I have a tree in my back yard. It has a huge canopy loaded with beautiful orange leaves. It is, however, a bit of a trickster. I go out and rake; the area around the tree is clear ( though I've made five trips to the curb with leaves). I go into the house, satisfied with my work. Look out a half-hour later and you can't even tell I touched one leaf. I suspect it is a sentient tree - somewhat like Groot. I think it is secretly muffling its laughter as it watches me work. It waits until I (think) I've finished and then drops about 14 bushels of leaves all at once. This has happened at least four times. The leaf canopy is still full of leaves. It's just waiting. I just know it.
Most of the trees actually on our property (as distinct from the publicly owned area between the sidewalk and street) are evergreen. But in any case, we never rake. Let the nutrients go back to the soil.
WAY too many to just leave. All the grass would be smothered. In our town they send vacuum trucks around 3 times. The leaves are taken to a compost center and the compost is free to residents in the Spring. So, you do it your way and I'll do it mine.
Trees is sneaky that way! One of the joys of living in the wilderness. But my kid comes, bringing his suburban ways with him, and leaf blows the entire area two or three times each autumn. Gives him some sort of pleasure, lol!
Though we live in the country surrounded by trees, none of the near trees bear enough leaves to bother raking. Many people make leaf piles, but only the transplants vacuum leaves. Real Vermonters rake hoards of leaves, put them into plastic bags and ring their house foundation with the bags for extra insulation through the Winter months. In the Spring they dump the leaves onto their gardens and rototill.
When we lived in Virginia we had two huge maple trees that made golden yellow leaves that fell so thickly that you could slip on the leaves if you walked across them. Folks were required by the town to put all their leaves out at the curb to be vacuumed up. When I asked a native why they did that, she explained that otherwise critters will make their homes under them, such as slugs and much worse. That was good motivation! Ha!
Slugs and much worse?! Republicans? Dixiecrats? (OK, that's in poor taste. But one does wonder about the "much worse.") Using the leaves for extra insulation sounds like an interesting adaptation. What did folks do before plastic bags? And did you know that before Europeans (think Jamestown) introduced earthworms to North America the leaves on the forest floors took much longer to decompose.? The leaf litter is said to have been very thick. Thinning of the leaf litter by the earthworms had a considerable effect on the ecology of the forests. (OK, don't ask me for specifics--but one can well imagine it would be so.)
A very busy week at work once it got rolling after the delay in courier runs on account of Columbus/Indigenous Peoples' Day, but we did pretty darn well, considering the staffing shortage. Next week should still be busy, but it will be spread out a bit more. I left for Monday some stuff I would normally have done today, but not too much. I hope for a relatively easy weekend at the hospital.
Howard - still first.
ReplyDeleteI have a tree in my back yard. It has a huge canopy loaded with beautiful orange leaves. It is, however, a bit of a trickster. I go out and rake; the area around the tree is clear ( though I've made five trips to the curb with leaves). I go into the house, satisfied with my work. Look out a half-hour later and you can't even tell I touched one leaf. I suspect it is a sentient tree - somewhat like Groot. I think it is secretly muffling its laughter as it watches me work. It waits until I (think) I've finished and then drops about 14 bushels of leaves all at once. This has happened at least four times. The leaf canopy is still full of leaves. It's just waiting. I just know it.
Most of the trees actually on our property (as distinct from the publicly owned area between the sidewalk and street) are evergreen. But in any case, we never rake. Let the nutrients go back to the soil.
DeleteBill
WAY too many to just leave. All the grass would be smothered. In our town they send vacuum trucks around 3 times. The leaves are taken to a compost center and the compost is free to residents in the Spring. So, you do it your way and I'll do it mine.
DeleteI loved the way you said that, Susan! You tell a good story!! :-) Perhaps your tree is an evil species of Ent.
DeleteTrees is sneaky that way! One of the joys of living in the wilderness. But my kid comes, bringing his suburban ways with him, and leaf blows the entire area two or three times each autumn. Gives him some sort of pleasure, lol!
ReplyDeleteThough we live in the country surrounded by trees, none of the near trees bear enough leaves to bother raking. Many people make leaf piles, but only the transplants vacuum leaves. Real Vermonters rake hoards of leaves, put them into plastic bags and ring their house foundation with the bags for extra insulation through the Winter months. In the Spring they dump the leaves onto their gardens and rototill.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Virginia we had two huge maple trees that made golden yellow leaves that fell so thickly that you could slip on the leaves if you walked across them. Folks were required by the town to put all their leaves out at the curb to be vacuumed up. When I asked a native why they did that, she explained that otherwise critters will make their homes under them, such as slugs and much worse. That was good motivation! Ha!
Slugs and much worse?! Republicans? Dixiecrats? (OK, that's in poor taste. But one does wonder about the "much worse.") Using the leaves for extra insulation sounds like an interesting adaptation. What did folks do before plastic bags? And did you know that before Europeans (think Jamestown) introduced earthworms to North America the leaves on the forest floors took much longer to decompose.? The leaf litter is said to have been very thick. Thinning of the leaf litter by the earthworms had a considerable effect on the ecology of the forests. (OK, don't ask me for specifics--but one can well imagine it would be so.)
DeleteA very busy week at work once it got rolling after the delay in courier runs on account of Columbus/Indigenous Peoples' Day, but we did pretty darn well, considering the staffing shortage. Next week should still be busy, but it will be spread out a bit more. I left for Monday some stuff I would normally have done today, but not too much. I hope for a relatively easy weekend at the hospital.
TTFN
Alan