Back in college, I was laid off from my part-time job due to a certain pandemic that plunged the world into hibernation mode. My co-op with the construction company that I'd been looking forward to was cancelled. On-campus classes were sliced in half. My life shrank to the size of my one-bedroom apartment, and I was left with little to do besides study, chat with friends through Skype and play Animal Crossing.

I needed something to do, something hands-on where I could put my restless energy to good use. Maybe I could rake in some extra cash. After weeks of brainstorming, my friends and I finally hit a light bulb idea: Growing our own garden. It was Animal Crossing but without staring at a screen. Best of all, we could donate to the local food bank. Not too long ago, my own family had relied on donations to pull through a rough patch in our life. I was happy to give back.

We began our research into indoor gardening. A couple weeks later, we'd each bought our own mini LED-powered indoor gardens to store at our homes. Actually, I built mine by putting together spare pieces of plankwood to set up a nice garden space for my lettuce. Leafy greens were the beginner's go-to, apparently. We planted our seedlings and waited.

I made sure to be extra attentive to the plants. I gave them the proper amount of sunlight, fertilizer, and checked for any hint of yellow. It was a fresh change to have something living grow under my own roof. Their presence increased my mood. By the end of the first month, I'd taken my first bite of home-grown salad and decided that I could do better. My friends and I became more ambitious. We planted more seedlings, and soon had a whole array of vegetables ready to be harvested.

Elated at our success, we called up the charity—only to discover that the new pandemic restrictions had toughened. They couldn't accept our leafy greens for safety reasons.

In my dejection, I ate some of my greens. It was still a lot for one person. Not wanting to let it go to waste, I went to the nearby park where I'd often stand and look out at the lake. Flocks of geese frequented the area. The geese had never particularly liked me, but they weren't horrible company. (To my knowledge, there were no rules that prohibited socializing with animals.) I had read somewhere that lettuce was healthier than bread for them. I ripped the leaves to shreds and threw it in the pond. The geese gobbled it all.

Much to my neighbours' amusement (or displeasure), I continued to feed the geese. Other times I looked up interesting recipes to use my greens in. I still plan to donate some to charity once the pandemic restrictions have eased. But it'd also gotten me thinking about making it bigger than just a neat hobby. Now I just have to wait.  

;)

The title is a pun on "Green Eggs and Ham." Also, Animal Crossing is an online game with the goal of building a society while paying off your debt. One of the activates you can do is farming.