With a lack of meat, rabbit hutches in back gardens and a multitude of rabbit warrens in fields and woods became the war-time scene. At harvest time, a reaper would cut from the outside of a field, progressing until a rectangle of uncut grain was left at the field's centre - becoming smaller and smaller until a ring of men and boys would surround it to catch the sheltering hordes of rabbits.Nothing was wasted in the food line - peelings, outside leaves of lettuces and cabbages, and even tea leaves were fed to chickens, rabbits or pigs, or was used as garden compost.
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| The compost bin received anything not given to chickens, rabbits or pigs. |
Paper, rags, metal, rubber and washed bones were sorted into boxes or tied in bundles and left on pavements for collection to be recycled. Even washed bones were recycled, for they were boiled down to make gluey were ground up as a fertiliser, or the used in aircraft manufacture, or they were made into glycerine for high explosives for shells and bombs. A single chop bone weighing 2 oz could supply two rounds of ammunition for RAF Hurricane fighter guns.