Believe it or not, two people have died in Iowa this fall while burning leaves. A rural Keokuk man died after his clothes caught on fire. A man in Cedar Falls died after he was burned when he threw gasoline on a fire. It would be very easy to make light of people who died from burning leaves, but they no doubt left families behind that are devastated.
I’m still not sure why people burn leaves, other than satisfying the seemingly human need to be around a fire (I’m one of those). However, burning leaves is usually a smokey, unsatisfying affair. In the closest hamlet of Melbourne, raking leaves to the street and burning them seems to be part of the culture. I feel sorry for the houses downwind of the smokey, long-lasting fires, especially those with asthma or other health conditions.
Organic Gardening has a brief article about composting leaves for those looking for some recipes!
When I was a kid we would rake our leaves and haul them back to our burn pile and put brush on top. In the spring after the pile dried out we would burn it all and there would be little smoke compared to the fall leaf burning around town.