Leaf-Raking with a Purpose

Today marked our church's "Annual Leaf-Raking Day" -  an opportunity for members to serve our neighbors by doing outdoor yard work for the elderly and disabled in our community. My family has participated in this event since the kids were old enough to hold a rake - after all, it is a wonderful opportunity to teach our children the value of hard work, set an example of altruism, promote exercise and fresh air, and have fun together. Sometimes there are even homemade cookies from grateful homeowners...

ok, ok - just like Pinocchio, my nose is growing - so I'll tell the truth. While other families might have raked for all those reasons, this year we had only one motivation for dragging ourselves out of bed early this morning to rake until our hands blistered...

Masquerading as rake-wielding volunteers provides the perfect excuse to scour yards all over town for - yes, you guessed it - edible seed pods for the goats!

Think about it - what better way to locate and map out new sources of pods without being arrested for trespassing? Really, Officer, I was just collecting snacks for my pet goats... (Unfortunately, when Emily and I collected about a thousand pods at the park last week -  we apparently got the wrong type. Oops...not only are they tough and indigestible - they are stinking up our garage so badly that we have to hold our breath out there or keep the garage door open.) What we are seeking are honey locust trees with their small, sweet pods, not regular locust trees which produce mammoth, malodorous monster pods. There is also one other kind of locust (yet unidentified by name) which drops miniature crunchy treats we refer to as "snack pods." Those also are acceptable. (Thanks to a good friend for discovering them.)

To achieve maximum coverage, my family split up into different raking groups instead of working together. My husband got the worst of this deal, as he was assigned to transport and supervise three middle school boys who had apparently never held a rake before and spent most of their day chasing each other around with the electric leaf-blower. Fortunately, Mike is a skilled raker and his group did manage to finish their assigned list of houses just before dark. Unfortunately, any pods they collected were dispersed by the blower...

Yes, it might seem like a lot of effort - but wouldn't you do it for your goats?