Friday, March 30, 2012

Unemployed

No, not me. I'm retired, but still tap at the keyboard every day.  But, I hired a kid, maybe 25 or so, to do the heavy work in the garden. He did the bed prep and I wanted him to set up the soaker hoses and then mulch the veggies I had already planted.

He had never seen a tomato plant before. For that matter, he had never seen a veggie garden before.  I asked him to put the soaker hoses at the base of the tomato plants.  After he did not move, I realized he had no idea what I was talking about. Did not know what the plant was, what a stem was or why he was doing what he was doing.

Aha, sez me, a teaching moment. I explained what we were doing and why.  Showed him the baby bean plants because the seeds have come up.  Showed him how to plant bean seeds because I don't want all those beans at once, so plant them in stages. I explained that the tomatoes would grow and yield nice red tomatoes, the likes of which could never be found in a supermarket.  Not only did he not know what a veggie garden is, I found out he didn't care.  He had no curiosity whatsoever.  I asked him to bring me a bag of fertilizer.  He brought two bags to me, the only two nearby. One was ant killer, the other fertilizer.  The bag had FERTILIZER written on the side.  He either couldn't read or had no idea what fertilizer was.  None.  I finished the placing of the soakers, the mulching, the fertilizing while he watched and then I sent him home.

And we wonder why folks are unemployed.  I sure know the answer for this particular young man.

Thanks for your visit today.

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Visit us at pondlady.com for all kinds of great garden pond info.


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