"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to show you the greatest lawncare appliance ever made...
It Slices, Dices and it makes Julian Fries from those unwanted leaves that you just raked to the curb. "But wait, there's more, it does all of this without you ever needing to fill a bag!" and "Now how much would you pay?"
Please Please Please find a way John. If anyone can make it happen I know you can. Home Depot may go out of business if we all stop buying lawn bags though!
I tried making one out of a bagging mower. Works great! Makes mulch.
I'm not sure if Mr. Heneghan is pushin' our collective "foots" here or not, but just on the surface this makes about as much sense as snow plows. Yes, leaves fall. No, all leaves don't fall at exactly the same time, but they generally fall within two seasonal windows. Whether we buy these or "rent" them, these are expensive, require operators and have a limited season for capital recovery. That makes them costly no matter how you twist it. And what are we going to do, have an ordinance that says any homeowner with deciduous trees must have any leaves at the curb no earlier than 24 hours before the scheduled leaf-cuum?
And seriously (if this is serious), isn't this something a neighborhood Home Owners' Association can handle? Just because we have a city doesn't mean these organizations are useless or that the city should do every little thing. If folks in your neighborhood want to have a little FallFest with the kiddies a-raking and the adults sipping hot toddies until the leaf truck arrives--go for it. Trust me, no one is stopping you.
Or, here's an idea that might appeal to those fond of independence: hire someone to take care of leaves falling off of your trees. I do and quite frankly it never once occurred to me that other folks should pay for it. And I believe it would be wrong to force them to---a philosophy that should appeal to a breakaway city that didn't cotton to other people spending their money.
April in July...it does feel a bit like April...that must be it...
They have this in my hometown in Ohio (voted one of the top 10 best hometowns recently in Family Circle magazine). It's great! They also have street cleaners - and they pick up ALL the trash - including recycling one day a week. (Two trucks.) At our home in DeKalb, we currently have a trash truck visit our street FOUR DAYS A WEEK! Now, Ken - that's over the top, don't cha think?
A thought about the leaf suckers. If we set up a municipal compost pile (or enter into a private/public partnership) and deposit the leaves there (we could also encourage Dunwoody restaurants to recycle their pre- and post-consumer waste as well--there are companies to help them with this), we could eventually bag the finished compost and sell it under a Dunwoody brand (farmhouse and all) to homes and businesses, with a percentage of each sale funding Dunwoody-based school and community gardens.
Pattie, I vote for a co-op with proceeds going to help educate folks of all ages on the benefits of gardening. And, as always, let's put it under the power lines.
I have one when I was 6 on my tractor, my mom loved it. The yard never looked better and I always had it fixed and working. I had a 5Hp B&S blower setup as a vacuum (like the blower that are so big they have wheels). Dekalb Roads and Drainage uses one to clean out the storm drains.
I bet we get better use out of this machine than the radar signs.
I'm excited to see that our leaders are investigating and exploring options like this rather than just accepting "that's the way we've always done it." Perhaps it and a host of other good ideas won't make financial sense in the end, but that shouldn't preclude open dialogue about what services city residents believe are valuable.
We'll never know if we don't ask the questions.
9 comments:
I tried to make one of these from a wood chipper and a handheld leaf vacuum. It didn't work out so well.
I beg of you, find out how Dunwoody can get one of these things.
Please Please Please find a way John. If anyone can make it happen I know you can. Home Depot may go out of business if we all stop buying lawn bags though!
I tried making one out of a bagging mower. Works great! Makes mulch.
I'm not sure if Mr. Heneghan is pushin' our collective "foots" here or not, but just on the surface this makes about as much sense as snow plows. Yes, leaves fall. No, all leaves don't fall at exactly the same time, but they generally fall within two seasonal windows. Whether we buy these or "rent" them, these are expensive, require operators and have a limited season for capital recovery. That makes them costly no matter how you twist it. And what are we going to do, have an ordinance that says any homeowner with deciduous trees must have any leaves at the curb no earlier than 24 hours before the scheduled leaf-cuum?
And seriously (if this is serious), isn't this something a neighborhood Home Owners' Association can handle? Just because we have a city doesn't mean these organizations are useless or that the city should do every little thing. If folks in your neighborhood want to have a little FallFest with the kiddies a-raking and the adults sipping hot toddies until the leaf truck arrives--go for it. Trust me, no one is stopping you.
Or, here's an idea that might appeal to those fond of independence: hire someone to take care of leaves falling off of your trees. I do and quite frankly it never once occurred to me that other folks should pay for it. And I believe it would be wrong to force them to---a philosophy that should appeal to a breakaway city that didn't cotton to other people spending their money.
April in July...it does feel a bit like April...that must be it...
They have this in my hometown in Ohio (voted one of the top 10 best hometowns recently in Family Circle magazine). It's great! They also have street cleaners - and they pick up ALL the trash - including recycling one day a week. (Two trucks.) At our home in DeKalb, we currently have a trash truck visit our street FOUR DAYS A WEEK! Now, Ken - that's over the top, don't cha think?
A thought about the leaf suckers. If we set up a municipal compost pile (or enter into a private/public partnership) and deposit the leaves there (we could also encourage Dunwoody restaurants to recycle their pre- and post-consumer waste as well--there are companies to help them with this), we could eventually bag the finished compost and sell it under a Dunwoody brand (farmhouse and all) to homes and businesses, with a percentage of each sale funding Dunwoody-based school and community gardens.
Cere...and I bet you had pretty good schools too...and a midwestern work ethic... ;^)
Pattie, I vote for a co-op with proceeds going to help educate folks of all ages on the benefits of gardening. And, as always, let's put it under the power lines.
I have one when I was 6 on my tractor, my mom loved it. The yard never looked better and I always had it fixed and working. I had a 5Hp B&S blower setup as a vacuum (like the blower that are so big they have wheels). Dekalb Roads and Drainage uses one to clean out the storm drains.
I bet we get better use out of this machine than the radar signs.
I'm excited to see that our leaders are investigating and exploring options like this rather than just accepting "that's the way we've always done it." Perhaps it and a host of other good ideas won't make financial sense in the end, but that shouldn't preclude open dialogue about what services city residents believe are valuable.
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