The Jang Seeder is a precision seeder used on the market-garden scale to make direct seeding much more efficient. There is a series of cogs and wheels (and a brush) that work in concert to make this handy little machine a easy walk behind seeder for seeding rows quickly.
Yesterday, when I was going to learn how to use the Jang Seeder again, (It is deceptively simple to use, but forget a step and it won’t work properly) I heard another student say they had no interest in learning how to use that because they were never going to use it in the future. And while that is a practical thing to say on the surface, I think this kind of thinking can be limiting for a lot of people.
I used to teach middle school, and as every teacher has heard, I would get the questions from students of when will we ever use this in regard to classroom activities with no clear through line to future endeavors. At the time, I would often try to frantically think of some use from my own life or that of other adults in an effort to justify the importance of the knowledge.
However, as I have gotten older, I have realized a better answer: I don’t know, but having this knowledge will unlock a door in the future that you aren’t expecting to encounter right now.
I am not the first to espouse the wonders of a growth mindset, but I have come to realize just how integrated it is in my core at this point in my life. When I have the opportunity to learn a new skill, I only say no to that opportunity if I don’t have the time or resources necessary to do it. I never say no because I don’t already have a use for that knowledge. In truth, all knowledge is opportunity to do new and greater things; life long learning gives me the chance to keep doing the unexpected.
I don’t know for certain if I will ever use a Jang Seeder in my personal farming practice, but by having the knowledge of how to use one then that option stays in my quiver for any time I may choose to pull it out in the future. I have kept my life as interesting to me as it is by always gathering skills and knowledge without specifically having a need for them at the time of learning, but fully believing that one day it would be useful.
After all, that is how I stumbled my way into farming with a set of skills that were directly applicable on day one after having never imagined this is what I would undertake in midlife.
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