Indonesia is a country with abundant natural wealth, including its plants. This large number of plants is caused by the fertile soil as well as the climate which is very good for plants to grow and reproduce.
Just look around your house, there must be shady trees everywhere. In front of your house, or maybe even along the road in your home complex, there must be many trees of various types.
Of course, such conditions will make the environment more shady and cool, so that it can finally make the environment comfortable. Well, but this can be a problem when entering the seasons where a lot of wind blows.
These winds will of course cause a lot of leaf litter to fall in your environment. If this waste is not swept away, it will become dry and then it will be blown back by the wind. The result? Of course your home environment is getting dirty.
To solve this problem, people usually collect the dry leaf waste and then burn it and turn it into ashes just like that. Well this method is probably the most effective way, even though it will cause quite disturbing air pollution.
But don’t worry, we have some tips that you can practice in using the dried leaves at home and in your home environment.
Fire Starter
Well for the first tips this may not be of much use. First, in Indonesia, we think that it is very rare for people to use firewood to warm their rooms and bodies. Moreover, Indonesia is located on the equator which consequently makes Indonesia in a tropical climate which is of course warm throughout the year.
But there’s nothing wrong, you know, you try to make a campfire. If your neighborhood complex is in a fairly cold place and has a small garden, you and your neighbors can plan an overnight stay and camp together there. Of course don’t miss the ‘burning’ event there!
For those of you who want to start a fire, usually you can use a fire starter kit that is sold freely. It usually consists of a combustible wool cloth complete with a combustion apparatus. The problem is what if you only have firewood? Well it turns out that dried leaves can be a useful alternative.
Collect dry leaves up to a number of chunks in your hands, then crush them into small pieces. Take one part of the largest small leaf for then you burn. Once you’ve burned the biggest part, you can start lighting some of the smaller pieces. Then if the fire starts to grow you can put firewood on it.
Insulation
Dried leaves are known to be useful as good insulators. What insulator? Of course the room temperature insulator. Dried leaves are able to withstand extreme temperature changes, and can be used as a heater.
For those of you who are going camping or climbing a mountain, you can collect the existing dry leaves to put in a large plastic bag. Then use it as a body warmer.
Another alternative is that you can put your sleeping bag under a pile of dry leaves as a method that can keep your body temperature warm.
Compost
To make fertilizer from dry leaves, of course you can’t immediately sprinkle dry leaves on the soil you want to plant plants. First you have to slightly moisten the dry leaves, and then store them in a closed and dark container.
This will then cause the leaves to rot. This decay will then cause the dry leaves to turn into fertilizer that can fertilize the soil.
You can then use this compost at any time when you want to plant plants. Or you can just spread it on your soil that has been loosened.
In this way the leaves will make your soil fertile and rich in nutrients and minerals. So that in the future if you want to grow a plant, you can simply plant the plant and voila! Plants will thrive.
Soil Loose / Mulch
The term mulch may not be too familiar to those of you who rarely grow crops. However, this term must be familiar if heard by people who have a hobby of farming. Dried leaves turned out to have a function as a mulch or soil loosener.
The way to loosen the soil with dry leaves is quite easy. Just slightly dampen the dry leaves so that the leaves become slightly damp. Well then pour little by little the moist leaves on your soil.
Another option is to bury the moist leaves in the ground, well in this process you will definitely dig a few centimeters of soil. This process is also known to help loosen the soil. These two processes when combined will cause the soil in your yard to be very fertile and suitable for farming.
‘Grass’ Fertilizer
Well okay for this one maybe you don’t really use dry leaves. This section may teach you more tips when you have to clean weeds in your yard.
Weeds may be one of the enemies of both the farmers and those of you who stay at home. Weeds that grow indefinitely will cause the farmers’ plants to be damaged, and will cause your yard to be unsightly.
For this reason, weeds are usually pulled out regularly by farmers and homeowners. Usually after that the weeds will be thrown away somewhere. The real secret is that the weeds can be used as fertilizer and loosen the soil too!
To do this, you can collect the weeds and make compost, or directly sprinkle them on the ground, or even for those of you who use a lawn mower, you can leave the remnants of the grass clippings on the ground. Automatically the soil in your house will be fertile and can be planted with various plants such as fruits or some vegetables.
Contemporary Art Project
Well it turns out that dry leaves can be a beautiful work of art. This may be very fun for those of you who have a high artistic spirit and lots of free time. This work of art can then be used for personal consumption by you and your family or as a display at home, or even for those of you who are very artistic, this work can be a source of income for you.