I usually wax ecstatic about Fall and my love for it: the glorious color, the holidays, the takeover of pumpkin. Today, though, I discovered the dark side of the season. You see, those gorgeous leaves? They have an irritating tendency to fall (hence the name of the season) off trees and blanket your yard.
But those leaves become the stuff memories are made of as you and your children throw armfuls of leaves and jump in them! You relish the crunch of them under your feet. You delight in helping your son find the maple leaves that resemble starfish so he can construct a family tree out of leaves on the porch!
Our family tree in leaves
Beautiful, beautiful Fall. Until the day your husband comes to you and tells you he borrowed his friend’s leaf blower so he could clean up the yard. It turns out that the grass doesn’t like to be covered by leaves, and the leaves choke the soil; this year, Jimmy decided that our normal policy of benign neglect for our yard had come to an end. We needed to save the grass.
So, Jimmy spent a few hours blowing the leaves into piles that snaked around our yard. Daniel and I filled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow with leaves to dump way out in our backyard. Seeing that it would take us days to dispose of the leaves this way, Jimmy bought a huge tarp for us to rake the leaves on and then drag to the backyard. Three times we filled the tarp and took it to the spot in the backyard where Jimmy composted it with the mower. After that third trip, we called it quits for the day. We still have at least two more tarps worth tomorrow.
I could focus on the quality family time we had outside, the priceless time to bond over rakes, giant tarps and brown leaves. I am, but I’m also beginning to wonder what our yard would be like without trees.
Third time filling the tarp
Family Building With a Twist 