Foliage vs. Raking Leaves

I love fall...mostly. I love the cooler air and the fact that it is neither too hot nor too cool for most outdoor activities. As a teacher and life-long nerd, I love the beginning of the school year and all its sharp pencils and new shoes. I love leaf-peeping and apple-picking and cider donuts and hay rides and Halloween costumes.

But all of that comes with a price. I hate raking leaves. I get blisters from the rake; I finish the day tired and usually sweaty. And then, to add insult to injury, the leaves on my locust trees fall about 3 weeks later than all the other leaves in the yard. And then the neighbor's red maple drops its leaves after that. And then the locust drops its long, thin seed pods. Is it all worth it?

One October, a long time ago, I was in Charleston, South Carolina. Although the mornings were chilly, the days warmed up to the 80s and we spent the whole afternoon stripping off layers as we worked. I was in Miami by Thanksgiving and we had a campfire after our turkey and stuffing and roasted marshmallows on stripped palm fronds.

Another year, I was in Montana, which gets plenty of cool fall weather (it dropped to about 15 degrees on Halloween night that year) but has few deciduous trees up in the mountains. I took this right around this time in October, at Hyalite Reservoir near Bozeman, MT.

In both places, I missed the leaves changing colors. I missed stomping the crunchy ones on the street, and nesting in the piles. Driving through New Hampshire last weekend, and cruising up I-84 this weekend, I loved seeing the leaves start to change to arresting reds and startling oranges.

I've seen it all, from the disturbingly warm to the dishearteningly cold and rocky, and here I am, dreading the annual leaf drop while I stare out the window all day, watching the world prepare for winter. Well, at least my compost has it pretty good. It will never be starved for brown material this winter.