I was shaken to my core with heartbreak and anger when I saw a neighbor burning a huge swath of her property, just to get rid of her leaves. The featured photo above shows how big her fire was. She piled her leaves along a rocky, grassy berm that ran the length of her property, and just set it alight. Beyond how dangerous this was, and alarming, she is doing considerable damage to the biodiversity in the area. Many people have talked to her about some of her yard practices, to no avail. So I did not bother to go over and introduce myself or talk to her about what she was doing, I knew it would fall on deaf ears, and I wanted her to focus on the gigantic bonfire she was “managing”, in case she set the neighbor’s house on fire, too.
I can’t change her habits, but I am using it as an opportunity to educate the rest of the world. Because the only reason people handle their leaves and yard work in this way is that “old habits” die hard, and new knowledge and understanding are hard-fought. It’s the whole reason I do what I do, and write my books and speak and teach, and make videos….etc etc.
- We gather our leaves, lightly mulch some of them, and pile all of them on our garden beds. At our cabin in the country, we do the same, but we have a lot more leaves. So the balance gets thrown in a ravine in the woods. We use a large tarp, like a dustpan, and sweep the leaves right on it. We drag the tarp to the forest and dump. These layers of leaves will provide nesting areas and cover through the winter.
- Prune lightly the bushes that need it, and only the top third. Leave a lot of stems left for nesting bees. Leave a lot of the flowers seed heads on your flowers and flowering shrubs, for shelter and food for birds. Yes, this looks messy, but the ’90s are over. You don’t need to prune back and tidy your yard for winter. Who is going to see it anyway? Nature needs food and shelter for the tough months ahead.
- Leave your pruned twig piles in an area for wildlife and nesting areas for the winter. If that’s too messy for you, you can roll them in a bundle and tie them off, and tuck them somewhere out of sight.
- Grab some pumpkin spice lattes and chill.
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