Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska

Wanda's Diary Entries

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Between high winds and cold nights, the time has come for even the most tenacious dead leaves to surrender their previous grasp on life and flutter to… my lawn. The beauty of having an older home with mature plantings and a sizable lawn is the large trees that offer ample shade and work 24/7 to counter carbon emissions. The price for this beauty is late autumn lawn maintenance.

Yesterday, when I handed Henry a rake and urged him to have at it, his first response was not positive. He gave me a put-upon look and mumbled something about being the “only kid” he knew having to perform this kind of manual labor.

I shot him a “I-don’t-buy-it” look back and then delivered my little lecturette on the virtues of hard work.

“Why don’t we have a leaf-blower like everyone else?” he countered.

“We’re working to protect our environment and burn a little elbow grease while we’re at it,” I said.

But Mom, he protested. Once we get these up, more will fall.

Yes, I told him. Yard work is like housework. It’s never done.

I’d missed my morning swim yesterday, so was eager to tackle the leaves, while breathing in some cool fresh air. I grabbed the second rake and the two of us began attacking the thick carpet of oak leaves covering the lawn.

Within minutes — once Henry had let go of his losing argument — a novel thing happened: he actually started having fun. He asked if we could create a big pile at the edge of the yard, so he could bury himself in it. He began experimenting with how to most efficiently rake the leaves given the contours of the lawn. He wondered whether the leaves moved more easily if we raked them first onto the walkway and then moved them onto the street.

In the half hour we worked, two sets of neighbors stopped by to visit. One stopped on her walk, another couple stopped their car for a lean-out-the-window chat. Others passed by and waved merrily, apparently liking the image of a mother and her son out raking on a pleasantly chilly fall afternoon. I’ll never forget Les Blomberg, head of the Noise Pollution Clearninghouse in Vermont, who was once featured on our series, saying that 100 rakes raking are quieter than one leaf-blower blowing. How true.

Raking seems a perfect example of simple living in action. Raking instead of leaf-blowing (or paying a company to maintain your lawn) serves multiple and overlapping purposes: It helps the environment (or at least doesn’t harm it); it builds community (no neighbor would stop to talk to someone operating a leaf-blower); and it saves financial resources. Last but not least, it gives you a workout, gets your blood going. What a great way to spend a part of an afternoon!

The rakes are already out. When Henry comes home from school today, after he relaxes, does some homework, maybe practices the piano, we’ll go back at it. Yard work, after all, is never done.