Dear Michael,

I just want to start by saying that I'm your biggest fan. I read all your stuff. I joined the Michael Pollen For Secretary of Agriculture group on Facebook. I've considered driving over to Berkeley to stalk meet you. I mean, you complete me. Are we soul mates? My heart says yes, but my lady garden says no.



I did what you suggested, Michael: I'm (sort of) growing my own food. Being that Ugly Betty is already short on living space, I thought I'd start with the wee bitty herb growing kits I received for Christmas three years ago. And sure, at first glance, those little sprouts look promising. But what if I tell you I've been growing them for OVER A MONTH? And that Fennel and Sage here are the most promising of my crops, as Basil is only limping along while Chives, Oregano, Lavender and Marjoram have downright refused my advances?





At this rate, I won't be able to add flavor to my dishes until sometime in the Spring. Is this the price I have to pay for our love? Or am I doing something wrong?

Please advise.

Fondly,
pollenfan76

Ssshhh! Don't tell HCB.

My long-simmering nerd crush on Michael Pollan has turned all hot and sweaty now that I've finally finished "Omnivore's Dilemma". (Will you promise to do something for me? Just read the book, okay? Read it.)

Over lunch yesterday, my friend Kendra and I decided we were going to stalk him until he gave us a tour of his man garden. IYKWIM.

Label Hound: A New Breed

Escaped New York with only a mild case of heat rash and a renewed appreciation for the gentle climes and pleasant personages of my home state.Being trapped behind one's Microsoft Word keeps one safe from the beckoning cartoon fingers of retail temptation.

So no new fashion morality tales this week.

But I am finally reading my borrowed copy of "The Omnivore's Dilemma", which makes me, officially, the last person in Northern CA to do so. Currently having nightmares starring giant corn kernels followed by feverish squinting at every food label within a two-mile radius.

Michael Pollan is like, real smart and stuff.

April means Earth Day, and that means a whole lotta annual Green Issues. Many of these publications are not worth the non-FSC-certified paper they were printed on, but some are interesting, informative and smart, like this Sunday's New York Times Magazine. Michael Pollan's pro-garden treatise, "Why Bother?" was especially good. Here, whet your appetite with some amuse-bouche:

...The Big Problem is nothing more or less than the sum total of countless little everyday choices, most of them made by us (consumer spending represents 70 percent of our economy), and most of the rest of them made in the name of our needs and desires and preferences.

Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it's one we probably all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren't that great. Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can't prove that it will.

If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand...Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed...Not having things might become cooler than having them.

Now that's a place I aspire to.

I think you can read the whole magazine online. Try it: you'll like it.