I have been working in our vegetable garden. I noticed in the paper this morning that Mrs Obama does vege gardening. Our vegetable garden will be nothing like hers. Ours is growing amongst paths with weeds and grass growing prolifically. I get one day off a week so our time for such a pursuits is limited, but we do have a lot of garden growing. We have had a goat and lamb get in and clean up some crops! But as I planted more plants today I could not help but be impressed with what we have produced.
I can wander around the garden and have refreshments while I work. I can browse on broad beans, (if you eat too many raw ones you get a headache) radish, parsley, two types of lettuce, turnip tops, the goat left me a few sweet chinese peas, lovely little sweet turnips and silver beet leaves. It is so great to sit down already to a meal where most of its contents come from our garden. We have heaps of crops to mature yet and they look to be doing well. Even with little spare time, among the weeds we are growing a useful vegetable garden.
I watched a program on TV last night. They were getting a professional couple and teaching them how to establish a vegetable garden. The couple, clever, "successful" people had bought some seed potatoes to plant and were discussing them. I could not believe what I was hearing. It was obvious from the conversation that they did not have a clue about how potatoes grew, multiplied or were harvested! I can understand people not gardening. There are courses for horses and a variety of situations in life. But I could not believe that they did not know where food they obviously enjoyed and had eaten for years came from! It was a part of our learning about nature at school, how tubers multiply etc. ....we drew little drawings in our exercise book.
Apart from anything else such knowledge helps us appreciate life, the gift of food and the world of nature about us. Sometimes I think in this day and age with our modern technology, we know everything about "everything" but nothing about the basics of life. Life then becomes cheap, superficial and lacking in deeper appreciation and enrichment.
"Useless" but valuable learning.
On thinking about it, we live in a very pragmatic and utilitarian age. We will learn something if it is useful to us. So we will learn about plant growth and nature if it leads to advancement in scholastic goals or in our career, or if we want to make money by growing our own food. But there is a whole lot of knowledge that is not utilitarian, we cannot "use" it, but it still enhances life. I was press ganged into coaching school boy cricket years ago. I did it for seven years. I am not sure that I taught the boys much, but I certainly learned heaps. I will never be a cricketer, my very average hand-eye coordination (not to mention my age) puts that well out of my grasp. But because I had to learn more about cricket to coach boys, I now really appreciate and enjoy when I can get to watch cricket. Each ball is fascinating to me. Field placings are of interest. The game has come alive for me much more because I know more about it. I have run a number of half-marathons, 10 k races, triathlons and 5 k road races. I will never be a good runner, but now I appreciate so much more about what good athletes put themselves through. The knowledge enriches and enhances my life. I have killed my own meat, chopped down trees for my own firewood and reconditioned car motors. Such experiences and knowledge enrich my appreciation of the meat I eat, the heat I enjoy, the car I drive. At a "spiritual" or deeper level, life is experienced more profoundly because of this knowledge. Knowledge does not just bring skills it brings a deeper appreciation and experience of life. I taste life more deeply because I have learned about these things. My days are therefore much richer because of this. When I die, such knowledge has meant that whatever years of life I have had or what ever experiences or exposure to life I have managed, has been value packed. Because of such non-utilitarian knowledge I have had more "bang for my buck" out of living. In these super-efficient, "bean counter" dominated days, we need to remember that there is more to life than just "production" and "action". "Useless" knowledge enhances life too.
Anyway, I enjoy my vege garden, apart from anything else, it enriches my life and my eating experience.
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