A little lesson about germination today

With my wander and water this morning came the joys of discovering that some of our snow peas have sprouted. New sprouts are always an exciting event for Miss C :) In order to distract Mr S from crawling around in the puddles and sitting on our plants (many a plant has been nursed back to health so far), I usually hand him a little pot and some kids gardening tools to keep him occupied while I water the garden. Today we discovered that the pot I was about to give him also had some little snow pea seedlings which had been unearthed (C must have planted them while I wasn't looking!) So Miss C and I examined and discussed how our little green pea seeds had begun to grow into little plants.

It really is fascinating and pretty mind boggling how within a seed, many much much smaller than snow pea seeds, is the potential to grow and gift us all the wonderful sights and tastes and smells that we so often take for granted.

Upon venturing back inside I was considering how amazing it also is that if we cared enough to, we could live virtually waste and expense free, or at least dramatically cut down the cost of living and the amount of rubbish we send to the tip each week. For example, a seed will grow into  a plant that will produce fruit for us to eat. All that seed needs is water and sun and the right type of soil, which is all readily available, and water is can be collected. The fruit from that plant will nourish our bodies, and any waste from that plant can be composted and fed to the soil and will nourish future seeds in that plot. Or, if you kept chickens they would eat those scraps, provide you with eggs to eat (you can compost the shells, or break them up and use them to keep snails away from your plants, apparently) and their poo could be used as a manure to feed the soil to grow your plants. Or if you had a worm farm you could feed them the scraps and use their wee as a fertiliser to feed your plants and their casings to feed the soil. There's plenty of different scenarios that are equally as good as the next and can be adapted to most situations and living circumstances.
And for those who are unable to compost or use their organic scraps as feed, many councils have the option of a green bin and collection service. And then I get all irritated because THE BLUE MOUNTAINS DON'T HAVE THAT OPTION!

HELLOOOOOOO! We live within a world famous, heritage listed national park, surrounded by green and nature and stuff, and we are supposedly proud of that! It's a horn that regularly gets tooted by the council. The logic for not providing SOMETHING along those lines, even on an optional basis, is lost on me.

Shake it off...