When I returned to our Littleton farm, two weeks ago, I was greeted by colorful shrubs and trees; of course, here along the Front Range, those colors are primarily various shades of yellow and orange. Since then, winds associated with two storm systems have brought down most of those leaves and they now cover our driveway, "lawns" and pastures.
I could get our the rake or (God forbid) buy a noisy leaf blower, but, over the next month or so, nature will provide the cleanup service. Unless the leaves are temporarily held in place by a heavy snowfall, they will swirl about in the changing wind, scattering across the dry landscape until they come to rest beneath our shrub and tree lines. There they will slowly decompose for the next six months, feeding a wide variety of invertebrates and nourishing the foliage.
If we are patient and accept her untidy style, Nature provides both the cleanup and the fertilization that her landscapes depend on. We, in turn, are rewarded with their beauty and with the time to explore them.
