I've been thinking all week of what skills I have to teach, aside from actually being a 'teacher', which has been my career for the last twenty years. I couldn't think of anything worse than teaching English anymore - creative writing, maybe, but those days are well and truly done for me, the passion for it completely evaporated. So if I didn't teach you a subject I'm well versed in, what would I actually teach you?
Could I teach you how to forage and cook with wild foods? Sure, I could show you where to find saffron milk caps in the Autumn, on the edge of pine forests in the rain, We'd roast them with garlic, pickle them or saute them with butter. We'd pick nettles and make them into spanokopita, palak paneer or plain, comforting soup.
Could I teach you how to cook other things too, like a rich and meaty lentil ragu, enriched with porcini and miso? Or a hearty bean and tomato soup with roast fennel and homemade kale and garlic pesto? If simple food is your thing, I make the best pan fried toasted sandwiches in the world and a fantastic breakfast fry up, with or without bacon. If you can't cook at all we'd start with a sofrito and go from there.
Perhaps you'd like to know how to make your own herbal salves, balms or deodorants, bath bombs, herbal teas or even plant a beginner's herb garden. I could teach you that, too. I could give you a few tips about aquaponics, raising trout, making a smoker out of a beer keg and smoking fish, too. Growing mushrooms in buckets is simple too - I could teach you that if you're keen.
Maybe I could teach you a little about raising chickens, or keeping bees, or growing your own food. We'd start at the basics and go from there.
I could teach you to surf if you like, or just stand up paddle board - I could take you for a paddle up a river and you'll glide along with a big smile on your face and not even fall in.
I could teach you a thing or two about building your own camper in the back of a van so it's insulated and practical. We've done it so many times I've lost count, so we know a trick or two.
I could show you how to renovate or upcycle old furniture, turning old, unloved and ugly pieces of furniture into something unique, beautiful and even sellable, for little cost and a lot of wow. I could teach you how to make fermented hot sauces, pickled, sauerkraut, kimchi and jam, to make your own apple cider vinegar, preserve stewed apples, or prune a fruit tree.
I could teach you how to use a spreadsheet and insert your own formulas to keep track of spends, how to use any social media to work with algorithms, how to use any number of programs and apps.
But none of that is what I really would want to teach you. Sure, come over and I'll run you through the basics of any of those things, if you're interested.
However, the most importat thing I'd want to teach you is how to be a curious, confident and life long learner. You see, no one has taught me any of those things, apart from one course I did on growing oyster mushrooms last year. People say to me all the time 'how do you know these things?', especially younger people who would love to have these skills.
We aren't born with these skills. We learn them as we go. Unless we're willing to observe, learn and practice, we don't learn. We have to understand, for example, that Youtube, books and the internet can teach us anything we need to learn and that it is learnable.
Take the simple example of hot sauce as a symbol for starting with nothing and ending up with something amazing. I had no idea how to make hot sauce. I didn't even follow one single recipe. What I did was start with reading the ingredients on a srirarcha label, and then doing an awful lot of reading on the internet before devising a recipe that made sense to me. I asked questions. I dont like sugar - could you make one without it? I love fermented foods - could you make a fermented hot sauce? Before long I had the ingredients gathered and a hot sauce perfected. That goes for everything, from building a camper to planting lettuce.
Here's a quick side note - I was never confident I could do as much as I do. But somewhere along the line I've learnt that I can. I never let anyone tell me differently. Even my husband, who sometimes looks as me as if I'm mad and incapable, especially if it's anything to do with sanding or painting. But I usually tell him to sod off until I need him to lift something or to point me in the right direction of fixing my mistakes.
If I was to list how to be a good learner, here's the bullet points.
- Experimentation is everything.
- Be prepared to fail - and enjoy it. We learn from our mistakes.
- Don't listen to the voice that says you 'can't' - you can do anything you apply yourself to, and for everything else (like tig welding) you can outsource
- Add 'yet' to the sentence that says you can't: 'I don't know how to sew yet'
- Understand neural plasticity and growth mindset - the brain is remarkable
- Practice, practice, practice.
- Be curious and investigative. Research and watch others.
- Be a critical thinker and an flexible one - look at your problem from all angles. The answer will come if you allow it to.
I think one of the lamentations of us older folk (hey, I'm only 50, but it's all relative) is that kids aren't taught to be practical these days. Everything's on tap, consumerable, buyable, made to order. But there's a lot of satisfaction to be gained from doing things yourself, let alone the environmental and financial benefit. Younger people are realising this as they become disillusioned with the world they're living in. Thing is, it doesn't matter so much what they already know or what they haven't been taught at school - how to cook, change a tyre, grow a vegetable garden, use a chainsaw, build a house.
The most important thing to learn is that learning is life long, and up to you.
Don't say I need someone to teach me. Say 'I need to learn how to do this - where can I start'.
*This was written in response to the Ladies of Hive question of the week which you can find here. I may be a little late with it but wanted to join in anyway - sorry @saffisara - between all the other posts I wanted to get out this week I just didn't have room to fit it in! Did you know that their 100th question is coming up? Amazing. Kudos for the hard work these guys do to supply prompts for us to respond to and create content on this wonderful social media platform we love so much!
With Love,
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So well said and so damn true. Without curiosity and the will to learn, experiment (and often fail) life would be the dullest of things. 🤗❤️🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿💕
PS : I’ve been looking for that lentil recipe, thanks for reminding me of the name. 🤩🤩
Oh enjoy... It's sooo good! 💚💚
Oh, I would love to have a cooking sessiosn with you! Of all household chores, that's my weakness😂.
Though I am cooking as I need to feed myself and I believe I can😆.
Somehow, its edible😅
At least that's something 😂 I'd love to teach you!
@riverflows, I deeply, thoroughly, enjoyed this truly wonderful post (you have many!) of yours. You remind me a lot of myself. Pretty much everything that I know how to do I learned myself. I was a far better teacher for myself than any school or university. You are a brilliant multifaceted, multidimensional, and multifarious woman, and I want to tell you again just how much I appreciate you. 🙏 💚
Aw, keep it coming with the compliments.. and right back atcha!
😁🙏💚
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Love those food..
Same here. I love experimenting too ☺. !LADY
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I loooved reading this ♥️
And you sure have many skills and experiences. The van make over is one I WISH to learn, something I thought of buying and hoping to turn into a camping one.
And to cook... I need all help I can get there 😂 Hahahaha
You seem like the perfect teacher, that looks so delicious that I got all hungry 😋
Great mindset and inspiering, you sure made me think and you are so right in all you say.
Only way to learn is by experience and deturmination, not let a fail make us give up.
You are one I think I could learn much from and your mindset is same as me only I think you can express is better.
Thank you for sharing this and you are a true inspiration.
Happy weekend ♥️ cheers
Thanks so much. Been so busy all day it's the first chance I have got to see all the comments... Wow! I was worried I was coming across as arrogant!! Would love to teach you how to renovate a van!!
Wonderful post and everything you say is so true. Your list of hobbies that you have explored and then put into practice is truly amazing.
It's funny that you don't need the hubby standing over your shoulder or lending a hand, UNTIL you need something heavy picked up. There is a way to avoid that, learn about pulleys and levers, and save your hubby's back.😁
Boy, it sounds like your are totally done with teaching. 20 years of teaching English has brought on teacher burnout which is hard for some people to understand. Being a good teacher, the first thing you need to do is capture your students attention and make what your teaching interesting. A principal that I had early on compared teaching to acting. You are on a stage everyday and the spotlight is constantly on you. The success of your performance will either captivate the audience or put them to sleep.
Anyone that doesn't understand that teachers can get burned out need to spend a month on that stage, try to captivate their audience and then be prepared to deliver a meaningful lesson. It isn't easy and those that think teachers have it made would think differently if they were to give it a go.
At least you realized that you needed to change what you were doing, most teachers don't. When they refuse to leave teaching, the students pay and the teacher still gets paid.
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Hahaha yes pulleys and levers... We have used those when we can't lift it together! But men need to feel useful and manly, so it's best to allow them the opportunity to lift at times 😂😂
You know, I used to love the theatre and drama of teaching, like stepping outside of yourself. But after a time it's the hardest thing to do in the world.
That is sadly so true. And you can't sack a teacher here either, not unless they're abusive etc. So it IS kids that suffer in the end.
I LOVE learning how to do things, it's fun! Unless it's juggling 😂😂😂 .. I HAVE to find meaning and purpose in it.
Thanks for your lovely comment 💚💚🍄🍄🍄🌱🌱🌱
I disagree! Those of us that were born in the seventies, are the most wise, the most talented, the most beautiful beings and the rest of the world just envy us :)
Loved your post. I have to admit that I rarely read posts with more than 500 words but I just consumed this one :)
Ahahah HIGH FIVE!!!
:)
Well constructed and it's obvious you have a lot to teach us on this platform. One of your soups has the same look with a soup in my country, we like to call ewedu
Adding to my favourites in order to stay updated.
Ooh ... What's in ewedu? Is it Nigerian?
Yes it is. It's a soup we eat over here with amala. You can check it out on google.
Thank you for this post and I honestly desire that you would win. I'm headed towards youtube right now. I'm going to start learning all the things I put off.
Yay, what's the first thing you want to learn?
Yup, both my husband and I were nearly completely self taught in all the skills we had between us. Life is learning. If you aren't learning, you aren't living...
That's so true .... Although we tend to say if we aren't in pain we ain't alive 😂😂
!PIZZA
!LUV
!PGM
=)
How i wish, I would probably have a cooking sessiosn or leasson with you.
You have what it takes to attract a king to your door step!
Aw thankyou. I'd be happy to!
I agree with curiosity. To remain curious is really the key. Curious about life, yourself, your partner, your world, your future etc. I think this must come from within as we can't force or teach someone curiosity. Teachers can do this with kids, as you probably know for so many years. I find it a remarcable quality to be able to make people curious.
Understand neural plasticity and growth mindset - the brain is remarkable. YES. This is why saying that one is too old to change or learn is no longer believable
Never too old! Exactly!!
It's hard to teach curiousity, but we need to encourage it for sure!
You are the BEST kind of teacher my dear human 😊
Well said. You certainly have made good use of your time! Wow.
Also - the van! 😁 It's not loading for me for some reason. I'm going to have to try and download it...
Oh no!!!! I hope it loads...
Hey
I did download it and it seems it may have only half loaded Hive side so maybe you want to reload that one. The others are fine :)
Not sure if it's my bandwidth or (sometimes) this happens on upload so...
possibly if we hit publish before the image is fully uploaded? Is that possible? I don't even know...
I will only say this: Your post is so inspiring!!❤️ Thank you for writting this down! I enjoyed reading it, all of it! From top to buttom. And I'll come back to this as often I'll need because words like these is what younger people need (and not just younger).
Aw, thanks so much! I am sure you encourage your little one to be curious - as they get older they can lose it so it's so important to foster and nurture this!
Well, I'm trying to but sometimes I feel that I'm already failing. Educating children to be curious nowadays its not easy, though we have a lot of methods and techiques available.
Can I add one more item to your list on how to be a good learner?
It's absolutely destructive when we are excited telling someone about something we find exciting and they just move on and change subjects.
Oh yes I agree. It's also confounding how people can be so rude.
That's exactly a strategy for fostering curiousity though... You listen and encourage people even if it's not your thing
Exactly! Showing a little bit of interest doesn't hurt and can make somebody's day
Your post makes me hungry, specially to be creative. I haven't eaten lunch yet. Your DIY is always inspiring.
I would love to learn all those things except surfing, I'd probably put my back out or something silly like that! I am curious and very impulsive and not afraid to try new things, so am with you 100% on that one! My mother was like that, small in stature but used to even paint her own walls till around the age of 75! So I had a good role model in that respect. Wish I lived closer so you could teach me about foraging, something I would looove to learn.
Awesone response @riverflows 😍
Such a wonderful post! You are a master in everything! How to be you? Lol, as you say ...Learn learn and learn! Hugs my dear!