WASHINGTON -- Cupboards at a soup kitchen near the White House will be spilling over for several days after a donation of fresh produce harvested Thursday from first lady Michelle Obama's vegetable garden.
Mrs. Obama invited about 30 fifth-graders from two District of Columbia public elementary schools to help with the project. One of the schools, Bancroft Elementary, has helped with the garden since it began, preparing the soil, planting the seeds and harvesting in the spring.
"Are you guys ready to do some work? Are you ready to work really hard? Are you ready to get dirty?" she asked them. "All right, let's go! Let's go, let's do it, let's do it."
The students were broken up into groups of three and paired with an adult who instructed them on what to do. All told, they spent about a half-hour jabbing and digging at the plot on the South Lawn with pitchforks and other tools.
They filled one wheelbarrow with huge sweet potatoes and filled baskets and bowls with carrots, fennel, red leaf lettuce and more. The total weight was not immediately available, but everything is to be given to Miriam's Kitchen. Mrs. Obama helped serve meals there earlier this year.
The first lady and her group first tackled sweet potatoes before moving on to carrots and big bulbs of fennel. At one point, she held up a one of the larger orange-colored spuds and said: "This can feed an army."
Before the harvesting began, she said she and daughters, Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, already had helped themselves to some sweet potatoes.
The harvest was the second for the garden. More than 70 pounds of lettuce and 12 pounds of peas came out of a springtime harvest of the 1,100-square-foot, L-shaped plot. After that, fall crops were planted, leading to Thursday's event.
Mrs. Obama started the garden in March, saying she wanted to use it to talk about the importance of eating a nutritious diet and show what good, fresh food tastes like. She said the garden already has produced more than 740 pounds of food, at a cost of about $180 to prepare the soil and plant the seeds. Some has been served at White House events.
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I think that Mrs. Obama is delightful, planting ang harvesting a garden with her children and local school children. It used to be the American way, growing your own food. Children nowadays often think that food, of all kinds, just comes from the grocery. Teaching children to spend the time to make the good earth work for their needs is commendable and admirable. Many cities have lowered their restrictions on backyard gardens and having chicken for eggs, fertilizer and ultimately; food.
What happened to the report that the food grown in that garden was not safe to eat. There was too much lead (?) in the ground they used. The vegetables must be thrown away. That was after the planting, I wonder what changed. QUote"where the garden was planted, contains highly elevated levels of lead -- 93 parts per million>".
Politics aside, the first lady is setting a wonderful example for everyday Americans looking for ways to have more control over the care and variety of vegetables they bring into their home. Back yard gardens provide countless benefits, including fresher and healthier produce, less transportation used in the process, and a more meaningful connection to the food we are eating. Many people claim they do not have time to maintain something like this, but those who choose to make it a priority enjoy the "fruits" of their labor (apologies for the pun).