The Leaf Collection Curve

The past few weeks have brought a lot of leaves down in my yard and though plenty remain, I started collection operations last weekend.

Raking leaves is not a native sport to me, having grown up in California.  There, my dealings with leaves were fairly rare and included one time in the 5th grade when a reporter from the local weekly newspaper came to our school and made a picture of girls throwing leaves at the camera.   I thought of that this past weekend and had a good laugh because we actually struggled to get that many leaves together to make the picture.  In New Jersey, we’d have no trouble finding leaves.

I enjoy the seasons here in New Jersey and they exact their price in the form of leaf-raking in the fall and snow-shoveling in the winter.  I am not that neighbor with a powerful leaf-blower and the willingness to remove every leaf from the lawn.  But practicality and the desire not to shovel snow and leaves when winter arrives mean that some leaf removal is necessary.

This weekend’s shoveling started in the driveway, basically an effort to clear a path for the snowblower when that day comes.  This is the after-picture and clearly I’m not done.  But it’s a start.

The backyard leaves will be raked into the garden when I put it to bed for the season.   When I do set out to rake, I organize a goal (this weekend was 6 bigs) so I don’t grow to dislike the task.  Last weekend, I even rewarded my raking efforts by planting some tulip bulbs when I was done.  I’ll probably fill another two dozen bags before it’s over, but at least I made a dent in the task.  And really, given the fact that the first 21 years of my life were spent with no leaf-raking responsibility at all, I’m still well ahead of the leaf-collection curve.