It may feel more like summer out there, but the cooler weather is setting in before the weekend. Already the more English lawn obsessed neighbors are already raking and clearing the first few leaves to fall, but we are being told to let leaves lie where they fall because they provide a winter habitat for small wildlife, little creatures we do not see.
Rather than raking the leaves on the grass, make the final grass cut with the leaves still there because they provide nature’s mulch on the lawn. For years now, I simply cut down the deaden stalks of beebalm and cone flowers and toss those into a pile and watched squirrels use them to help build their drays.
Letting the leaves stay in the garden also provides a place for firefly larvae to exist and develop into the summer glow we love. We’re told, however, to clear driveways, walk ways and streets because as piles get wet and mat, they can hurt the very critters we want to save. As the summer weather wanes, we’re ready for fall weather.
Prayer for the Day
You who made the sun and moon
Lightening our days and nights,
You who made the changing seasons,
Bringing us into harmony with ourselves,
Grant that we may tread lightly on your creation
As we move into this season of autumn
In the name of the One who tread lightly on the earth,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.
E. O. Wilson, American naturalist (1929-2021)
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.
Ansel Adams, photographer (1902-1984)
Bless the Lord, all that is within me. O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent, setting the beans of your chambers on the waters
Making the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind.
You make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
You set the earth on its foundations, so it shall never be shaken,
Covering it with the dep as with a garment, waters standing above the mountains.
Psalm 104: 1-6