All Good Reasons for Yard Work

It seems like the holidays are a perfect reason to justify making sure the house and yard are in good shape. A recent conversation with my mother, in which she declared her intentions to come for dinner, visit with her grand dogs, and see my fall decorations, had me running for the garage and the rake.

Truth be told, my yard was a bit of a mess. I can always think of something better to do than to clean up the flower beds beneath my front window, pick the dried grasses out of my rock garden, and rake up the pine needles, pine cones, and cottonwood leaves in my back yard.

This may be a bit farfetched, but I’d like to suggest that wildfires and mothers have something in common: you really can’t predict when they’re going to turn up.

I’ve heard it said that an ember can travel a mile ahead of a wildfire. This would mean that even if a house is out of the way of a fire, a traveling ember can lodge itself in a dry place and ignite. The Living With Fire website features an interactive display that shows 20 places around a house that are vulnerable to embers; dead plant matter is a major contributor to the list of potential hazards. Check it out here to see where your house may be vulnerable.

My work was cut out for me. I checked my roof for rogue plant matter, cleaned leaves and pine needles out of the rain gutters, scavenged the debris out from underneath my deck (that was terrifying), cleared away all dead grasses and leaves out from my flowerbed and from under bushes, and raked up the debris and leaves that had collected by my fence.

After an afternoon of muddy boots, endless trash bags, and blue fingers – honestly, Natalie, way to wait until it’s 40 degrees outside to do yard work – my house is a little more ready to survive a wildfire, a wind-blown ember, and a visit from my mother.

Happy raking!

Natalie Newcomer