Leaf To Food

Today I used my pitchfork and emptied the compost bin into the garden. Rich black compost was at the bottom of the pile formed from the leaves I put in there last fall. I compost kitchen waste so my latest contributions (cauliflower stems and leaves, potato peels, melon rinds and banana skins) were set aside. Once the bin was emptied, I put the kitchen waste back in and bagged the leaves as I cut the grass. Every couple of rows I steered back toward the compost bin to empty the bag. The bin went from empty to overflowing in about an hour. As I mowed up the golden walnut leaves, the brown oak leaves, the showy red and yellow maple leaves, some red sumac leaves, brown and tan basswood leaves, gray hackberry leaves, yellow/brown elm leaves and some red cherrywood leaves, I thought about how all this tree plumage would turn into food on my table in the summer of 2010.