Dual purpose

I like finding new ways of examining old concepts. Somehow I like the challenge of discovering what I hadn't noticed before. My garden is an endless source of wonderment to me! The seasons always bring with them a new level of understanding. Last spring was my first real attempt at growing my own food. Now that plants have reduced their growing for another season though, I'm noticing other stuff around the garden.

Take the roof of my chicken coop. It's somehow become the place I dry and store the pumpkins on.

These are the last of my Kent and Butternut pumpkins for the season. It's much easier to grab the pumpkins from the top of the roof now, as it's only shoulder height and ready to go. In the midst of sprawling pumpkin vines in summer you miss these subtle conveniences.

And what of the mundane scraps often laying around the yard? Can they have a dual purpose and given new meaning too? Take this archway, made from concrete rebar off-cuts.

It's now supporting the snow peas scrambling all over it. Much more than that however, it's often a place the finches, wrens and willy wagtails perch to go about their daily business. It's delightful to witness a flock of finches land on the archway, then dart off just as quickly to feast on some grass seeds.

When the rebar was left on the ground, it grew weeds around it. Now it provides a trellis for food to grow on (my convenience) and a place for small birds to perch on (their convenience). Now I find myself searching the garden for other things to re-purpose. I want to use it all. It seems such a waste to see things in only one dimension.

Now if every season was exactly the same - would we stop to notice what was different?