Capturing wealth off the ground: Using fallen tree leaves for compost
It's free! It's easy! Hardly anyone will think that you look like a nut.
It will soon be one of my favourite times of year for wealth-building: autumn. This time of year is great because there is a special type of wealth available, that nobody seems to want and some people will even pay you (!!) to take away: fallen tree leaves.
Tree leaves are great for compost.
If you aren't composting yet, now is a great time to start. It's very simple: you mix some organic material together on the ground or in a container. Occasionally you stir. Over time it breaks down into beautiful, wonderful, healthy dirt. You can use this dirt in your garden or as top-dressing on your perennial fruit trees. Plants love it and will grow more, be healthier, provide better nutrients, and give you back more abundant and delicious food and fruit. It's win-win-win. As Steve Solomon would say, "it's quality that you simply can't buy".
And every fall, deciduous trees lose their leaves and scatter them all over the ground. You can easily bag these up, add them to your compost, and save them for future compost. It's a free resource.
I do this every year: bag up a bunch of leaves, and store them in plastic bags, in a shelter bin or just sitting next to my compost pile. Over the whole next year whenever I add 'greens' like kitchen scraps and leftover fruits and vegetables to the pile, I mix it with an equal amount of 'browns' from the dry leaves. It's perfect. The leaves help to soak up moisture from the greens and begin the process of breaking things down. Molds, germs, and bugs love it. It's free, it's easy, and it's abundant. And it helps you to build healthy, powerful soil.
If you live on a farm or somewhere with space, you may already have lots of big trees with leaves to spare. Gathering these should be no problem.
If you live in the city, take a look near you and see what spaces may have a surprising amount of leaves nearby. Alleyways, the ends of a residential block or street, public parks, and many other places should have plenty of street trees or neighbours that don't rake their lawn.
I do not recommend just taking all of the leaves directly off your neighbours' lawns. At least ask permission first. But often there are many shared spaces where you can quickly scoop up a year's supply worth of leaves. The times when I've done this in the city, nobody bats an eye or thinks twice about someone bagging up leaves and carrying them away.
This can also be a great conversation starter with your neighbours - "Hey I'm grabbing some fallen leaves to use for compost for my garden. Do you do that too? Want me to grab you some? Do you mind if I use your leaves?".
Dried leaves are such a valuable source of organic matter, stored energy and wealth. It's a shame to see people regularly get annoyed by it, destroy it, or throw it away. The more we can make good use of the things that we already have, the better. And right in front of us sits a beneficial, nutrient-rich source of wealth that is close by, free, and literally laying on the ground waiting for us to put it to good use.
Happy harvesting!