Photo credit: AFP/Getty

First lady Michelle Obama and her elementary school team returned to the White House vegetable garden Thursday for the final harvest of the season, and they sent a whole lot of produce to a nearby soup kitchen.

It took the 30 school children from Bancroft Elementary, who have been working with the first lady since the garden was planted in the spring, about a half hour to fill baskets and bowls and at least one wheelbarrow with huge sweet potatoes, carrots, fennel, lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, turnips, eggplant, peppers, tomatillos and greens -- a total of 223 pounds.

Most of the produce is going to Miriam's Kitchen, where Mrs. Obama helped serve lunch earlier this year.

The garden had already produced 740 pounds of food, some of which has been served at White House events. The garden cost about $180 for seeds and seedlings and soil amendments, the White House says.

But more than the pounds of produce, the White House vegetable garden has produced a renewed awareness - in the country and, indeed, the world -- of healthy eating and the pleasures of growing your own food.

I mean, even the Queen of England planted a vegetable garden after America's first lady set the example.

For lots more detail on the afternoon in the White House vegetable garden, and more pictures, go to Obama Foodorama.

Photo credit: Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press