Photo: Samantha Appleton/White House
It’s harvest time at the White House. Earlier this spring, First Lady Michelle Obama and a team of young gardeners planted tons of fruits, veggies, and flowers in a plot on the White House grounds. This organic kitchen garden is now providing a serious haul of healthy eats. More than 90 pounds of produce has been harvested from this garden so far, according to the White House blog. Some of it has been used in the White House kitchen, but most has gone to nearby soup kitchens that serve the needy.
Yesterday, Wednesday, June 17, the fifth-grade garden planters from local Bancroft Elementary got to enjoy some of the benefits of their labor. The students harvested lettuce and sugar snap peas from the White House garden. Then with an assist from the first lady, they used those ingredients to whip up salads for lunch. Also, the student gardeners helped prepare the rest of the lunch as well, which included baked chicken, brown rice, and cupcakes with fresh berries on top.
Mrs. Obama says the organic garden is one of the first White House projects she wanted to complete: “… if it’s fresh and grown locally, it’s probably going to taste better. That’s what I learned. And that’s how I’ve been able to get my children to try different things, and in particular fruits and vegetables. By making this small change in our family’s diet and adding more fresh produce for my family, Barack, the girls, me, we all started to notice over a very short period of time that we felt much better and we had more energy, right? And so I wanted to share this little piece of experience that I had with the rest of the nation…”
“…I also thought that this would be a fun and interesting way to talk to kids about healthy eating and nutrition. The President and Congress are going to begin to address health care reform, and these issues of nutrition and wellness and preventative care is going to be the focus of a lot of conversation coming up in the weeks and months to come. And these are issues that I care deeply about, especially when they affect America’s children.”
Mrs Obama is lucky no one is telling her she can’t water her veggie garden. I didn’t even plant mine this year because of water retrictions. Must be great to live in the White House.
Carol,
You are right. Mrs. Obama doesn’t have to deal with the stingy water rules we have here in Burbank and in Southern California.
Too bad about your veggie garden. Personal gardens and community gardens are great ways to grow some of the healthy food you need.
I think there should be exceptions made for food gardens. If luxury hotels can have swimming pools — residents should be able to have food gardens and water them properly.
Fronnie Lewis you are on target. Veggies are not luxury items like a big hotel no one can afford to stay in. To tell the truth that Hotel is not needed at all but they get the water so go figure. Just more of the people can starve while the rich get luxury.
Danny,
You have to wonder why with the so-called water shortage city officials continue to green light development projects, which will require tons of water.
I say raise the rates and slap restrictions on the large corporations and developments in Burbank — the big water users. Not on residents, many of them struggling financially in this bad economy.