Inquirer gardening columnist Ginny Smith has written about this, and now, thanks to Philadelphia's Dana Henry, I was just reminded of a plan for a White House plot -- of veggies. There's an online petition asking President Obama and his family to plant a large organic garden -- a la the old victory gardens -- on the White House lawn.
"The White House is 'America's House' and should serve as a model at a time of economic and environmental crisis," notes the website, www.eattheview.org. With such a garden, the Obamas would be "leading by personal example on global challenges such as economic security, food security, climate change, healthcare policy and energy independence."
As someone who just finished picking out the seeds for her own family vegetable garden, I can only concur. Plus, think what it would mean for Melia and Sasha. When I was a girl, my parents always made sure that my sister and I had our own plots. We picked the seeds, planted them, picked the weeds and reaped a lifetime of appreciation for gardening.
The site notes some historic precedence for the idea, fessing up that "we at the Eat the View campaign are the first to admit that we didn't really come up with the campaign idea ourselves: we stole it from John Adams!"
A few tidbits:
1825: President John Quincy Adams plants fruit trees, herbs and vegetables to help support his own household.
1835: President Andrew Jackson builds an “orangery” for growing tropical fruit.
1918: President Wilson and First Lady Edith Wilson recruit a flock of sheep to mow and fertilize the First Lawn at a time when the country was trying to conserve resources - human, financial and fuel – for the war effort.
1943: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt plants a large Victory Garden on White House lawn over the objections of the US Department of Agriculture, inspiring millions of Americans by her example.
Check out the video on their site, too: "This Lawn is Your Lawn."
The creator of the campaign is Roger Doiron, Founding Director of Kitchen Gardeners International.
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.
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