4 ms·

> There's a myth that groundskeeping is more costly without them A... myth? Have you ever used a rake, and a leaf blower? How about for many hours? If there's

> There's a myth that groundskeeping is more costly without them A... myth? Have you ever used a rake, and a leaf blower? How about for many hours? If there's no change in costs when switching between the two, it's getting hidden or absorbed somewhere. It takes substantially less time and effort to use a leaf blower than a rake for the vast majority of tasks that call for either.

Teever 5y ago
Maybe you don't need to track down and collect every single leaf? Like it's okay if things have a slighty not perfectectly tended to appearance. There's beauty in chaos.
- moduspol 5y ago
  Yep. That falls under costs being "hidden or absorbed somewhere." Arguably there could be even more beauty in not even raking them! That doesn't mean leaf blowers and rakes are comparably cost effective, though (as implied by the claim I replied to).
- willcipriano 5y ago
  Lots of HOA's will be right up your ass if you don't take care of the leaves on the lawn. That's one of the reasons I won't buy anywhere that has one, but a leaf free lawn requirement with a leafblower ban seems punitive.
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    The crowning jewel of the cognitive dissonance is that places where people who complain about noise live and places the HOA would be up your ass over petty stuff are mostly the same places.
- dimitrios1 5y ago
  Perhaps you have never experienced mold issues due to excessive fallen foliage then? Or a copperhead nesting in a pile and biting one of your children? These things happen frequently. Or perhaps your neighborhood has a nice tree canopy, but the excess foliage causes a safety concern to motorists and cyclists alike. There are good reasons to clear excessive leaves that don't involve only looks. In fact most of the times the city will provide a truck a few times a month that will vacuum the leaves from the road, provided you push them all to the curb. Not every suburb is this desolate, cookie-cutter hellscape like you see in places like Texas. Many of the historic neighborhoods, especially in the northeast, have real reasons to manage foliage. And if you think leaf blowers are bad, just remember, people just used to collect them into huge piles and just burn them (still do in very rural areas), or worse yet, just toss their bags of leaves into the trash can. Leaves and landfills are a bad combo. With yard waste collection, towns will compost them and turn them into compost or rich soil: https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2017-12-18/you-asked-we-answered-what-happened-to-all-those-leaves-i-raked-up-and-left-at-the-curb https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2017-12-18/you-asked-we-answere....

Teever 5y ago

Maybe you don't need to track down and collect every single leaf? Like it's okay if things have a slighty not perfectectly tended to appearance. There's beauty in chaos.

moduspol 5y ago
Yep. That falls under costs being "hidden or absorbed somewhere." Arguably there could be even more beauty in not even raking them! That doesn't mean leaf blowers and rakes are comparably cost effective, though (as implied by the claim I replied to).
willcipriano 5y ago
Lots of HOA's will be right up your ass if you don't take care of the leaves on the lawn. That's one of the reasons I won't buy anywhere that has one, but a leaf free lawn requirement with a leafblower ban seems punitive.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  The crowning jewel of the cognitive dissonance is that places where people who complain about noise live and places the HOA would be up your ass over petty stuff are mostly the same places.
dimitrios1 5y ago
Perhaps you have never experienced mold issues due to excessive fallen foliage then? Or a copperhead nesting in a pile and biting one of your children? These things happen frequently. Or perhaps your neighborhood has a nice tree canopy, but the excess foliage causes a safety concern to motorists and cyclists alike. There are good reasons to clear excessive leaves that don't involve only looks. In fact most of the times the city will provide a truck a few times a month that will vacuum the leaves from the road, provided you push them all to the curb. Not every suburb is this desolate, cookie-cutter hellscape like you see in places like Texas. Many of the historic neighborhoods, especially in the northeast, have real reasons to manage foliage. And if you think leaf blowers are bad, just remember, people just used to collect them into huge piles and just burn them (still do in very rural areas), or worse yet, just toss their bags of leaves into the trash can. Leaves and landfills are a bad combo. With yard waste collection, towns will compost them and turn them into compost or rich soil: https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2017-12-18/you-asked-we-answered-what-happened-to-all-those-leaves-i-raked-up-and-left-at-the-curb https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2017-12-18/you-asked-we-answere....