Leaf Sucking


Leaf Suckers

Leaf management is an annual ritual here in Illinois. Today the Moline leaf trucks were working our neighborhood. Moline banned leaf burning this year so the guys with the big vacuums that suck up the leaves have been working extra hard. The vacuum attachment on the trailer behind the truck grinds up the leaves so that they decompose faster, and they have been taking them out to Wesley Acres, one of the community supported agriculture businesses in the area. Wesley uses the leaf compost to help keep down the weeds.

The Midwest has a much wetter climate than the West. In fact the separating line dividing the moister East from the arid West runs north and south on the continent just a little west of the Mississippi. All the rain and snow we get contributes to the growth of hardwood, deciduous forests. Those forests produce mountains of leaves each year, and in the part of town where we live there are some pretty thick stands of old trees. There were about half a dozen neighbors out raking this morning, moving the leaf piles out to the curb where the trucks could do their sucking.

A few days ago one of neighbors had raked a pretty big pile in the middle of their front yard and the father was jumping in the pile with his two little children. They looked like they were between 2 and 5 years old. Ahhh, the simple pleasures.

Monday November 9, 2009 — Mark —


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