Sometimes, it is easy being green.

Crookneck squash                                                          Butterhead lettuce



“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.” 
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King


Well, if I'm going to start learning, really start learning intentionally and not at the expectation of society or necessity of performing a job, I may as well start by learning a necessary skill, something that kept who knows how many of my ancestors from starvation.

I have about 300 sq ft of tilled earth, with corn that I need to hoe endlessly, lettuce, squash, cucumber, tomatoes which I think the bees are afraid of, peppers, eggplant, carrots that wilt every time I look at them, beans, and a few accidental mushrooms which I've been told are edible but am not hungry enough to try, just on the off chance they're the Alice in the looking glass kind, or even the regular old poisonous kind.

We spend too much time mastering a single sector of information at the neglect of so much else. With only one lifetime to learn, it's my goal to diversify. Hopefully more of it sticks that way.

So, what do I know so far?

Enough about dead white authors to earn a Literature degree. Enough about Florida's auto insurance requirements to earn a insurer's license.

Those are the measurable things. Really, they're the ones I'm hardly proud of. Show up, nod your head, memorize the lines and off you go. Memorization comes easy to me. But in reality, to paraphrase Jane McGonigal, there are too few save points, few boss fights, little else to mark merit or achievement than these designations. If parents want their kids to clean their rooms and do their homework, they should give XP for it and make it voluntary, then the little buggers would be begging for more chores.

Really, I'm much more proud that I'm a fabulous cook. Like, 525 cooking skill IRL people. Real life needs honorary titles beyond PHD's to celebrities. (Not counting the Mythbusters) Right now, I'm at, like 'Journeyman gardener.' 'Apprentice homemaker' (I think my mopping skill degrades over time) 'Master penny-pincher' etc.

I'm not a terrible gamer either, with the caveat that I am very picky about which class I play

So, this week's tangible learning goal- finish watching Itunes U classes on Business and Investments, then talk to hubby about how his 401k is doing.


(For a real 'Master Penny-Pincher', head over to Cheeky Bums blog and check out their coupon- free savings strategies. For more on Jane McGonigal, check out her book Reality is Broken)