Hi, friends!
Gonna rant tonight. Talk about whatever in the comments, as per usual (there never is any real topic you should feel like you have to stick to in NOTs).
So my facebook feed is based on mostly groups that are irreverent because I need a serotonin boost with the shittiness that is *gestures at everything.* So it’s groups where the posts are about being stoned and trying to make craft projects or fat cats being giant fat cats.
One of the groups is about shitty plant growing. So it’s mostly posts of carrots that look like a penis or like 3 cherry tomatoes with a caption “8 plants for this giant yield” or a picture of a garden plot that flooded. Jokes about being drunk or stoned, pretty chill and entertaining and sarcastic.
Today someone posted something like “with all the food insecurity due to the pandemic impacting stuff getting to stores, I wish schools taught gardening and food canning and all that stuff!”
Now I know some schools do have a garden with classes for the kids, just right off the bat there are some key problems with her post – namely that for a lot of climates, you aren’t in school when the growing season is going on, not all schools have the resources or space for it, and like for a fuckton of kids, a class a few days a week isn’t going to really matter because there is literally nothing they can do at home due to space and other resources. But whatevs.
Oh man the comments. Oh the comments. Welp turns out there is a large vocal group beating the drum “where are the parents why aren’t parents doing this, parents need to be parents and have that responsibility.” Welp let’s ignore that plenty of parents work ridiculously long hours and multiple jobs, hard to teach gardening when you’re working 12 hour days. Or working night shifts. Etc.
Another large group was all “government controls your schools and they won’t let the teachers do things like this because they want people helpless.” Ugh. I will say there was a lot of pushback from people saying hey teachers are already overworked trying to shove all the course content in, if you want gardening classes shut the fuck up and go talk to your local school board about volunteering to teach it.
And finally, wow the weirdo homesteaders came out of the woodwork who homeschool. So much of that. I really worry about all the kids who are being homeschooled by the conservative weirdos. I feel like it’s been really increasing in volume the last decade or so and I just worry about those kids.
I need to leave the group now, I don’t think it’s salvageable that I want to stay in there with all the weirdos.
Anyways, how was your Monday?
I had the day off, so I spent much of it…in the garden.
As far as teaching kids gardening, beyond all of the practical issues at work, the kids have to actually find a reason to care about the subject. Otherwise, it’s just another class teaching them shit they don’t care about and will never use. For my part, I grew up on a farm but didn’t give a rat’s ass about gardening until I was almost 30 years old and living in the ‘burbs. Everything I know about it now I’ve learned in the past 20 years.
It’s also just incredibly stupid to think that people could grow enough food to be self-sufficient. Like I definitely don’t have to buy tomatoes for like 3 months of the year and I get tons of delicious peppers, but it’s not like I can grow enough cereal grains necessary to actually subsist on.
One of my facebook friends has recently started gardening and keeps tagging their posts with crap like “self-sufficient” and “homesteading” and I’m like okay best of luck you’re posting that along with pictures of like 3 strawberries and you’re not doing it ironically…
Facebook is designed to blow this stuff up. There are a thousand little cues and design tweaks they implement to push these things in front of people and then encourage snap responses.
I think the key thing to whatever extent possible when someone is crummy in these situations is try to break the spell and shift the blame to Zuck. Even if it’s not really his fault, it still is.
“You know, I was starting to overreact to your point but then I realized Facebook wants conflict for its stock value, so instead let me put it this way….”
Why don’t schools teach gardening and canning? The schools that can’t afford supplies for the classes that already exist? Why aren’t parents teaching it? What makes them think they don’t? Some parents do, the ones who enjoy gardening, who have yards or nearby community gardens. The ones who can afford seeds, plants, and gardening tools. Maybe these people should volunteer their time and funds to start local programs.
Right??
Some people were even like “they should cut art and music and teach this instead!!!” which wow. I mean wow.
I took the day off because my sore back got worse after cutting the lawn and I needed it to stop throbbing.
Have two interviews this week so it is going to be a busy one.
I’m sorry about your back, I hope it stops hurting soon!
Cheers and luck on the interviews.
Sort of on topic. I planted pumpkin seeds for funzies with my kids. We don’t have much land for planting because we’re on a ravine. I didn’t expected anything of it but today I found two of the six seeds actually sprouted! So I pulled all the weeds and vines out from around them and will endeavor to take care of them. Hopefully the rabbits don’t find them now that they are uncovered.
Yay, pumpkins! Best of luck and sometimes I think the plants that grow out of spite do the best. 🙂
Oh and I bought self propagating strawberries which I planted in a planter on our balcony. So far it has produced a single zombie strawberry… It’s literally poking up from under the soil. I’m no gardener and I’m freaked out by it so we won’t be harvesting from that plant.
So, 2 weeks of vaca started Friday after work. MIL arrived Friday. Wife’s bff was over the house Friday, Sunday, and tonight. And is coming again tomorrow. So far, worst Vaca ever.
Can you go out of town?
I have to admit, I was once that foolish and idealistic person posting things about school gardens. I’ve long since learned how impractical that idea is for at least 98% of the U.S. Could there be some sort of summer school course for gardening? Probably, but the logistics would be damned difficult to work out.
I’m one of those people who loves the idea of a garden, but in reality, I have a black thumb and generally kill most of what I plant. Not intentionally, but either the weather is uncooperative, or my health is, or the soil is lousy, or the bugs eat everything… only one year did I actually manage to grow things that we actually were able to eat. Cabbages, lettuces, green beans, and a couple of herbs but mostly parsley. At this point, I’ve pretty well given up.
Canning and preserving, though, that I’ve got a good handle on! So I leave the gardening to my mom and my bestie and I do the canning when they give me stuff. Although, if my mom plants 22 tomato plants again, I may just throw the tomatoes at her! That year was insaaaaaane. HUNDREDS of tomatoes. I canned for weeks. I made homemade ketchup and honeyed tomato preserves that year because I was so bored with sauce and whole tomatoes!