So, you’ve heard me talk about ‘when I talk a walk in my neighborhood’ scenarios before in describing certain things that I notice. Once again, and it never fails, each fall when I’m out for a daily walk, I see piles of leaves neatly arranged on curbs, waiting for the township to come and funnel them away.
My sensibility is that this type of action is strange and unnatural. First, almost all of my neighbors hire crews to come in and dispose of their leaves (notice I can’t even say rake anymore because they use electric blowers). They are paying some big bucks for this service. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that the township removes these leaves for us by using their electric blowers, but it always tends to be when they’re covering the entire path. This just starts to become an inconvenience for everyone who lives in the community. I’ve been thinking that it might just be easier if we take on the project ourselves by investing in the best leaf blowers that we can get our hands-on. That way we can control our own problem before it gets out of hand. Then in the spring, they will pay landscapers to enrich their soil with organic matter, often screed leaf mold.
I’ve posted some pictures that I took in late November of scenes in my garden and the neighborhood where leaves are in their natural state. What could be more beautiful?
So, I would like to start a dialogue. If you don’t believe it’s worth raking your leaves in order to have rich, crumbly leaf mold over the next year, let me know. Perhaps I’m missing something. If you do, feel free to sing its praises.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, how can we get the ‘word out’ to all of these folks that are wasting time, money and a gift from nature by having leaves removed from their property?
Please chime in with your opinions and thoughts. I’d like to come up with some type of action that will mobilize neighborhoods like mine to change their behaviors so that they can take advantage of the cycles of nature, replenishing the soil with natural resources from their own yard. Any ideas?