What’s the deal with autumn leaves? We want ’em (if you don’t)!
TL;DR We Need Your Leaves! If you don’t want them or if they won’t stay put on your property, please leave them at our leaf drop-off. Any time is good.
We want and need your leaves! We are a regenerative soil farm located on an old evergreen nursery – so like, not a lot of deciduous trees over here. Please donate your leaves to us by driving them over to Flying Pig Farm.
Whatever you do, please do NOT throw them away. Leaves are living biomaterial. We (collectively) need them for our (collective) soil. For the sake of our soil systems, please do not throw leaves away.
Drive your leaves over to Flying Pig Farm instead! You can drop them off right outside our compost drop-off site. It is on the right when you are walking up the path to our gate. Call or text us for directions.
So what’s the drama about autumn leaf cleanup? This has become a hot topic over the past several years. There is good reason for that and there is no one correct answer. Here’s the thing. You can leave them where they are and it’s actually beneficial – under the right conditions. Leaves create soil. Leaves are full of biological material needed for healthy soil, healthy ecosystems. Even traditional European-style lawns and flowerbeds benefit. Here’s everyone’s favorite forager, Alexis Nikole with their PSA, Leave the Leaves!
Now for the conditions where it’s not so great to leave the leaves:
If you have a xeriscaped yard or very little plant matter on your property, or you remove all the other dried up plants and stalks once the weather turns cold, chances are you have little for those leaves to hold on to during the windy cold months and they’re just going to blow all over the place. As a result, they end up in our stormwater systems. A stormwater system full of leaves can seriously affect a healthy water supply and the longevity of our water infrastructure, in addition to backing up stormwater and snow runoff. So please, don’t leave the leaves if they have nothing to hold onto in your yard.
It’s just a small thing you can do, but keeping our stormwater ways healthy while helping Flying Pig Farm build up soil? It’s a win-win. If you’re like us, you know that the simple things, the chores of maintenance and care, are what hold us up, what keep things moving and growing. #chopwoodcarrywater
Now if you’ve read all this and you still have questions about your own autumn clean-up plan, there is more info out there. If you want to think through the pros and cons of your yard management, here is a more in-depth discussion:
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