low temp and cook for 5 minutes or so to kill off any bugs and their eggs.  Wouldn't want them hatching on your layout and crawling around, let alone eating parts of it.