Sept 26th - Exit Slip

During today’s class, I continued to think about the spirit that is infused by creators and caretakers. Both these acts, caring and creating, seem deeply reciprocal by nature. With this in mind, I’d like to share how my own experience with how gardening has unexpectedly helped enrich my communities. In 2019 when I grew my first garden, although I had no idea what to do, I was deeply motivated by the prospect of seeds becoming food. My first garden, despite being done chaotically, was successful and yielded many different plants. In particular, I was shocked at how abundant and delicious the carrots were. I’ve grown many different crops in the past 5 years, however carrots are always the staple that I eagerly invest my time.

During the first few years, I was mostly in love with the process of gardening. Preparing the beds, planting the seeds, nurturing the plants and seeing things grow. Unfortunately, I did not know how to harvest properly and much of what I grew rotted. Eventually, I realized that it was unethical to not harvest these gifts. Being unable to eat all the food I was growing, I started giving it away to anyone who convinced me they were going to eat it. Since this realization, I’ve brought a bag of carrots to almost every social gathering I’ve attended during carrot season. I feel tremendous gratitude when I see friends eating my carrots. Carrots have made many a stranger my friend.

I see many parallels in carrot growing and weaving. Both activities are done by the grower / weaver for themselves – the act is intrinsically satisfying. Both activities yield abundance, and this abundance can be distributed to the community. These activities, so deeply tied to the land, enrich both the creator and community.

I hope very much to incorporate land-based learning in my journey as an educator. I’m realizing more that although I am passionate about math, it is not the ‘core’ of what I hope to teach my students. Math is only a medium that will help students explore themselves and the world.

Starting to feel a little too idealistic. I need to go on practicum soon.