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Falling Back on Nature
How (language) learning is exactly like gardening.
About 12 years ago, I moved back from the big city of Ljubljana to my small town. I was also financially dry, so I picked up gardening. Growing arugula and tomatoes was far cheaper than visiting the butcher, so it made sense. I learned a ton about soils, microbiomes, fungal networks below our feet, and how it all connects to growing food.
Three years ago, in the middle of the Covid crisis, I picked up French — a bucket-list language — then, out of sheer curiosity, Slovak, and lately, Italian. This was another enlightening experience that led me down more than one rabbit hole of psychology.
But how do these two connect?
We are the ones who connect them. Humans love to complicate things — growing plants, eating them, and speaking are no exception.
When it comes to growing plants, there are countless books, seminars, courses, TV shows, experts, talking heads, pundits, and products — some created to make money, others just for the fun of it. Each claims to have a mystery to unveil or a secret sauce to sell. To stand out in the market, they overcomplicate things, often inventing nonsense.
The reality of gardening is much simpler. Just do what nature has done for millions of years…
