Michelle Obama's First Harvest Gets an A Plus
By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
With a veggie harvesting fashion that leans toward carnation-pink hip-huggers, designer sneakers, and perfect nails, Michelle Obama isn't going to win the dirt farmer of the year award. But if the first lady and her White House kitchen continue to embrace the sustainable farming craze sweeping the nation, perhaps the Future Farmers of America ought to adopt her as its organic and healthful eating spokeswoman. Not only is she cheerleading chemical-free farming with her South Lawn veggie plot; we also hear that the White House is showing it means business by building three kitchen-waste compost piles for next year's planting.
It may sound like a small thing, but her efforts are already boosting the sustainable and organic farming business. Jim Crawford, a Pennsylvania organic farmer who supplies D.C. foodie faves like Restaurant Nora, gives the White House and garden master and chef Sam Kass credit for their successful effort. He should know. Crawford, whose New Morning Farm goods are on sale at two District farmers' markets, advises Kass on the first lady's garden.
In fact, says Crawford, the White House garden in just a few short months has outshone some of his 40 acres of berries, herbs, and vegetables. Why? The soil. "The ground really seems to be nice and balanced," Crawford says. After it was tested, natural ingredients like crab meal were added to adjust the pH, sulphur, and potassium levels. Then a secret ingredient from an organic fan arrived: compost from New York celebrity chef Dan Barber.
Looking at the first harvest of lettuce and peas from the garden, Crawford declares, "I give it an A plus."
Illustration by Ed Wexler for USN&WR
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Reader Comments
What's In A Label? Apparently, Not Very Much
I just read an article via an online green-themed social network (www.greenwala.com) that questions the legitimacy of the organic foods that we've all been paying top dollar for. Here's the link -- http://www.greenwala.com/community/blogs/all/1237-Organic-Labeling-Are-We-Paying-A-LOT-MORE-For-A-Lot-Less After digesting all of the facts presented, it's hard to deny that the USDA is failing to do its job -- in fact, we are completely naive to trust in them considering their all too lax standards. Couple that with the ridiculous amount of food recalls that we've been having and it's surprising that all of us don't boycott the commercial food industry entirely and make everything ourselves.
Michelle Obama's First Harvest Gets an A Plus
As a Green REALTOR or EcoBroker and an avid organic gardener and proponent of Eat Local, Buy Organic, I am happy that the Obama Administration is re-greening the Whitehouse- including Michelle and the Whitehouse garden. I heard about the garden sometime back and am glad to see this update that it has been so successful. I am very pleased! I will blog about this at www.TexasOrganicHome.com
Growing a Garden to Promote Healthy Eating
Michelle Obama is creating a role model for parents and children to grow a garden and eat healthy food. This is an important step in the right direction for the health of our nation. We can all learn more about growing food, after all, we all eat food and all of our food started out as a plant.
The White House Garden is inspiring our family to spend more time gardening together and to plant new varieties of vegetables. Our family enjoys spending time building raised beds and bringing in more compost to add to the soil. It is amazing to see how quickly a little seed grows into a huge plant that soon produces food.
I found seeds kits that got our garden started at www.ediblegardens.com. They have a website that has educational videos at www.onemilliongardens.com also. Happy Gardening everyone!
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