Growing up in New York state, leaf-raking was an annual event and right-of-passage, almost as important as learning how to ride a bicycle. As kids, we made the best of it, raking the leaves into huge piles and then running and jumping onto them, much to my father’s disapproval. I don’t remember what my dad did with the leaves after we raked, but I can tell you what he should have done and what all of us should be doing with them: using them for mulch.