The Leaving

For the life of me, I’ll never understand picking leaves up off the lawn.

I’ve always enjoyed walking through a yard full of leaves. It makes it feel more like fall. It also reminds me of hunting.

But if you don’t like the look of fall covering your yard, mow them and leave them on the ground in a mulched state. But for heaven’s sake, don’t get rid of them only because you’re a cultured city dweller, and everybody else in high society does it. Leaves provide nutrients for the ground. Let them be.

When I was dating Charity, she told me she hated leaves all over the yard. She said they had to be raked up and carried off. I disagreed with her. I think that was the first time we disagreed about something. Thankfully, it wasn’t a deal-breaker for either of us. But knowing she loved autumn as much as she did, it surprised me she didn’t like the look of them.

If you hire someone to pick up your leaves, I would guarantee that they’re putting them in a compost pile somewhere and creating rich, dark soil for their garden.

I’ve been watching a guy named Grant Woods recently. He took a piece of land that had been scourged by Agent Orange and, within a few years, created a rich, vibrant forest and meadows for animal grazing.

He will plant clover, rye, and various other greens in the spring and fall, and instead of cutting it down, they crimp it and let it lay on the ground.

It dies and creates layers of soil as they do this year after year. They call it the Buffalo System.

For years, most of the prairie in North America grew untouched and was harvested only by the animals. As Buffalo migrated, they trampled the plants down and into the ground, creating rich soil after years of natural layering.

Allowing nutrient-rich leaves to stay on the ground ensures rich soil.

This year, I plan to put some leaves into my flower beds and garden to allow them to break down over winter.

I saw two men ridding a yard of leaves today. They were working underneath three oak trees. Each oak still had most of its leaves.

The moral of the story is to leave your leaves on the ground, or at least don’t hire anybody to pick them up off the yard until the trees are mostly empty.

Maybe they are hoping for strong winter winds to carry the rest of them away to the neighboring yards.

to those who care,
– Caleb