Anyone who thinks that you can't put a price on that fresh fall feeling is wrong. Travel + Leisure reports that one company is paying New Englanders $1 for every colorful maple leaf they collect, proving that for once, money really is growing right on trees.
Cash 4 Leaves is looking specifically for foliage from "Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, or Connecticut" and is paying fall foragers in bundles of 100, so that's a sweet Benjamin just for picking up fallen leaves. The company is literally paying residents to do yard work.
It may sound easy, but T+L explains that the company has very stringent quality control parameters. Leaves have to be either red, orange, or yellow and basically flawless. The leaves must be free of bugs, tears, noticeable decay, or brown spots. In fact, the company is eschewing brown altogether: No brown leaves and no brown spots on the approved colors makes for a more difficult money-making venture.
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Cash 4 Leaves is collecting for ShipFoliage, which is using the raw materials to create holiday gifts. Due to a drought in Massachusetts, the company is low on maple leaves, so it's outsourcing the collection process. Anyone that wants to get serious about earning cash from fall's bounty needs to send photos of five leaves to Cash 4 Leaves. If those five specimens meet the company's requirements, a representative will get in touch and arrange for larger shipments.
To show just how serious it is about perfect leaves, Cash 4 Leaves will actually return any that don't make the cut. Anyone willing to sort through piles of leaves could make it out of the season several hundred dollars richer. Fall never looked so good.
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