AUTUMN LEAVES

Each year, urban homeowners put millions of bags of leaves and pine straw out at the curb to be hauled off by the city.  Why?  Because that’s how you grew up doing it or that’s how the neighbors do it?  Why not put those leaves to good use in a compost pile or spread generously in your wildscape or flower beds instead of stuffing them into a bag?  Those mulching leaves attract a lot of invertebrates that serve as food for many of our beloved birds including small owls.  Lots of birds scratch in the leaf litter in search of a meal.  A small compost pile is easy to start, requires minimal maintenance, and in less than a year will reduce down to a nutrient-rich pile of homemade organic fertilizer.  Keep plastic bags off the curb and out of our landfills and give those leaves and pine needles a second life.  In nature, no one hauls off the leaves, allowing them to provide a protective layer over the soil that decompose and cycles nutrients back into the ground.  It’s also great habitat for a lot of birds and other wildlife.  Do it for the owls! 

Order your Owl Shack HERE.  What a great gift idea!