Everyday Education

You what is incredibly hard? Functioning "normally" (if that word even has any meaning now) in the midst of a global pandemic.

It's hard to be back at home in a shared space with my parents for an extended period of time, it's hard to be confined to only my house and work (I am an essential employee, after all), it's hard to find motivation to keep up with my school work and all the various tasks I have to do as the end of the semester approaches, it's hard to not see anyone besides my immediate family, it's hard doing work, school, and social interactions all virtually, it's hard taking care of my own mental health.

While there are plenty of difficult things, I've also found a lot of joys in the middle of this, little gems that I normally don't get to enjoy this time of year: sitting on my deck in the sunshine with my mom, laying in my hammock and reading a new book, cooking up a storm and trying crazy new recipes, really setting aside time to chat with my friends who I can't see in person, binging a lot of Netflix, going to the range with my dad, riding and taking care of not only my horse, but other people's horses at the barn, going adventuring on the trails around my house, which I haven't explored since middle school. Though there is a lot of bad there is also a lot of good, and throughout all of this chaos, the good is what I'm trying to focus my energy on.


One little gem specifically that I have found that I want to talk about is everyday Ag Ed. Through all that's been happening, I've noticed how in my daily interactions I have been able to educate those around me on so many cool things. These little interactions show how important education is, but how ag is involved in our daily lives and the education of it can be nonformal. Here are some of my favorites:

• I have a propagated spider plant that I've been growing and posting pictures of as I went from propagating him in water to grow out his roots, to transplanting it to a little pot with some soil, to taking him out for some warmth and sunshine (its still a little chilly here in New Hampshire so he cant live outside yet). One of my friends from school commented on one of the pictures asking about what I was doing and I told her about the process of propagating a cutting. I was able to tell her about some of the issues I had with water being too hard, temperatures being too low, and the overall steps of this form of propagation. It was really fun to share my knowledge of plant science and the joy of growing plants with a friend, and to help her as she tries to execute propogating a cutting as well. 

• One of my favorite get-out-of-the-house-activities is to explore the trails around my house, and I frequently have my momma come with me. On one of our most recent walks, I got to do a bunch of tree ID with her and teach her about the different species in our area. I showed her the difference between a red pine and a white pine by looking at their needles and bark, between aspen and different birch varieties by looking at leaf structure, and even between red and black oak by the unique aspects of their respective leaves. It was a fun trek of us laughing, talking about life, and picking up leaves and trying to ID what tree they came from. Even today when we were in the car she said, "Look! That's a white pine right?" and she was correct.

•  At the barn I work with some younger girls who help me out two nights of the week with evening chores. One night we were about to make up grain for the next morning when we got talking about the horses digestive system (the topic of conversation as mainly that horses cant regurgitate) and I got to give them a little lesson on other parts of the horses digestive system, such as the cecum, which is vital to the horses health and why they need hay throughout the day. It was cool to see them connect the dots of what they know about horses, and the things I was telling them, as well as see the excited on their faces from their newfound knowledge.

•  While sitting on my back deck, my dad came out and we were chatting about some work being done on a lot at the bottom of the hill that we live on. They were clearing the trees on back half of the lot and had a whole bunch of machinery going. We got into conversation about forestry, different kinds of woods and grain structure within the wood, what species are more valuable than others, and how to grade timber. We also got talking about how to fell trees with a chainsaw and I got to share with him my knowledge and experiences that I have had felling, specifically in the Forestry 228 class at PSU. 

•  On my favorite trail that I have been exploring more and more of every time I go out, there's this one section of it that is a very peculiar, densely-packed pine stand. The pictures I have taken don't do it justice, as upon first glance, this stand seems very out of place. The trail turns from the typical oak/maple/beech hardwood forest to suddenly just being pine in the one section. It is so densely packed that there is only dead branches until about 7 feet up, and only above this mark is their growth; all the pines in this section are like that. The trail winds its way through here for about 100 feet, then as suddenly as it begins, it ends. The forest floor in this area is so thickly covered in pine needles that your steps change their sound, and there's an eerie hush in passing through. It has become an area of utter fascination for me, and when I posted a picture of it on social media, I was able to geek out with a friend of mine (who also gets nerdy about trees) and we educated each other on different facts about pine, pine stands, forest management, and even touched on natural resource management.

•  One of the cutest examples of everyday education has come out of me teaching my parents about animal behavior and how to properly restrain animals, namely our two wild Siamese cats. These ladies have personality for days and can be a bit finicky when it comes to doing their nails and even just overall handling. I've shown them how to hold the cats so as to keep them secure and feeling comfortable, we have talked about nail and coat quality and how it relates to nutrition, and I even had the chance to show them different restraints on the cats for different vet procedures (for example putting the cat in lateral recumbency for femoral venipuncture). Not only did I get to channel my inner nerdy vet science-self, but I got to give my parents practical information for caring for our cats.

COVID-19 has certainly turned all of our worlds upside down, and while it is by no means easy, I've found a lot of benefit from reflection on the good and looking forward to the little things. Being able to look at how I have continued to educate those around me, whether it be virtually or in person, about everyday things in my life is very rewarding. It really reminds me how being a teacher isn't just about the 4 walls of a classroom, but has so much to do with the world we live in.