First Lady Michelle Obama announced yesterday that, in an effort to promote healthy, locally grown produce for children, the White House will use the 1,100-square foot patch to provide food for her family and for state dinners. "It's a sunny spot and visible to people on E Street," Laura Isensee of the Dallas Morning News writes in a press pool report from the White House Office of Media Affairs. "The big picture goal: education about healthy living." (The pool report also includes an official transcript.)
Fifth-graders from nearby Bancroft Elementary School helped dig the organic garden today. (Reuters photo by Jason Reed) Planting of cool-season crops will come soon. The first lady told Marian Burros of The New York Times yesterday, “My hope is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.” She also said that the entire family, including President Obama, will be helping out with the project "whether they like it or not."The kitchen staff provided a "wish list" of 55 fruits and vegetables which will be planted in the garden. Honey will also be produced on the grounds; one of the staff carpenters is also a beekeeper, and will be tending to two hives. Burros notes that the president has gotten some veto power with the garden as well: the president does not like beets, and none will be grown in the garden. (Read more) For a diagram of the garden and its crops, click here.
The first family's garden plan was forecast at election time, by Curtis Seltzer of Blue Grass, Va., in his Country Real Estate column, where he had "Bub" Obama saying, "Maybe we'll put a little garden in at the White House. Do the work ourselves." Seltzer replied, "Good metaphor … also good for you. Don't make a big deal about it. Don't staff out the weeding." (Read more)
http://www.curtis-seltzer.com/column61.html
No comments:
Post a Comment