Tuesday, September 9, 2008

a happy moment of provision

The RSPCA has sold out. We had been purchasing RSPCA endorsed food for our rabbits which we discovered is "enriched with molasses". Feeding it to them meant that we were giving them a sugar hit twice a day. Figuring that this could be the cause of their cranky behaviour and expanding waistlines, we've weaned them off it. This has meant increasing their vegie intake, which can add unnecessary $ to the grocery bill.

So I decided to weed out the clover from our vegie patch and plant some rabbit friendly vegetables. However, it's hard to get seedlings established in our garden. They are either dug up by the neighbourhood cats who like to use the patch for a litter box, or snacked on by the local bird population who seem to prefer the tenderness of new seedlings over older established plants.

It occurred to me that what I needed was something that would let light and rain through, but keep the wildlife out. Until a few hours ago I thought that I would solve the problem by going to Bunnings tomorrow and making a purchase. The "cheap" solution to our rabbits' dietary requirements was getting more and more expensive. However, as I was driving home, I noticed that people from a house round the corner from us were putting out plastic bakery trays for the hard rubbish collection. These trays have holes wide enough to let light and sun through, but small enough to keep the birds out.

Having checked that they were definitely up for grabs - there was plenty of other hard rubbish out on the street, but I'd hate to make a mistake - I picked them up, took them home and positioned them over the seedlings.

It made me very happy.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not pretending for an instant that the dietary needs of our rabbits are of earth shattering importance. They are just bunnies. However it did remind me of God's generous provision for us in so many ways every day - even in little things.

3 comments:

Maia said...

God is good isn't He? It's lovely how the small things often remind us of the bigger issues at hand, and of His loving characteristics. Cheers, Micaela

Elizabeth said...

have you considered feeding them your veggie and fruit scraps? you've probably already tried that but just thought I'd mention it in case! rabbits also love weeds, such as dandelion, and you can give them cut grass too :)

Pilgrim Penguin said...

Thanks for the tip II, we've already been feeding them what we can from our leftover fruit and veg and they've been doing well off our weeds too. Combined it isn't enough to feed them properly though, hence the vegie growing efforts.