They came in droves for the leaves. The colors, they said, were spectacular this year. Then they went their way, each back to their homes, thankfully leaving some green behind in place of payment for the kaleidoscope along Vermont’s highways and byways, dirt roads, and trails, mountains and valleys, and floating quilt patches over rivers and streams.
Unlike some less fortunate folks not yet retired, I find no need to rake up and bag the now-fading brown and crispy leaves of kaleidoscope vintage.
Just as the trees give up their leaves in the fall, so too do I give up unnecessary if not unproductive work. My rakes, now seemingly ancient caveman tools, acquiesce to their obsolescence while shuddering with embarrassment at their grandchildren down the street blowing leaves and eardrums far from their range.
Now they come in droves, not the leaf peepers but those in want of blankets; For winter blankets of leaves are of great value to many a creature including pollinators who help ensure spring and summer are abound in colors transferred from the fall leaves to the ground and then to the flowers.
I have exchanged my socially conditioned mono scope for a kaleidoscope that showers my yard with diverse life throughout the year. The patterns of life in its many forms - each one supporting another - build a quilt fashioned without me threading a single stitch. The green and browns I leave on the ground enrich the colors I will enjoy come spring and summer.
They (insects and other wildlife) come in droves for the leaves in our yard. Their lives and life cycles are spectacular, and their pollination gifts are divine. I will leave the leaves so these wildlife neighbors can safely return to their winter homes and I will be all the richer for it.
Thanks for this, Bernie. I hope that many people will heed the advice and let nature do its work.
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