it's not just food for us we must get our fingers dirty
elepant garlic & golden beet & sweet swede
purple brassicas, crimson greens
fat bean pods in furry shells popped into roiling water

it's also for the blue banded bees
& the little blue wrens
Honeyeaters & the tiniest spotted pardelote
Kookas & kestrels that drop into the sea of wild grass for mice
Wattlebirds & whistlers
the bloody possum that rustles in the leaves outside the window at night
Keeping me awake with such thoughts

Gang gangs & other big screeching birds that trim the branches & drop gum nuts all over the fresh raked path
Even the rabbits (I grudgingly suppose) & the earwigs that snip the seedlings clean through
Or the crows that steal the chook eggs
& the bunyips the children chase around the garden.

Each backyard a stubborn little raft

*I was thinking about the concept I've read lately online about how we ARE the ark - each garden, each backyard, each community can be a haven for wildlife even against extinction. With the development going on around here, habitats are cut down and kangaroos are pushed off grazing land, and big trees for nesting birds felled. So the more I plant, the more I feel I am doing something important. I just wish every garden around here did the same. How beautiful it could be.