Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Algerina Perna
Can these pansies feel the cold?
Most gardeners say they garden for the contemplative nature of the activity - this despite its back-breaking chores.
In an attempt to satisfy the thoughtful side of gardening, let me refer you to a column in the New York Times by Jeff McMahon, a philosophy professor at Rutgers, who wrote earlier this month on the moral consequences of eating meat.
His post on a Times blog called Opinionator drew such a response that he felt compelled to write a reply and in that reply he addressed one of the objections made - that a completely herbivore human race would be too large to be fed by what we could possible grow and, beside, don't plants suffer, too?
It seems like a silly argument, but McMahan takes it up in his response and I will share it here.
Gardeners are often at the front of the vegan/vegetarian debate with those who like their steak and chicken, so it is worth reading both McMahan's original piece and the response.
But if you don't have time, here is the part about all those suffering plants.