Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House
New York Times, March 19, 2009

"WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of the South
Lawn on Friday to plant a vegetable garden, the first at the White House
since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II.

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals
and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to
educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at
a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington
will help her dig up the soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot, in a spot
visible to passers-by on E Street.

Students from the school, which has had a garden since 2001, will also
help plant, harvest and cook the vegetables, berries and herbs.
Virtually the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull
weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said with a laugh.

Whether there would be a White House garden had become more than a
matter of landscaping. The question had taken on political and
environmental symbolism, with the Obamas lobbied for months by advocates
who believe that growing more food locally, and organically, can lead to
more healthful eating and reduce reliance on huge industrial farms that
use more oil for transportation and chemicals for fertilizer.

Then, too, promoting healthful eating has become an important part of
Mrs. Obama’s own agenda.

While the Clintons grew some vegetables in pots on the White House roof,
the Obamas’ garden will far transcend that, with 55 varieties of
vegetables — from a wish list of the kitchen staff — grown from organic
seedlings started at the Executive Mansion’s greenhouses.

The total cost of seeds, mulch and so forth is $200, said Sam Kass, an
assistant White House chef, who prepared healthful meals for the Obama
family in Chicago and is an advocate of local food. Mr. Kass will
oversee the garden.

The plots will be in raised beds fertilized with White House compost,
crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and
praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.

The White House grounds crew and the kitchen staff will do most of the
work, but other White House staff members have volunteered. So have the
fifth graders from Bancroft.

For children, Mrs. Obama said, food is all about taste, and fresh and
local food tastes better.

For urban dwellers who have no backyards, the country’s one million
community gardens can also play an important role, Mrs. Obama said."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/dining/20garden.html?ref=dining


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Dr. Ann C. Wilkie                          Tel: (352)392-8699
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