So I shifted to my 2nd line of attack: our IGA. Now the IGA is happy to put boxes of fruit & vegetable scraps out the back for those of us with chooks, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, the odd peacock, hamsters & guinea pigs to abscond with free of charge so when I found my first box I took just enough for ourselves for one day. BIG mistake. I am not the only person keeping chooks. Of course I'm not. Everybody else takes a whole box @ a time. I discovered this today.
See, I keep a big cardboard box on our back seat in case ofs... & I fill that box & that box only, as I pointed out to the young man urging me to take the entire box of fresh, luscious lettuce leaves because I am not the only person with chooks & I prefer to leave something for the next person.
The last time I did a scrap run there were several boxes & because I was first on the scene I got choice pickings which have lasted us almost a week. Knowing we were getting low again I have been keeping an eye out for the past few days but I haven't been quick enough & the boxes have been empty when I arrived. This is disheartening. It's not that my girls survive on scraps. Heavens no! They have a full trough of top of the market laying mash but the vegetables are a healthy treat. They clean the stuff up so fast it's like it never happened, so, you know, being a terrible softy, I like to put some out every day knowing it will be enjoyed.
So, I was rather chuffed to find I was first this morning, having detoured after I dropped the man to his boat, because I had just put out the last of what we still had, & I made sure to leave some for the next person because it is so disheartening to find there are boxes out & they are all empty when you are counting on being able to give your girls a treat!
I set off home feeling rather smug, as you do, when I realized that this morning I had planned to use my big cardboard box for pine cones. *?????* That's right, I said pine cones. I know the calendar says it's spring but the weather hasn't caught on yet. It is wet, miserable & cold here & what we generally use to kick start our fire is pine cones ~ which are free & abundant on the roadside as I head home. The MOTH had pointed out the empty basket after he lit the fire this morning, hopeful, I'm sure, that I would take the hint & do something about it ~ which I had fully intended to do. That's why I had made sure my box was in the car. The MOTH takes it out when he goes to get firewood. I pulled over to the side of the road eyeing off the loveliest pine cones: big, full, dry pine cones, absolutely perfect for firemaking. Then I considered my box, overflowing with delicacies.
Sensible people would, I'm sure, go home, empty their box & come back, but once I'm home I never want to come out again unless I absolutely have too. My man spreads a large bath sheet on the back seat to protect it from wood so I tipped the lettuce onto that, filled my box with pine cones & headed home feeling rather virtuous because it wasn't even half seven in the morning & I'd already accomplished 2 chores! And my girls were so happy!
Mind you, it has become a little embarrassing. Any time I now appear, there is a huge kerfuffle & the girls come running & fluttering from all over the yard, treat expectant, & will hover round my feet in imminent danger of tramping underfoot. I don't always have treats but it is making things so much easier to get them back in their coop.
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