Living in rural areas most my life there was never any question as to what to do with leaves, yard waste or kitchen scraps. It was just part of the natural process to allow the leaves and yard waste to go back into the earth. Kitchen scraps were often taken out to the wildlife or composted. It never really occurred to me how important this was until a couple years ago when I found myself in an urban living situation. It seemed that I could no longer give back to Mother Earth in the same way. People raked their yards and bagged up the leaves to send to the dump.