Why? Because that's where we learn to live. We learn to appreciate work and nature. Also by not expecting to always get something to top it off. But we have to grow our own crops, with the constant concern that nature will do us the best it can. There we can also learn thrift and the principle: "Nothing is thrown away if it can still be used". And what teaching aids do we need in this school? Just a friendly greeting and time to ask questions and listen. For there must be no hurry and no shortcuts in this kind of learning.
One of my teachers there is Mrs Jana from Žužemberk. Every visit to her is a little lesson. In one of my favourite ones, mushrooms had the main word. Mrs Jana gave me a box of dried porcini mushrooms. A precious gift, considering that the porcini had to be found first and then dried properly.
It is important to know how to handle such a gift. I could see on her face that she wasn't sure if I knew how to prepare them. And since I gave no indication that I was going to ask her for advice, she probably thought I was just another city lady who thought she knew everything, or would rather look in a cookbook or Google than ask her. So she took matters into her own hands and we had this dialogue:
Her: "Do you even know how to prepare them?"
Me: "Yes, of course, because my mother taught me."
Her: "Well, then it's all right. And bring the box back to me, did you hear me?"
A clear plastic box, like the kind they pack cakes in to take home. Why throw it away when you can reuse it? Why throw away and throw away things that are still useful? This does not require words, workshops and lectures. Common sense, modesty, appreciation of what we have and respect for everything and everyone are enough. Ms Jana probably does not use the word sustainability; she may not have heard it or even paid attention to it, but she takes many sustainable steps every day, or in fact lives sustainability. Even by adding a jar of dried parsley to a box of porcini mushrooms and telling me to bring it back when it is empty.
And when I bring the box and jar back a week later, she thanks me by sharing some more simple tips on storing vegetables, flowers, etc. For example, she tells me how to preserve the pansies you buy in February for a whole year. By giving them a little wash now and then with water and a spritz of hairspray. And when you thank her kindly for the advice, you get a sincere reply that surprises you: 'I didn't know that before. Others told me." What is it but the transfer of knowledge that we have to relearn in our sophisticated, digitalised and competitive world, but which is taken for granted in the outdoor classroom?
And such an environment only encourages you to go to the shopkeepers even when you don't need anything, just to say hello. Or just to go in for a morning or Saturday dose of laughter and healthy humour that gives life meaning. And the day is instantly light and cheerful.
Tatjana Kolenc
English (UK) 
Slovenščina 
Italiano 
Magyar