Leaf Peeping in Mountaindale

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
― Albert Camus

Fallen Beech Tree leaf found on the Mountaindale Rails to Trails

In 2021 we had a quick and mediocre fall. Right as the leaves began to change an enormous storm rolled in. Within a few days most trees were completely barren. It was a pretty strange feeling to be tossed into the visuals of winter so quickly. Thankfully this year was different.

The first year of us living in Mountaindale we collected fall leaves and other plants to press. Once completely pressed we used a float frame to create a first year memory collage.

Take a look at all the beautiful leaves we saw this season and let us know your favorite!

Our studio at sunset right at the start of fall

“Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they're falling like
they're falling in love with the ground.”
― Andrea Gibson

“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Easily one of my favorites - red oak leaf

“At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.”

―Rainer Maria Rilke,Letters on Cézanne

Beautiful yellow maple leaf

How to Preserve and Press Fall Leaves

I know that there are many ways to press leaves and flowers but as a little kid learned to used heavy books and wax paper. Using weight is the simplest method of saving all your goodies. Collect some heavy books, wax paper and pick out some leaves that are flat, thin and still malleable.

1. Clean off any dirt that might be on your leaf and then arrange them on your wax paper. Once arranged sandwich the leaves between sheets of wax paper and your book pages.

2. I like to do this with several books and then use them as decor that can be stacked upon with other heavy objects.

3. Please your books in a dry location. You’ll want to check on them in about a week to ensure that the leaves are indeed drying and not rotting. I tend to leave my leaves for a while and work on other projects but typically 2 - 3 weeks your leaves should be dried.

4. You can arrange your leaves in a scarp book or a float frame. Just make sure to keep them out of direct light, which will cause them to deteriorate faster.

It’s been a very long time since I pressed any flowers but with all this nature around us, I got pretty nostalgic. To commemorate our firstish year in our new home I decided to press whatever floral or greenery that was season. For the Fall we collected lots of color turning leaves from Birch, Maple, Oak and even Ferns.