There's something about fresh fall leaves and their colors that tends to bring out the kid in almost anyone. The exceptions generally lie with those who have to clean them up. Raking is a chore. Blowing is often a futile effort. Using a leaf vacuum, however, can be a dream.

The leaf vacuum design is not necessarily new, but it is a concept that hasn't caught on 100 percent. The idea behind one of these vacuums is to suck up the leaves into a bin or a bag, rather then blowing or raking them into a neighbor's yard, a sewer drain or even a pile that likely will scatter again as soon as the first good wind blows.

Although the apparent intent of a leaf vacuum system is to bag up the leaves for garbage disposal, this doesn't have to be the case. In fact, these handy little reverse leaf blower systems can actually be rather environmentally sound.

The advantages to a leaf vacuum rather than a rake or blower are many. They include:

* Speed. It is simply much faster to clean up a yard of dead, fallen leaves using one of these. While the bag or can might need to be emptied a few times, piled leaves won't have to be chased back down if a wind blows.

* Composting. The benefits of using a leaf blower to those who like to compost, rather than throw their yard trash away are amazing. Since they are pre-bagged or canned, the leaves can easily be moved from all over the yard to the compost pile. This beats trying to pick them up a barrel full at a time hands down.

* Water preservation. Many people think it is okay to rake or blow their leaves into open sewer gates. Although leaves are organic in compound, they might have pesticides or other chemicals on them. Putting them into a sewer system or storm water drain system can wreak havoc on a waster water treatment plant's ability to keep up with its incoming flow and disinfection requirements.

While this might seem of little consequence to a home owner or renter, the fact is it can end up costing money down the road if sewer rates have to be raised. One home's leaves likely aren't a problem, but 1,000 homes' messes would be.

* Simplicity. Using a leaf vacuum is about as simple as using a blower or even a wet/dry vac. While raking can be difficult for some people to accomplish, using the vacuum shouldn't be. This means kids can be brought into help and even those who aren't advised to undertake strenuous activity.

* Better appearing yard. Some people spend hours raking or blowing only to find the leaves returning back to their yards a few short hours or days later. When a vacuum is used, the leaves are removed permanent - either to the garbage or the compost pile.

Operating like a blower in reverse, a good leaf vacuum can make yard work a much more enjoyable task. When composting comes into play, one of these devices can actually pay off well for the environment, too.

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