There are lots of tough decisions to be made in life but I never thought this would be one of them, what to do with autumn leaves. The answer was simple years ago, we just raked them in a pile and burned them. It was one of those traditions I loved especially the smell they emitted. It's not to say I didn't set the yard on fire once and also my pant cuff but overall things went well and at the very least got to play fireman with the garden hose. The smoke was mystical, for no matter where I stood it would find me and get in my eyes, what I didn't realize until later was my neighbor had asthma and suffered in silence inside his house until the deed was done. After finding this out I never burned again. The dilemma now was how to dispose of the leaves in a non health threatening manner. Bagging them was a tedious time consuming matter, using my lawn sweeper still was labor intensive, the leaf blower was just a noisier way of raking, mulching was the answer. I found that running my lawnmower over the yard numerous times cut the leaves in such small pieces it looked lie I raked and actually added nutrients back in the ground. Not satisfied with this my wife now has me blow the leaves in a pile, vacuum them into mulch while placing them in our yard waste container to be hauled off by our trash service which we pay for. Oh for the days when the mighty match was the answer.
Ames High heads to post season action this Friday night at 6:45 against Ottumwa on the Home Town Station of the Little Cyclones 1430 KASI, 1430kasi.com and your FREE iHeart app.