A Naif in the Forest by Darrell Berger

Wing Tips to Hiking Boots: Musings of a New, Full-Time Poconos Resident 

Winter’s snow has been replaced by the leaf blanket of early spring.  In previous years, I raked leaves from our driveway and the few flowerbeds we determinedly carved from the mountain shale. 

Now we have finished a major landscaping: a stone sidewalk, several additional flowerbeds, bushes, a raised bed for herbs and vegetables. We hope a tall mesh fence will keep the deer from the garden. Many more leaves must now be cleared. I shopped for my first leaf blower. 

I chose a snazzy model, sleek and futuristic, Luke Skywalker’s leaf blower. Three speeds and a battery pack. No blue tooth. I could wield it with one hand, like a Viking his broadsword. All ground cover shall yield to my power! 

First attempts brought mixed results. The modest pile I accumulated returned to chaos with an errant turn of my wrist. What blew the leaves together can also blow them even farther apart. Twenty minutes of labor wasted in an instant. “Doah.” My leaf blower self-image sagged from Jedi Warrior to Homer Simpson. An older generation would have noted my resemblance to W. C Fields, suddenly surprised at the damage wrought from his own ineptness. 

I concluded one must approach this task like a border collie, defining and patrolling the boundary of the herd of leaves. I carefully nudged them closer together, finally directing them to what was now the edge of the forest, where they could be reunited with their kind. 

This worked. The battery charge lasts about 45 minutes, as do I. A couple charges over a couple days and I was finished, needing only to fine tune the job by picking those last few leaves from crevices and bushes. 

Mastering the power of the leaf blower was essential. I couldn’t just point it toward the leaves without a plan and expect to accomplish anything but make a bigger mess. I needed a little experience, considerable patience, and an end game. Power alone does not make a leaf warrior. Foolish power can destroy in an instant what wisely directed power needed time and forbearance to create.