“pull up your lawn, and plant food. That strikes right at the heart of the American suburban dream. The lawn is a holdover from the lord’s manor house, when a big lawn meant you owned a big herd of sheep (and enough peasants to shepherd them). Pollan is suggesting disposing of that icon of affluence in favor of something much more practical and real. That’s revolutionary. Also, I think you are underestimating the personal emotional and psychological impact that gardening and growing your own food can have. It can totally transform your relationship with your food and with your natural environment. It is frequently and surprisingly addictive, and it encourages people to pay close attention to elements of the natural world that most modern Americans are disconnected from, like the weather and the insects and what else is in bloom. It strikes directly at the industrial agricultural system, one of our most insidious and ultimately dangerous dependencies. It restores a basic connection between people and their environment. That connection has dominated most of human history, but has been forgotten in recent generations, and I’m convinced that that is part of the reason that people can rationalize the damage that our civilization does to the world: they are ecologically illiterate and they have forgotten that our health and prosperity is ultimately and intimately tied to that of other living systems. And there are certain crops - salad, artichoke, most berries - where the flavor of fresh-picked simply cannot be equaled by anything from the store. That in itself is a visceral eye-opening experience. They say that there is no evangelist as earnest as the converted. That would be true here, for sure. I’m an engineer, and someone who until about 7 years ago had no interest whatsoever in gardening, and only a passing and casual interest in the environment. Gardening has opened my eyes to fundamental relationships that cannot easily be described but that are clearly and obviously true from experience. It has attuned me to the natural world and taught me to pay attention. And it has had this effect on others that I have talked to — this isn’t just my experience talking. Don’t underestimate the power of planting a garden.”
