Fall in Love with a Leaf
Whether you love the foliage or despise raking the yard, You owe more than you think to the humble leaf.
I’ve always had a complicated relationship with leaves. On the one hand, I enjoy an October drive down a country road with the reds and golds painting an autumnal masterpiece. On the other hand, I know that two weeks later, my neighborhood will sound like a runway at Logan Airport as weekend warriors blast away with their leaf blowers.
Then there are the blisters on my palms from the rake I haven’t touched in a year. I’m about to lose it after discovering my granddaughter used all the band-aids on her dolly’s boo-boos when my heart warms watching her laughing and jumping in a pile of leaves.
It’s time to give my relationship with leaves another look.
After surviving a long, cold winter, buds on bare branches begin to swell with the promise of spring. Inside are embryonic cells destined to become the dozens of different parts of a leaf, with one particular part, the chloroplast, fulfilling the leaf’s most magical task — turning sunlight into food.
Leaves are nature’s solar panels but instead of storing electricity in batteries, a leaf stores the Sun’s energy in sugars and starches. These basic foods power not only tree growth but also fruits like apples, cherries, and acorns, which in turn are eaten by animals like squirrels and deer — and me!
There’s more. While converting sunlight to food, the leaves of a mature tree can absorb up to 48 pounds of climate-warming carbon dioxide and produce as much oxygen as ten people inhale in one year. They also transpire hundreds of gallons of water vapor daily, cooling the air under a tree up to 9° F. No wonder cities are planting shade trees to fight deadly heat waves.
Looking about, I am continually reminded of a leaf’s life’s work. The house I live in, the table I sit at, and even the poles holding wires over which I send you these words are of wood created by the power of leaves. And don’t forget toasting marshmallows to a golden brown over a cozy campfire.
Leaves are truly superstars in the kingdom of life. But alas, the short life of the leaf must end — and they go out in a blaze of glory.
Autumn not only gives us fiery colors, it also sounds the trumpet for the leaf to sacrifice itself to protect its tree from the weight of heavy winter snowfalls. And, as a parting gift, these fallen soldiers decompose and enrich the soils of our forests and farms.
A leaf may not love us in ways we recognize, but its selfless bounty of giving surely resembles a faithful love that trusts we will wisely use the blessings it gives us and that we return our love through the caring stewardship of our shared nature.
I’m feeling the love, how about you?
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