Alright, all you republicans and naysayers out there – you want a shovel-ready program? Today, First Lady Michelle Obama gives you a shovel-ready program. So dig right in!
Today’s tilling of the White House sod will place an organic vegetable garden near the main fountain on the South Lawn – close to where the kids’ new swing set is located. And to serve as a visible reminder to all that this First Family will focus on healthy eating, it will be visible to passers-by on ‘E’ Street.
Here's the layout of the Garden:
Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington joined in today, supplying the kid-power to dig, tend and harvest the 1,100 square-foot garden. These kids are no novices, as their school has had its own Victory Garden since 2001.
But don’t think for a minute that anyone is going to get out of doing their fair share of the "dirty" work:
Almost the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, "whether they like it or not," Mrs. Obama said laughing. "Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know." Her mother, she said, would probably sit back and say: "Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot."
Although the Clintons grew some vegetable in pots on the roof of the White House, the new garden will have about 55 varieties of vegetables, berries and herbs selected from a wish-list of the White House kitchen staff. But NO beets ... President Obama doesn’t like them.
The Obamas will feed their love of Mexican food with cilantro, tomatilloes and hot peppers. Lettuces will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf and galactic. There will be spinach, chard, collards and black kale. For desserts, there will be a patch of berries. And herbs will include some more unusual varieties, like anise hyssop and Thai basil. A White House carpenter who is a beekeeper will tend two hives for honey.
Not since Eleanor Roosevelt planted her Victory Garden during World War II has there been such a major effort to get the American public to become locovores – a term favored by Alice Waters - doyenne of the culinary Mecca, Chez Panisse - for folks who eat locally and organically grown products.
In fact Ms. Waters played a major role in getting the garden planted by holding events to raise awareness about healthy produce, and even writing a personal letter to President-elect and Michelle shortly after the election.
Of course this is not the first time that food has been grown on the White House grounds. Here’s just a brief timeline:
1800
John Adams plants the first White House garden
1801
Thomas Jefferson adds fruit trees to the White House garden
1825
John Quincy Adams personally plants fruit trees, herbs and vegetables at the White House
Presidents had to pay for their own living expenses – so planting a garden was just common sense
1835
Andrew Jackson builds a White House Orangery for year-round tropical fruit
1857
Orangery was torn down, and an entire greenhouse was built adjoining the White House
1902
Greenhouse was demolished and the West Wing built in its place
1918
Woodrow Wilson places sheep on the White House lawn for a environmental trifecta: wool, mutton and cheap grounds keeping, all rolled into one
1940s
Eleanor Roosevelt encouraged Americans to plant Victory Gardens – and did so herself at the White House.
By the end of World War II, 40 percent of America’s produce was homegrown.
Today it travels an average of 1,500 from field to fork.
Here's a photo of Vice President Henry Wallace working in the White House Victory Garden:
Victory Gardens were a sign of your patriotism common across America - "cropping" up even in urban settings:
Washington, DC
San Francisco - In Front of City Hall
New York, New York
New York School Children Tending a Rooftop Garden
And they were NOT limited to the United States
London Garden ... In a Bomb Crater
Even Berlin Got In To Gardening
At first, I was under the impression that the Victory Garden 2.0 was a nod to our current economic maelstrom. But First Lady Michelle explained that it actually came about from her experiences as a working Mom. After Malia and Sasha had experienced some weight gain linked to eating out so frequently and enjoying too many pizzas, their pediatrician stressed that Michelle needed to focus on sound nutrition.
Mrs. Obama, who has never had a garden before, said the major role of the new garden is to educate our children about healthy and locally grown produce, adding, "My hope is that through our children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities."
And the cost of the garden – including organic seedlings germinated in the White House greenhouses, fertilizer from White House compost, crab meal from Chesapeake Bay, Ladybugs and praying mantises to control harmful critters? It's got a truly bipartisan price tag of $200. A stimulus measure even Limbaugh would be hard to whine about. (Then again, he can find fallacious fault with just about anything.)
RELATED LINKS
Website to Sign a Petition Thanking the Obamas for Leading by Example
http://www.eattheview.org/...
Eat The View
http://www.eattheview.org/
Change
http://www.change.org/...
White House Organic
http://www.theWHOfarm.org/
Red, White & Grew
http://www.redwhiteandgrewblog.com/
PBS Victory Garden
http://www.pbs.org/...