After reading all comments, not rushing to the comments, I have to say, I have a quiet leaf blower to, it is, as mentioned in this thread somewhere else, a rake and I would appreciate if more people would use one.
>a rake and I would appreciate if more people would use one.
Most of the leaf blower noise in neighborhoods is cleaning up tiny grass clippings off of driveways and sidewalks instead of handling the Fall season's dead leaves, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak5VoB-ceeU&t=0m06s
Rakes don't help with grass cuttings. People could use brooms to sweep up the grass but homeowners and lawn crews don't do it that way because -- like the rake -- it requires more work and takes a lot longer than using noisy blowers.
Another option is a hose, but that may be considered more wasteful.
I have a leaf blower, and I use it for about 5 minutes a week in the summer to clear grass clippings from walkways after I mow. I don't like being "that guy", so I pretty much run around the yard with it in order to finish as quickly as possible.
I know that the electric leaf blowers are quieter, but my neighbor's makes a high pitched squeal which bothers me more. I think that she has some sort of condition, because she's literally using the thing for about three hours a day. I don't know how many battery packs she has, but she runs it until it dies, swaps the pack, and gets back to it. It's not a huge yard, maybe 1/3 of an acre, but she is compelled to get every blade of grass off of her driveway.
There's a guy in my neighborhood (who uses a backpack blower) and this is his main hobby. I really don't understand the appeal of doing what is a pretty monotonous task for such a long amount of time, given that in mere hours much of the pristine front yard moves back into "chaos".
I understand the satisfaction from being meticulous about things like this, but i don't understand the extreme end of it.
Most of the leaf blower noise in my neighborhood is the one or two guys on the crew who's job it is to run the leaf blower while the other guys are doing the lawn mowing or edging.
If it was that guy's job to use a rake and broom instead of a leaf blower, the same amount of cleaning would be done.
Hear hear. Rakes can be more efficient[0], provide an upper-body workout, minimise impact to the environment, make next to no sound, cost almost nothing, and provide a relaxing experience if you know how to embrace it.
I suppose these days people take techno-efficiency over all else to the point of ruining the environment, other people's peace, their own air quality, their own wallet, and so on, all so that they can blow the leaves off of their lawn in a supposedly shorter time or for slightly less effort.
Extremely large rakes and brooms exist that can be used to clear areas efficiently with proper technique. In the past, I had to tend to a ¾ acre property with pine trees and at least a ½ acre of lawn.
Why rake at all? Mulch them instead. Raking them into a bag to have removed from your property to add to a landfill just seems like a very strange decision to me.
Raking them into a pile, shredding them, and putting the mulch in a compost pile allows me to move the nitrogen into my garden. Maybe that starves part of my lawn, but the grass seems to be doing just fine - and moving natural nutrients to my garden helps me avoid using chemical fertilizers when growing food.
I am agreeing with you, for the record. It seems silly to throw leaves in a landfill.
I do a combination of both. I have a compost pile that is fed by collecting the clippings from my mulching mower from half of my mow-able area, and then the rest is just mulched and left in place. Essentially, anything to not rake! The only time I rake/bag is from the leaves that collect along the curb. I'm on a cul-de-sac, so I get a lot collecting there. I don't use these for compost from all of the liquids from parked cars, trash, and other gross stuff that I wouldn't want in my garden.
Depends on the state of the property. On a low water and au naturel yard, sure. Manicured lawns and sterility are all about anthropocentrism while expending concealed absurd treasure and effort without much concern for the soil losing nutrients. Or it's the middle class still clinging onto disappearing symbols American dream of how "rich" they are like the French aristocracy once did. You should've seen how deep green with a tint of blue my dad's 30' x 40' front lawn of Bolero dwarf fescue was, which required mowing twice a week in the summer by you know who, tens of thousands of gallons of water, and regular fertilizing.
I mulch, but it's slower and requires more frequent mowing. The first mowing of the year (I always wait too long) is nearly impossible with a push mower mulching.
Most of the leaf blower noise in neighborhoods is cleaning up tiny grass clippings off of driveways and sidewalks instead of handling the Fall season's dead leaves, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak5VoB-ceeU&t=0m06s
Rakes don't help with grass cuttings. People could use brooms to sweep up the grass but homeowners and lawn crews don't do it that way because -- like the rake -- it requires more work and takes a lot longer than using noisy blowers.