Gardener in chief! White House garden details.

[Undercurrent]

The 1,100 square foot garden will include 55 kinds of vegetables, including peppers, spinach, and, yes, arugula. (The list of vegetables is a wishlist put together by White House chefs.) There will also be berries, herbs and two hives for honey that will be tended by a White House carpenter who is also a beekeeper. The chefs will use the produce to feed the first family and for state dinners and other official events.

The White House will be using organic seedlings, as well as organic fertilizers and organic insect repellents. The garden will be located near the tennis courts and visible to passerbys on the street. The whole Obama family will be involved in tending the garden, White House spokeswoman Katie McCormick Lelyveld said.

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/19/AR2009031902886.html?hpid=topnews

[polichick]

1. The solar panels must be on order too! Woohoooooooooo

[Kdillard]

2. Very cool. :)

[firedupdem]

3. That is really cool. n/t

[Ilsa]

4. I loe it, but my Rethuglican MIL would be screaming about him wasting

his time on this when there are problems to be solved. She's been listening to Fox Noise and has gone off the deep end. She feels sorry for rich people who might have to pay a higher percentage in income tax.

[KittyWampus]

22. Tell "mom" that he's got staff and that this might help Americans become enthused about gardening

themselves.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

36. "...White House carpenter who is also a beekeeper."

I can't speak for White House staffers, but I imagine they are THRILLED to be doing this. The First Family will be involved, as well as students from a local elementary school. Ask your MIL to articulate how that's a bad thing.

And this is solving problems in some *small* way -- making Americans aware of local food movements. I'd love to hear her spin the 3000-mile caesar salad. (Bad pun alert...)

[tridim]

5. Perfect! I really hope gardening makes a comeback

I don't think many people understand how fun and rewarding it can be. It's good exercise too.

[FrenchieCat]

17. It is. I have suggested to my Stepdaughter who runs a large nursery school

that we start one. I work for her parttime with the "after-schoolers". She loved the idea, and we have the perfect place for it, and she has given me the green light for the month of May. It won't be 1,100 sq ft, but it will be large enough so that the kids can get their feet dirty, yes, even the Twos! :)

I'm in charge of designing the whole thing! I'm pumped!

[Blue Gardener]

18. How fun!

My Mom used to plant "unusual" vegetables for us when we were tots. We planted all the usual stuff, but also had a few blue potatoes, 12 foot corn, and anything else Mom could find in the seed catalogs that would keep us interested in the garden.

[Undercurrent]

6. .

[Cha]

7. This is so exciting!

:bounce::bounce: I actually got into it with a customer at our natural food's co-op over this tonight.

She was going on and on about the HR 875 and how they were going to take away our freedoms..and I said the Obamas are going to have an Organic Garden at the White House! Well, she thought that would be "hypocritcal" and it went down fast from there.

Typical persecuted wingercomplex.

On the bright side..

"Proponents of the garden see the move as a victory for fresh, wholesome food. With the Obamas as role models, it could also be a turning point in their battle to overturn the perception of organic food, farmers markets and gardens as the preserve of the elite.

"Nothing could be more exciting," said Alice Waters, chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., who has been lobbying for a garden on the White House lawn since the first Clinton Administration. "The symbolism of putting a seed in the ground is a promise of a real nourishment and education for the population who visits, the people who plant the crops and the people who pick from it."

[knitter4democracy]

8. Yay, yay, yay!

Otherwise, it's just lawn, and you can't eat the lawn. Victory garden! Turn more of the lawn into gardens with fruit trees and more!

[bklyncowgirl]

19. JFK put his kids ponies out on the White House lawn

Maybe they should forget the dog and get a couple of ponies for Sasha and Mallia. They'd help keep the lawn trimmed and provide organic fertilizer for the garden.

[KittyWampus]

23. chickens

[Clio the Leo]

9. This is superswell!

If I were the President, and you all better thank the Lord in Heaven I'm not! I'd find no greater stress reliever than digging out there in the dirt.

Here's hoping he can find the time to pull some weeds if he's so inclined.

[smalll]

10. It's good to hear that the family will be involved in tending the garden. Arugula though?!?

Planting arugula there is a real unforced error. The White House is just writing Limbaugh's material for free with this move. Why do it?

And yes, I will say I think that it is not only a political mistake, but also actually a little insensitive to grow what has become at this point THE rich man's vegetable in the midst of this economic crisis when so many people are hurting (while the lucky few pull down ridiculous bonuses after running their banks into the ground.)

[xxqqqzme]

16. In this economic

climate, a tomato is a 'rich' man's vegetable. If you have a flower pot, a bit of sun & a packet of seeds you, too, can grow arugula.

[Adelante]

21. Oh, please nt

[Renew Deal]

27. And Belgian Endive!

:rofl:

[stillcool]

28. Huh? What about something like..

basil? Would that be okay? Around these parts arugula in season is no more expensive than iceburg. What's the difference in the seed price?

[LanternWaste]

29. As Limbaugh will use even the most benign or magnanimous

"Why do it?"
To set an example that planting vegetables is not in the exclusive domain of the elite and the rich. To set an example that even your "rich man's vegetables" are easily accessible to the poor lower classes such as myself.

As Limbaugh will use even the most benign or magnanimous of the President's acts or words to denigrate him, it's hardly surprising that he would use this too-- yet to little to no effect. Rush is now being advertised as the joke he is, and America is beginning to wake up to that fact.

For myself, I'd rather have a President who chooses his actions based on appropriate stewardship of the planet (if even only to a small degree) than one who bases his actions on what "Rush might say..."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. And don't forget bees. They make honey. And we all know what that means.

[DevonRex]

32. Have you totally lost your mind? You go on ignore as of right this minute.

[knitter4democracy]

37. It's for state dinners, most likely.

The article did say it was a dream garden for the chefs and will be providing for state dinners as well. I'm just sayin' . . .

[FailureToCommunicate]

11. We already know where they'll get the fertilizer, but they had better put a fence

around it to keep out the Capitol Hill blue dogs and spineless rats...

[Triana]

12. What a cool First Family we've got! I love this! n/t

[rvablue]

13. What wonderful changes are happening. A garden....and honey bees! n/t

[Undercurrent]

14. Yes, I was also glad to see the honey bees

are going to be included. It's a natural adjunct to a garden of course, but I'm still pleasantly surprised.

[GoCubsGo]

39. I think it's a wonderful idea, too, but...

...I can only imagine how the MSM will be all over it the first time some ninny gets stung and has fits over it. Still, I absolutely love that they are going to keep bees! I hope they can draw some attention to the fact that honeybees are disappearing, and being wiped out by diseases, and spur some more research into the problem.

[DevonRex]

33. I've been thinking about learning about beekeeping myself.

I wonder if you could keep a hive in a greenhouse so you wouldn't have to hand pollinate.

[donheld]

15. This is way cool news

:bounce::bounce::bounce:

[bcoylepa]

20. my garlic is up!

and spinach and lettuce and yes - arugala! goes in this week here in NE PA -
this makes me very happy - what great role models!
BUY FRESH BUY LOCAL or GROW YOUR OWN!

[DevonRex]

34. My chives are tall already. I'm rooting cuttings from my indoor tomato plants

as we speak. We had fresh tomatoes all winter. Oh, and my mint is coming up outside now, too. Can't put anything in the ground yet because I'm in Colorado. So, I have to start most things indoors.

[medeak]

24. BEES!!!!! and beekeeper!

what are the odds of white house carpenter being a beekeeper? Love love love it! Sent to beekeeper friends!

[Renew Deal]

25. How about some chickens?

http://www.citychickens.com

[mod mom]

26. A VICTORY fo us who petitioned the WH to do this:

Replant a Victory Garden at the White House. Check it out: http://causes.com/p/43/46147788?m=a41b5d02

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

31. 55 kinds of vegetables?

That's very, very ambitious.

[DevonRex]

35. 1,100 square feet. Heck, I'm doing well to maintain about 200 or so, not

counting the berry bushes and vines. You don't really have to do anything with them.

[MoonRiver]

38. How absolutely wonderful!

I try to buy everything organic, and my daughter grows her own organic veggies and herbs. So the news that our First Family is doing this just thrills me! :bounce:

[Undercurrent]

40. The plot map released by the White House

[Jersey Devil]

41. Will there be spaghetti trees?

[hamsterjill]

42. I'm sorry, but this has to be said!

Could you SEE George and Laura ever having done something like this?

I think NOT.

[Undercurrent]

43. Never.

All I saw was fake "brush cutting" on a fake ranch by a fake cowboy (who is afraid of horses).