Strictly for the Birds

I have a secret new pleasure no one knows about, not even my kids. (Well, no one until now.) Usually by the time evening comes around I am too tired to be bothered with dishes. It just seems one more hurdle I can't face. So every morning when I'm gathering the mountains of dishes and scraping them off ready for the dishwasher, I gather the leftover bits from the plates and toast crumbs off the kitchen counter and throw them out the door onto my lawn. Yeah, it looks messy, for about 20 minutes. Then my army of WWFF (will work for food) descend.

I back this ploy up, of course, by putting in water features and native food plants for my workers (they didn't even need unions to negotiate these excellent work conditions), but everyone who visits here is amazed how many wrens, sparrows, parrots, honey eaters and pidgeons stay at my place whittling down the undesirable insects in my garden.

Sure, they are a bother with seedlings, but nothing some netting won't fix. Plus they bring me joy. I feel like I am playing some small part in helping care for God's smallest creatures, and their color and antics bring many a happy, procrastinating moment throughout the busy day as I "consider the birds of the field who neither sow nor reap." :-)