Have  you ever wondered what happens to all these colorful leaves after the celebration of all that is autumn?  Just like any party, there is clean-up after the trees are bare,  and a need for order. . . . . even for colorful, fallen leaves. When the windy rain of late October and November comes, the leaves fall quickly.  The first year we moved to New York and had a back yard full of Maple trees…..and leaves all over the ground, I didn’t rake.  I saw others doing it but I didn’t want to be bothered. I learned a lesson about procrastination the next spring. After the snow melted, I was left with dead, brown, wet,messy, moldy leaves!  I don’t know what I was thinking, but for sure the leaf leprechauns did not come during the dark of winter to do my job!

The next year and for falls to come, the children and I would turn raking the leaves into a game.  They would jump into the piles and roll around. Finally, we would rake them into a big pile onto a sheet. Next we grabbed the corners, carried, and dragged the leaves on the  sheet to the street to pile them along the curb.

I remember seeing these leaf vacuum trucks for the first time.  I had never seen one in Virginia, Maryland or Kansas, but there were not so many trees there.  The city announces  the route of the special trucks and as long as your leaves are on the street, they will be removed.  Some people like to run the mower over the leaves to turn them into tiny pieces, first. 

We always just raked and fed the leaf vacuum. 

Different groups such as Youth Groups from churches, and fraternities will either volunteer to help their neighbors or work for a small fee.

This is a leaf blower which is helpful to cut down on the raking and the blisters on your hands!  Be sure to wear  gloves either way to protect your hands.

And if you don’t get your leaves on the curb in a timely manner, there is another alternative….biodegradable bags which when filled and neatly placed, the regular trash removal with take.   And this is the rest of the story, more than you ever wanted to know about living in Upstate New York! 

Namaste. . . . . . This is early November in Upstate New York!