10 April 2009
Home Gardens on the Rise as White House Plants Kitchen Garden
43 million American families to grow vegetables in 2009
Washington — Planting a garden is an inexpensive way to help children understand that they need fruits and vegetables in their diets, says first lady Michelle Obama.
Fruits and vegetables are brain food, said Mrs. Obama, who hosted students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington on April 9 to help her plant the first seeds in the White House kitchen garden.
White House assistant chef Sam Kass organized the students in groups, partnering two girls to work with Mrs. Obama. As the students looked for their assigned garden patch, they were thrilled with the orderly layout. “Look! I can read the signs! Here’s spinach!” a boy exclaimed. White House grounds crew from the National Park Service and the White House kitchen staff, wearing towering chef hats and white aprons, helped Mrs. Obama and Kass with the planting.
“Everyone is excited about the garden,” Kass said, “and everyone wants to help out.”
“It’s a great lesson,” said Tom Vilsack, U.S. secretary of agriculture, who joined Mrs. Obama at the planting. “One of the boys in my group said, ‘This is hard work, my back hurts,’ and they realize this is what farmers do every day.”
“It’s great for young people to reconnect with the land and appreciate where food comes from,” said Vilsack, who grew up in Iowa and helped his family tend a butterfly garden.
The White House kitchen garden, which measures about 102 square meters and is located on the west side of the South Lawn, is visible from the street and has southern exposure, Kass said. The soil is newly enriched with lime rock dust, green sand, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, and White House compost — biodegradable waste composed of food and paper that is widely considered a soil conditioner.
The four-season herb, fruit and vegetable garden will feature 25 varieties of heirloom, or nonhybrid, seeds planted in raised beds. Some of the seeds and sprouts originated in the garden of Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president, and were donated by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. These plantings include brown Dutch and tennis ball lettuce, savoy cabbage and prickly seed spinach, all reportedly favorites of Jefferson. A large fig plant — the Marseille fig – will be planted on a bed of mint.
Baby lettuce and spinach will be the first crops harvested, Kass said, but he is most excited about the blueberries he expects to pick in June.
Although the garden is not certified as organic, Kass said those who tend the garden will use only organic fertilizers and insect repellants. Lady bugs and praying mantises will control other insect populations. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), before a product can be labeled as organic in the United States, a government-approved certifier must inspect the farm where the food is grown. (See “Eat Local, Stay Healthy, Says Pioneer of “Local Food” Movement.”)
A honey bee hive set up near the garden will yield honey available to the White House chefs, said Kass, who will tend the garden with Dale Haney, grounds superintendent for the White House, and the students.
Gardening “shouldn’t be overly complicated,” said Jocelyn Frye, Mrs. Obama’s policy director. “This is something that a lot of families can do across the country.”
HOME FARMING ON THE RISE
According to the National Gardening Association, 37 percent of all U.S. households, or about 43 million families, plan to grow vegetables, fruit, berries or herbs in 2009. That’s up 19 percent from 36 million families in 2008.
In a survey of households planting vegetables, 54 percent say they are growing their own food to save money. According to the seed company Burpee, its kit for first-time gardeners, which sells for $50, can produce $1,250 worth of groceries.
The cost for the seeds and soil improvements for the White House kitchen garden totaled $200, Mrs. Obama said.
NICHE CROPS LATEST TREND IN SMALL FARMING
Small farming is on the rise in the United States, and USDA estimates that there are more than 300,000 new farms in the United States since 2002, many run by younger people.
“As we are seeing a huge increase in diverse populations moving into parts of Maryland and across the United States, people are expressing an interest in growing crops native to their countries of origin,” said Berran L. Rogers Jr., who handles small-farm outreach for the Maryland Cooperative Extension program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
“Many small farmers are planting nontraditional crops — or niche crops — such as shiitake mushrooms and Asian melons,” said Rogers. Small farmers often have limited resources so they farm on a smaller scale. Such popular niche crops as heirloom tomatoes can be harvested on less than two hectares of land, Rogers said.
In addition to niche crops, small farmers are realizing that people want local, fresh, organic produce, said Rogers, who spent summers harvesting vegetables on his grandfather’s farm on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Rogers’ outreach program at the University of Maryland targets socially disadvantaged and limited-resource farmers by advising on record keeping and financial analysis and making them aware of USDA programs.
“More people want to work the earth,” Rogers said. “I think it could be an even stronger trend in the coming years as a way to cut costs.”
