It's springtime in DC. Michelle Obama and the Bancroft Elementary School students are busy:
Daily Mail Photos
The London Daily Mail takes note:
"First lady Michelle Obama got her hands dirty has she planted the first fruit and vegetable seedlings in the new White House garden.
She pulled on brown gloves and a red waterproof and trainers and got down on her knees to help plant alongside a group of 25 eager fifth-graders from a local school.
And she said the Obamas could be enjoying salads fresh from the garden within weeks.
Designed as a year-round kitchen garden, the L-shaped plot on the South Lawn will produce herbs such as oregano, sage and rosemary, vegetables including lettuce, chard and peas, and blueberries and raspberries."
photo stolen from The Huffington Post slideshow
Despite chemical agribusiness's complaints the organic garden continues to appeal to a wide range of media reporters.
It's too early to put out tomato plants even in DC, so those plantings (hey, I'm Texican. Until the tomato and pepper plants are in the ground, it's not a garden yet!) must wait another three weeks.
But Washington's famous cherry blossoms are in the news at home and abroad (Don't miss reading the last graf in that link, everybody).
So, too, is the new, organic kitchen garden at the White House.
photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA
People magazine points out that gardening is a great way to save money:
Making the point that homegrown is a cheap way for families to eat healthily, the First Lady asked the kids: "How much do you think it costs to do this garden?"
"Over $100,000," guessed a boy.
Laughing, Mrs. Obama replied, "My husband would go crazy if he thought we were spending that kind of money! ... It's between $100 and $200. So it's not a lot of money. And this garden can not only feed my family, but it's going to feed all the staff at the White House. We're going to serve it at some State Dinners."
CBS News has a related story with video about the proliferation of gardens -- often replacing lawns -- for anyone who wants to eat the most locally and for the lowest cost possible.
Their inspiration isn't just Mrs. Obama, it's a Pasadena family who've turned the lot surrounding their house into a farm.
"We turned ours into a garden in the front yard, and the side yards," Jules Dervaes said, where they grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, grapes and apples.
This veritable Eden is on a standard lot on an average street in Pasadena. In fact the whole lot would fit on the football field at the Rose Bowl down the street seven times.
"We are cultivating one-tenth of an acre and can grow up to 6,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables per year.
So much food, they started selling organic produce to upscale restaurants. They say they're saving the earth, and they know they're saving money. Daughter Anais says they spend a few hundred dollars a month on staples they can't grow, like flour and rice.
Jules Dervaes (CBS News photo)
AFP has more including a lovely photo of the First Lady and some of her helpers from that Washington school here, but in deference to their copyright and legal impedimenta I'm not embedding it.
Other sources are friendlier to the web and the idea of sharing good news, including Tom Vilsack's USDA, which has set up a pollinators' colony for the White House garden:
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joins First Lady Michelle Obama and Washington schoolchildren Thursday in the White House garden (USDA photo)
USDA: White House Garden to Receive USDA-Developed Honey Bees
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined First Lady Michelle Obama and a group of 5th graders on the South Lawn of the White House today to talk about healthy eating, the availability of locally grown fruits and vegetables, and bees.
"Growing your own fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to have healthy food," Vilsack said. "Working in a garden is a great way to stay physically active and maintain a healthy body. And, USDA is helping schools make sure that every student in America has a healthy and nutritious lunch to eat at school."
This July, USDA will be providing two types of parasite-resistant honey bees developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists to pollinate the plants in the new White House garden this summer. Both of these bees are rapidly gaining in popularity with bee keepers.
Honey bees enhance any garden, because they increase the yields of plants that require pollination, they produce honey, and they are one of Nature's most fascinating creatures to observe. Unfortunately, parasitic mites cause serious health problems for most varieties of honey bees, and many beekeepers must use pesticides to combat the mites in the hives. But these USDA-developed bees are mite-resistant, offering a more natural, organic alternative for the White House garden.
Not only is the vegetable garden a good idea, but I'm glad to know somebody's trying to help solve the Colony Collapse Disorder problem. Not to mention the palate education that'll follow once word gets out about the herb garden and its contributions to those state dinners.
Look, I deliberately put up a photo-heavy, very long piece for this post. This is important. None of us at Corrente are wealthy (cf the recent fundraising auction to keep the server-hamsters in kibble). All of us here are interested in a better country, a better nation, a better future. How we define better may differ, sometimes dramatically; but we have common ground on gardens. (Pun intended. Yes, you can groan now. Just don't quit reading.) The White House's new organic Kitchen Garden is a high-profile example of one of the simple things all of us can do, where we are with what we've got, to make that goal reality.
In this White House photo, chef Sam Kass joins Mrs. Obama in showing students how to plant a garden Thursday.
You can get seeds -- some for free when you pay shipping -- this time of year. You only really need a few other things to garden.
You say you have no space? Try Square Foot Gardening -- adaptable to planters on a porch or in a window.
You say you have no compost? Save (or scrounge) a couple weeks' worth of pop bottles. Cut up a ratty old T-shirt as a wick alternative and invest a little time, and you can have a garden via an even cheaper sort of homemade hydroponics planters -- and garden indoors while you're at it. Or go huge: That White House garden covers about 1100 square feet. Produce from it, Mrs. Obama said, will not be limited to her family's table.
You could make some friends with what you grow, too.
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Thanks for collecting this, Sarah
I gave a quick link to the AP story, and AP, ya know....
I'm very pleased that agribusiness is upset by all this.
And that's also terrific news on the USDA-bees (though part of me thinks that the reason for CCD was just that the bees were worked too damn hard).
If the end result of all this is to shorten the food chain, then that's all good too.
The White House food garden is absolutely non-trivial.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
I really, REALLY, like this whole thing.
I have not been a big Michelle Obama fan, but I really like her for doing this. It is absolutely the right thing to do, sends all the right messages - and I hope it inspires a lot of people to take up gardening.
I have a particular interest in the honey bee situation, as my husband kept bees for years; I have gallons and gallons of honey - I give it as gifts to people who have never tasted honey that did not come from the grocery store. When our girls were young - like 10 and 7, they set themselves up at the top of the driveway and sold 1-lb jars of honey - it was the country version of the lemonade stand! They made a fair amount of money, too...
My husband lost a number of hives to disease, and his work schedule is such that he has more or less had to give up beekeeping. Back in the day, he used to transport hives to help pollinate the lima beans on the Eastern Shore of MD; most people have no idea what the loss of the honeybee means to agriculture.
Screw the better-living-through-chemistry people; I'll take my veggies without chemicals, thanks.
Beekeepers, anyone?
Some posts on beekeeping would be nice.
Also insectariums.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
What I know about beekeeping, I only know
from what I have absorbed over the years from my husband. For me, it was about the honey - for my husband, he was just fascinated by the whole thing.
I married a Renaissance man, who really should have been independently wealthy, so he could indulge all of his interests. He is also into wine, and we have been growing grapes for wine for a number of years. This last year, the damn deer ate all the new growth off the new vines he planted; we'll see what this year brings.
He won some ribbons at the state fair for his grapes, and some of the wine he's made has been pretty good.
We've never done livestock or chickens, but there's no reason we couldn't; I'm just not sure I could eat meat from animals I was on a first-name basis with, lol.
Winemaking, you say?
FeralLiberal wrote a book on it. If your Renaissance man husband ever feels like posting (or it you, as a no doubt Renaissance woman, feel like it) we like DIY-type series.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
I've decided that things like gardening and
winemaking are things that people are drawn to because they enjoy the process as much - if not more - as they like the product.
Growing grapes with the intention to make wine is a loooong process; it's a lot simpler and easier - and maybe even cheaper - to take one's self off to the local liquor store and buy a $15 bottle of wine than it is to buy the vines, plant the vines, wait to prune the vines, and provide the structure to train the vines on, and then harvest the vines and crush the grapes and strain the juice and ferment it, and test the sugar and alcohol content and bottle and age.., the time alone far outpaces what it takes to open one's wallet and pay the liquor store clerk.
And the end result maybe really not so great.
Then again, when the end times come, it will be nice to have bottles and bottles of wine to take the edge off - we won't care how good or how bad it is at that stage of the game.
grapes, Anne? Raisins, or jam, or ...?
Loves me some grape jelly. Did you know if you use white grape juice it looks just like Apple Jelly?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Never tried making grape jelly, but that
makes me think maybe we should think about that; why the heck not?
We - well, it's really not me, so I should say my husband - grows white and red grapes; I will have to ask him whether they would lend themselves to jelly.
Never tried making raisins, either - so I will ask about them.
Honestly, between the birds and the deer, it can be an uphill battle just to have grapes to actually harvest...
The fucking deer (2)
We need somebody to write a book how to keep the deer away!
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
You're welcome. Apparently Tom Vilsack's got a garden started
in front of USDA headquarters, too. I hear they're calling it "The People's Garden."
I just wanted to talk about something that wasn't depressing (why do they call it GOOD Friday?)
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
What happens when
there's no rain or too much rain or critters eat the stuff?
This gardening idea is a good one, but it will hardly lead to a reliable source of food.
I suppose that after a few years, novice gardeners will figure it out, if they're still around.
I think of gardening as good in itself
... because it is food that tastes better.
Now, in an emergency, I could have lived on my squash for a month last year; and I'm sure that CD did much much better, since she knows how to can.
I think of it as a reserve. (And it's also a better use of my lawn.)
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
lambert, in gardens there is beauty, and fellowship
with the seasons, nature, and the right-in-front-of-your-eyes results of your labors. That's a good in and of itself.
Plus you're not in front of the tv and you can choose not to listen to Rush while you're out in the sun (and the wind and the rain and sometimes the cold).
Gardening is a good exercise for the mind (remember Gregor Mendel?)
and spirit as well as the body (yes, even raised beds are helpful, and you know you can build 'em out of salvaged materials -- a hacksaw blade, some screws and a pallet will make a planter box, and you can drive a couple of the long-side pallet boards into the ground for legs. But you knew that).
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
The most amazing thing I've seen in LA
was the community garden in South Central. Being a valley girl for the past 30 years, I didn't know it existed. I was taking the light rail to the South Bay one day, when I looked out the window and saw CORN! Corn in LA! For a girl from Belleville, Illinois, this is exciting.
yes, there is fellowship and life in the garden. Mmmmmm, what a lovely thing.
"Someone needs to point out that elephants produce infinitely more shit than donkeys." Brad Mays
Without getting too sappy about this,
I think that when one gardens for food, it is a great exercise that, in addition to providing a sense of accomplishment - and food! - gives one a huge appreciation for farming. For how dependent food production is on the vagaries of weather and Mother Nature.
I am lucky, in that my husband and I have a fair amount of land that we could till for food; most people who live in suburbia or in urban environments have to be so much more creative about producing their own food - but it can be done. Someone who has a quarter acre lot could, instead of cultivating grass, grow food: tomatoes, beans, squash, cukes, peas, potatoes, carrots, lettuce. Could plant fruit trees. Could plant berries. Urbanites can use Earth Boxes to grow veggies in small spaces.
Any food that the consumer can produce on his or her own is a good thing - not just because it can be consumed, but because of how it changes how we think about food, and the earth, and the environment - and how it changes our priorities.
I confess (hangs head) that we have not taken as much advantage of what we have in the way of land - we have enough that we could probably be so much less dependent on the local grocery store. My goal is to begin to increase our use of the land to sustain our pantry more then we do our aesthetics (meaning, use it more for food than for scenery, lol!).
What Michelle Obama is doing is inspiring...it really is the right thing to do.
I agree.
It's not that gardening is a bad idea. We do it all the time.
It's the push to do it now that's extremely troubling.
Oh, right. We're all too spoiled, we have too much, and we need to reconnect with the land.
Unfortunately, the big question and answer these days seems to be:
Sacrifice?
After you, my dear.
Why does it have to be a sacrifice?
See, that's the part I don't get. How is planting a garden and eating what you grow a sacrifice? Because it takes time? Well, there are a lot of people who, because of this economy, have a lot of time on their hands, who have a terrible feeling of not being in control of their lives, who want the best for their families and who are struggling to provide it. People who go to the grocery store and who know that it is the fruits and vegetables that should be on their families' plates, but who end up buying the mac 'n' cheese because it's 69 cents a box.
There is a great sense of accomplishment in growing food, in knowing you are not dependent on anyone other than yourself; to the person who is collecting unemployment, maintaining a high degree of self-esteem is no small thing.
I just don't see how growing food is any less smart than, say, conserving gas by taking public transportation, or clipping coupons, or monitoring one's energy usage.
I guess I see what Michelle Obama is doing as giving people ideas about things they can do to conserve, or save money or take control of some aspect of their lives at a time when things seem so out of control.
I just don't see how growing
I just don't see how growing food is any less smart than, say, conserving gas by taking public transportation, or clipping coupons, or monitoring one's energy usage.
What if you don't have public transportation?
What if the coupons are for dog and cat food, yucky food, cosmetics and clothing? (Have you looked at coupon offerings in the paper lately? Many grocery stores no longer accept internet ones, btw.)
Monitoring one's energy usage is easy when you live in a tent, I imagine.
Oh, yeah, of course we should just assume it's a plot
and we should run away, run away!
Go right ahead. Pardon me if I don't join your stampede, okay?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Why don't grocery stores accept Internet coupons?
That's interesting.
For the rest of it, I don't see what y'all are about. Sarah, the "plot" and "stampede" stuff is just off point. Where'd you come up with that? Pie, don't all your "what ifs" make control of your food supply more important, not less?
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
sorry, lambert, i conflated this thread with the other one
in that argument.
Failing chains in my area? Albertson's and Safeway (which long ago swallowed up Piggly Wiggly). Safeway's been gone about six or seven years from the last of the small towns (I blame Wal-Mart, who also cost us TG&Y, Gibson's, Kresge's and similar variety stores as well as a number of locally-owned "mom and pop" enterprises) and Albertson's closed its last store in my hometown two years ago.
Now we have one chain. To give the impression they're not a monopoly, they've created "own brands" of their stores, which they advertise as 'competitive'. Two stores are "upscale" and one (so far) "ethnic" in their slant. But all of 'em carry "Food Club" instead of the (Hy-Top) prior edition of store-brand / generics, and frankly, I'm not sure the quality hasn't suffered. As I've said before, what I wouldn't give to get an HEB in Lubbock!!!
Some stores really do refuse internet coupons. Some claim they're fakes.
But if you watch the junk mail you can get grocery bargains at Target and Walgreens. (Sigh. Yeah, right.)
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
In my area....
... we have two fuel companies. Now, one of them is trying to buy up the other's pipeline. Then we'll have one fuel company for Zone 5b. Of course, I'm sure they won't try to screw us.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Yes, Lambert, that's exactly the sort of thing I mean
and while it's tougher to grow your own diesel or ethanol even than your own beer and wine (similar principles if I understand correctly, but still, not easy) I think if more of us do this sort of thing it will be better not just for us but the economy and the environment.
By this sort of thing I mean, of course, whatever you can do locally to help feed or transport yourself.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
I guess it's all about doing what one can.
And for everyone, that might be something different.
Where I live, public transportation sucks. I can drive 5 miles to the park-n-ride, and hop on the light rail to downtown. It costs less than gas and parking, but it takes forever. I can drive from my house to the parking garage in my building in 30 minutes; if I take the light rail, it will take me close to 90 minutes. I place a value on my time, so I drive, and I pay for gas and I pay for parking.
I guess I'm a bad person. Oh, well.
Because I have land, it is less of a sacrifice for me to grow my own food, so I make an effort to do more of that. I feel like I eat better, and I get out in the nice weather, and I like it.
I clip coupons. I have to buy pet food and toiletries and cleaning products and general stuff; so if I can double a coupon for paper towels or cat food or laundry detergent or shampoo, well - a penny saved is a penny saved. If I'm buying it anyway, why not save a buck or even 50 cents?
And, I'm one of those people who turns off lights when I leave the room. My husband says I must have been a mole in a former life, as I tend to like less light.
We do what we can, and we do what works for us - for some people, maybe a veggie garden is a possibility - it's okay to show people, by example, how it can work, and I give Michelle Obama credit for being that example - even if, as First Lady, whatever she does is easier for her than it is for us ordinary folk.
Oh, here we go: it's a GARDEN, pie. Given where it's at, I doubt
the lack of rain will hamper appropriate watering, and critters eating the stuff is seriously unlikely (1100 square feet is a HUGE frackin' space). Too much rain? It's DC. Look, gardening is like life: sometimes things don't work out the way you want, but that's no excuse to quit.
Lawns don't feed anybody (okay, some lawns supplement some wildlife browse, but even the deer would rather have pole beans, right Lambert?). Lawns create runoff that's contributing to the Gulf dead zone.
Gardens are a way better way to use the ground.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
I'm not talking about the WH garden, Sarah.
It will be a model of perfection.
I'm talking about the push for people to do their own gardening. That worries me.
Gardening is more difficult than it seems; without some advice
or experience most novice gardeners will do middling to lousy, give up to weeds, not know how to handle insect, fauna, flora problems. People in the 30's had much more actual experience with some kind of gardening; most today have very little. They'll spend money on bedding plants, lots of fertilizers, perhaps lots of other chemicals, poisons. Some will learn over time, some will just give up.
Would have been neat if Michelle had been able to make the ground preparation, etc., a learning opportunity--might have been helpful and inspirational.
Gardening is lots of work, also, more than people think it will be. Hope most will work out.
Who's the woman restauranteur who uses only fresh, local products? In CA. Who talked some schools into having gardens for the kids wo plant and work on? Idea has spread to some other schools. Those kids willl probably be a great help to their parents should they choose to have gardens.
BTW, just when state ag departments will be getting questions, they'll probably be curring employees....
Alice Waters.
I love her.
I think a real connection to the earth is a valuable thing, and I don't think most people realize how primal it is until they make that connection.
I kept coming up with Alice Rivlin! But I didn't do the go-thru-
the-alaphabet thing.
Thanx.
Why, pie? It's pro-active: you get exercise, education, food,
flowers, satisfaction -- and a chance to visit with your neighbors or fellow-gardeners.
Plus your food supply is less dependent on foreign oil if you're growing (some if not all) of it nearby rather than hauling/flying it in.
Yeah, probably this is a sign that some of the corporations we've become dependent on are in at least as much trouble as the big banks. Wouldn't it be cool if we as a nation could survive without them?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Well...
Wouldn't it be cool if we as a nation could survive without them?
Not during the winter, doll. We support locally grown stuff whenever possible. It's easy when it's warm. The problem is, it's also more expensive, because we live where the growing season is fairly short. But we can afford it.
A fair number can't and don't cook, thanks to prepared, junk and fast food.
Are you trying to change the eating habits that are totally ingrained now?
Good luck with that. If they're hungry, they'll just shoot you and take your food. Survival of the better armed.
Of course, I'm kidding. It's not that bad.
Yet.
I'm glad to see her doing this.
Score one for Michelle. She done good.
"Someone needs to point out that elephants produce infinitely more shit than donkeys." Brad Mays
Sacrifice? I'd rather start now with a garden than
be forced into it later by closing stores or failing chain "restaurants". Just my six bits.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Which food stores or failed chains
would those be?
I hope your garden is successful. The deer, which are overpopulated in Michigan, actually ate my few beefsteak tomatoes last summer. Then they went after the sunflowers. That was after the early snacking on all the hostas. Thank heavens, we don't like hostas. :)
Fucking deer
Best solution I heard was fishing line round the garden. It's black, so the deer can't see it, and when they encounter it, it gives them the creeps -- they don't like feeling it against their legs, or whatever.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Green gardening links
Here at Planet Green.
As someone who grew up on a ranch and had his own garden from age 5 onward, it's lovely to see people seriously thinking about gardening and, particularly, the environment.
Side note: since this post is a sticky, could there be a teaser cut, please? It's a crazy long post.
I set one into it, Davidson, but I guess I have too many pix
although if you didn't see page 2 I'm sorry.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Thank you, Sarah. n/t
.
g-r-r-o-o-a-a-n-n-n-n-n!
i love a good pun, always try to make thyme for them myself.
and thanks for all the photos and linky goodness.
Ah! The buzz at the WH is -- ta dah! -- bees!
From diary by Graham at The Agonist. Fun read-- links and comments.
If not now, when?
I'm no huge fan of the Obamas, either, but it's beyond high time for something like this from 1600 Pennsylvania. If the media are going to follow her like a pack of crazed bloodhounds anyway, she might as well do this. Good for her.
As for the question of "Why now?", I think it is a legitimate one for a skeptic to ask, given the larger picture, especially considering how much we do get told by these same people (including Michelle, during the campaign) that it's time for us to sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. But the current WH has to make up for lost time. The last WH was organic for 8 years thanks to Preznint DestroyedLiver, but no one was supposed to tell anybody. Jesus H. Christ. How insane. Not peculiar. Insane.
The W nightmare only slowly recedes, and only in baby steps. Let it happen. Better this than more "Who's she wearing?" or "Where's the Dow?". Let it rain.
I keep hearing "yes, we can" -- not "yes, I can" or
"yes, I will" -- so to me this does not seem amiss.
The WH really cooked and ate organic foods with W in residence? Only it was like a super seekrit nashunul security thing?
damn. damn. damn. damn.
He's such a fan of Lieberman, can we send W back to Connecticut now? Maybe get Auriemma to put him in a conditioning program or something?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Childhood nutrition
I think Michelle is promoting the garden more as a way to get nutritious food into our children and ourselves than as a way to share the sacrifice. I've heard her comment on this many times. Even during the campaign she talked about making a conscious choice to get her girls to eat more fruits and vegetables and less junk. She has talked about how much easier it is to get a kid to eat vegetables if the kid helps grow the vegetables. She's right.
Her garden comrades are 5th graders from a D.C. school. I'm guessing some of the harvest will be eaten by these 5th graders. Maybe, for some of them, vegies will come to be viewed as tasty rather than yucky. It's all good.
Recently I asked my Mom what vegetables I refused to eat as a child. Lima beans, she told me, were my downfall. Since I ate everything else, including brussel sprouts, she let me slide on the lima beans. Now, my Mom was not given to letting the children dictate the menu. A favorite comment of hers was "If you're hungry enough you'll eat anything."
My grandparents were farmers in Illinois, and my grandma had a kitchen garden. Lots of our vegies, except in winter, came from that garden. On visits to the farm, I helped grandma with that garden. Maybe I was so open to eating different vegetables because I helped my grandma grow vegetables. Is there any greater food experience than sitting down in the middle of the garden, under the summer sun, eating a fresh, ripe tomato out of hand? I think not.
Over the years my gardening has waxed and waned depending on my living circumstances, but I always put a couple of tomato plants in the ground. My current situation allows for a reasonable city garden. That garden and the local farmers' market take care of me for most of the year.
If people, inspired by Michelle and the 5th graders, plant some seeds, and watch them grow, and eat the fruits of their labors, well, it's all good. Start small. Garden with your kids. Be outside. It's all good.
The garden is a good thing.
yes, there is
Is there any greater food experience than sitting down in the middle of the garden, under the summer sun, eating a fresh, ripe tomato out of hand?
climbing up into the peach tree, shaded from the summer sun, eating a fresh, ripe peach out of hand.
hipparchia, if you have to climb the tree for the peaches,
the tree is too tall ;*) ...
Do you know about "Indian peaches"?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
you climb the tree because it's there [if you're a kid]
and eat peaches if they're available.
i've never heard of indian peaches. should i have?
they grow wild, hipparchia, on littler trees
and the fruit is almost ruby-colored when fully ripe. Excellent eating. No tree-scaling required.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Yes, there is
Eating a fresh tomato with fresh mozarella and fleur de sel. ;-)
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Well said, CaseyOR.
Well said.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18