Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden
The First Lady's Message of Organic Nutrition and Charitable Giving
Mar 31, 2009
In these hard economic times, with the real estate market slumping, the global financial market in a tailspin, and unrealistic stimulus packages putting a huge tax burden on at least the next generation, Michelle Obama may be making a combined mission statement of healthy eating, charitable giving, and self-sufficiency.
The History of the Victory Garden
Just as Barak likes to compare himself to Abraham Lincoln and F.D.R., Michelle may be making her own historical statement with her victory garden, hearkening back to 1943 when Eleanor Roosevelt established her own victory garden on the White House south lawn.
Times were tough then with World War II raging, even worse than today, and Ms. Roosevelt's victory garden encouraged masses of American households to follow her example and take up their own shovels. And just like back then, working a vegetable garden today sends a strong “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” symbolism.
The First Lady's Message of Organic Nutrition and Charitable Giving
The White House vegetable patch will take organic gardening to a whole new level.
“We're going to have a beehive,” she told her fifth-grade elementary school urban farmer assistants, according to People magazine's on-line edition. “I'm glad you're excited, because my kids aren't very excited about the beehive. But we're going to try to make our own honey.”
A successful honey harvest or not, it goes without saying that pollination will be maximized.
Ms. Obama and White House chef Sam Kass don't intend to serve up all the fruits and vegetables to family and foreign dignitaries. They also plan to feed the poor and homeless by donating a portion of the harvest to a nearby soup kitchen.
What Can the Average Citizen Do?
Not everyone can get out with the president and family and pull weeds, but anyone can put in a raised bed vegetable garden or even grow a kitchen window sill herb garden.
Even condo and apartment dwellers in the city may be able to do container gardening on the porch or on the roof. Check around locally, many communities maintain communal vegetable patches. Sharing the workload means bigger crops and improved, stronger neighborhood cohesiveness.
The first things to research is not only what types of plants will grow in the local area, but which varieties work especially well. Tomatoes, a favorite crop everywhere, are a good example. Certain species work better in certain areas, but there is also a decision to be made about whether determinate tomatoes or non-determinate is the right choice.
The first type is smaller and makes a good candidate for container crops and the second is larger, needs more care, but produces longer.
So what's next? Roll up the proverbial sleeves, pull on the gloves, and get victorious!
Sources: People.com, NYTimes.com
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