Nature and Weeds

Michael Pollan’s first book, Second Nature, is about the basic conflict within American culture: the opposition of nature and humanity. Currently, there is a deeply engrained “us-and-them” mentality about the relationship between man and nature. On one end of the spectrum we have nature: the world of sublimity, sustainability, and chaos. This world is home to small woodland creatures whose innocence and sacredness are akin to Bambi’s, and is a utopia where plants and animals live in a constant state of harmony. On the opposite side of the spectrum is humankind, the forward thinking individuals whose city environment often conflicts with and demolishes nature.

Pollan, however, argues that the garden is the middle ground between nature and humanity. Essentially, a garden is a place where humans can control nature, and form it in their own image. Nature takes on the order that humans apply to it, while retaining their connection to the earth. Additionally, a gardener must discover a way to balance her needs with natures. The garden needs to grow and be healthy, and humans must find ways to facilitate this. Gardeners need to use their own inventions and ingenuity to halt some of nature’s attacks on the garden, such as weeds that suck nutrients away from the crops.

In other words, I spend all my time fighting with nature to work with nature. I spend most of the 90 degree weather days weeding, a job that is constant. The only time when I am not weeding is when I am watering. or when nature is watering through rain. 

Things you learn in the garden.