Second Nature by Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore’s Dilemma, is one of his earlier works on gardening. This is the third book that he wrote and it’s also ironically the third book I’ve read by him, the first two being Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food which I highly recommend you read if you haven’t already.

This book is a gardeners manifesto. At it’s heart it’s a series of independent essays connected by the themes of gardening and nature all stuffed into a single book. I later learned that some of these essays were originally published as standalone works in Harpers and The New York Times, and unfortunately it reads like they are independent of each other.

It hints of the brilliance of his later works, it’s well written with, at times, beautiful prose. It falls short both in a consistent narrative and interest of topic. The musing of a gardener waxing philosophical on gardening doesn’t hold the allure of exploring man’s relationship to food. Perhaps I garden for utilitarian purposes: interest, learning and food.

The most interesting essay was about roses entitled “Into the Rose Garden”. This chapter explored old world roses vs. modern hybrid roses. It was interesting, well researched and well written. However, even this chapter went a bit long and became haughty at times. Take this quote from pg. 84 as an example:

“Proponents of the old Rose have more than disease resistance and a nice smell on their side, however. Their champions may not acknowledge it directly, but a large part of the appeal of old roses – which seems to be enjoying a renaissance today – is based on snobbery. The war of the roses is at bottom a class war.”

Really rose gardening is basically a class war? It was disappointing perhaps because I have really loved the last two books, but I would pass on this one unless you really want to read about gardening. If you decide to read it I would wait until winter when you’re spending time reflecting on your garden and preparing for the next one rather than getting your hands dirty working, you’ll be in more of a musing mood.

“This is not a book about saving the world. This is about making a living at profitable agriculture.” (p.298)

If you’ve read The Omnivore’s Dilemma there’s a part in the second section where Pollan visits an organic farm and talks to a farmer about his interesting way of using animals, the amount he can produce on such a small acreage, and the sophisticated new methods he’s using as a “grass farmer”. The farmer he visits is Joel Salatin. I was intrigued to learn about this farmer and his system plus I’ve had a romanticized fantasy of buying some acres with a quaint little house to grow our own vegetables and maybe have a few chickens.

All of this lead me to read You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start & $ucceed in a Farming Enterprise by Joel Salatin. It’s basically a business book on how to start up a farming enterprise. It’s definitely an interesting read for anyone thinking about making a living full time as a farmer. However, if you want to have a little vegetable garden or a few chickens to feed the family, this book isn’t for you.

The interesting parts of the book consist of his recommendations and dispelling certain myths:

– Don’t buy land – First figure out how you can make money farming on rented land at a small scale and then buy land and/or ramp up. You need to establish the market first and then scale up to support it.
– Always sell at retail – A small farmer can’t make money selling at wholesale you have to sell at retail or have another job.
– Live near a market – You don’t want to be out in boondocks with nothing around, you need land close to a city so you can sell your products direct to customers.
– Spend thought and time marketing, not just growing – This is required to get the premium prices. If you create a story and give customers something different then you can charge retail prices by selling directly to them. You’ll have to market.

He definitely has some strong opinions which sound like rantings with a hint of crazy at various points:

– Homeschooling is the best (only) option for educating your children.
– The agribusiness establishment is driving small farmers out of business and producing bad food, they are in cahoots with the government.
– Because of this, he is anti-government and anything part of or related to the government which includes the USDA, extension services, health care, etc.

I was hoping to learn more about his new/unique methods of producing high quality organic food on small acreage and his symbiotic system of animal grazing. It appears those are covered his books on chickens and beef.

It was an interesting read and I learned a lot about what it takes to start up a farming business, most of which would apply to starting up any business. Can I farm? After reading this book it’s a “no” which was at least worth the cover price.