I was on my way to teach a gardening class for kids, running behind schedule and in a bustle to catch up. Had to stop for the supplies: at Home Depot for potting soil, then at a chic plant store, where I picked up heirloom seeds and adorable little pots made of coconut fiber.
 
And then, because I was starving and because the workshop would take all afternoon, I pulled into the McDonalds across the street for a quick lunch.
 
I might not have noticed the contradictions embodied by my errands—heirloom vegetables versus high-fructose corn syrup; organic gardening versus industrial agriculture—but for what happened next. When I pulled up at the summer camp where I teach my gardening class, I caught myself stuffing my McDonalds trash underneath my seat, so that anyone who saw me arrive (or happened to look into my car) would not realize that the gardening teacher was eating fast food. Realizing the absurdity, I felt a prick of shame, as if I were guilty of living a lie, of betraying the moral code of organic gardening that says that gardeners who grow real lettuces, tomatoes, and potatoes should be strong enough to spurn the bland substitutes hawked by McDonalds. Organic gardening, after all, is all about using natural processes to grow things, whereas McDonalds is all about industrial agriculture and subverting natural processes with pesticides and genetically modified seeds and lord knows what else.
 
I don’t know whether other gardeners have experienced similar guilt. Maybe they are ashamed of the contradictions, as I am. Maybe they—you—will email me, and together we can start a support group to help each other resist the siren song of the drive-through window. Maybe we can stuff our glove compartments with organic energy bars, or cook up big batches of homemade veggie burgers to help fight off temptation when it inevitably leers at us through the windshield.

— Christopher Weber