Gardeners Gift -Biodegradable Pot Maker and Big Idea 185 is Allegory

reuse newspaper

One of the gifts I received today (as well as that most precious gift, the gift of li..) was a device for making biodegradable pots from old newspaper - The Paper Potter. The Potter looks like fun, seeds and seedlings can be planted out at the appropriate time and the pot will disappear into the soil.

The wooden 'Potter' designed to form the pots is made from FSC oak so you can be assured it has come from renewable environmentally friendly sources. The pots are simple to put together and solid enough to contain delicate seedlings but lack the ability to support bigger plants.
The pots are great in  allowing the plants to be transplanted without damaging the tender seedling roots.
The Nether Wallop Paper Potter is (they say) robust enough for the seasoned gardener.

Big Idea 185 is Allegory

The word allegory is derived from the Greek words meaning “other” and “to speak in public.” The meaning of the allegory is sometimes communicated through the use of symbolic figures or other symbols. The associations of the allegorical figures or symbols with other elements in the work can occur in the mind of the viewer and convey a meaning beyond the literal representation or it might be pointed out to them for them to get the second meaning.

Here comes spring!

Literary works such as  Pilgrim's Progress and Animal Farm are said to be allegorical that is the books can be analysed on two levels. The main obvious one, and the one below the surface so Animal Farm is actually an allegory that uses animals on a farm to represent the overthrow of the Russian Tsar Nicolas II, the actions of Stalin and the revolution in Russia (1917).
The struggles of the animals on the farm can  be viewed as a metaphor for how greed and indifference corrupted the Russian revolution and the dangers that  occur without a smooth transition to a government of the proletariat.
Allegories can also be seen in visual works such as  the painting “La Primavera,” by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli this used various Greek gods, goddesses and nymphs to depict the  soon to be spring.
Life of Pi is a film and book that is said to be allegorical - look at Yann (who wrote life of Pi) talk on the subject here.