Today marks the first day of my new project: a small vegetable garden. I guess you can say I’m going through a hippie stage– boycotting water bottles, living sans meat or poultry, reading Michael Pollan books, and hiking once or twice a week. In Northern California, my recent choice of lifestyle is the norm, but I personaly feel like I’ve joined an elite group of environmental know-it-alls.

Okay, maybe I don’t know it all, but I’m learning. And it doesn’t hurt to have a best friend who’s an environmental science genius.

Despite the fact that I’m a pretty active person, clearing up my garden area was hard! Luckily I have a motorized rotatill that I’ll be using to finish the preparation. Here’s what the preliminary stage of a veggie garden looks like:

That plot of land is about 12′ x 3′, but I also have three huge pots for my vine vegetables. After designing my garden, it looks like I’ll be growing:

• peas
• hot peppers
• beans
• bell peppers
• eggplants
• tomatoes
• parsley
• basil
• asparagus
• spinach
• leaf lettuce
• cucumber

Tall order, I know. But I’m determined to have a sustainable garden which I can depend on for vegetables. After watching Food, inc. (free to watch online now), I’m weary of purchasing vegetables from huge grocery chains.

I’m beat. Time to rinse off and finish up “Botany of Desire”. Like I said, I’m in a Michael Pollan phase.