How is your lawn doing?

The grass is still green here in K-W which is sooo nice. Of course the grass gets mowed too, right over the 3 inches of leaves that cover it up and get mulched in the process. Only few people put paper bags filled with leaves onto the curb for pick-up. Some just rake (or blow) the leaves onto the street which I don't like. I prefer the leaves left on the ground, in parks and on sidewalks I love to shuffle through them. I don't think many people leave the leaves on the ground due to organic gardening practices, a natural fertiliser. Maybe, they just can't be bothered to invest the time for raking them up. After all, most front and back yards are still fairly large here, compared to German standards. And the maple trees dump a lot of leaves, that's for sure. I think a lot less people here rake up the leaves than in Germany. There, it is kind of a competition. Then the leaves get either picked up or (improperly) composted in a corner of the garden. My husband told me today most people will rake up the leaves in spring, something I have not heard of before. We are both reading Mark Frauenfelder's book "Made by hand" right now. Hubby started on it and told me what happened on every page so I decided to read it myself. It's a great book. Frauenfelder got rid of his lawn a long time ago, turned the space into a garden and grows a huge variety of fruits and vegetables on it. Mind you, he lives in California. Lawns were the result of posh Europeans who thought it necessary to demonstrate they did not need their land to grow food on it because they could afford to buy it. It's a trend that spread like a bad weed but without benefits. That is unless you have kids that need green space to run around in but even then a more natural approach (wild flowers & grasses mix?) would be much nicer. I'm glad Frauenfelder applied the natural method to killing his lawn, with vinegar, newspaper and mulch. Pouring Monsanto's Roundup on top of the grass surely would not have been an appropriate start to organic gardening. Can't wait for next spring to try our balcony garden again.