The ceremonial gift exchange occurred at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday and while some of the gifts had great historical significance, others included plants, seedlings and seeds from the White House kitchen garden to Prince Charles, a well known advocate for organic farming.

The plants and seeds were packed in a hadcrafted wooden box made from the wood of a magnolia tree that came down on the White House grounds during the huge snowstorm of February, 2009.

Continue reading "White House kitchen garden seeds: a gift fit for a prince" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

Good news for veggie-lovin' school kids.

The White House is opening Michelle Obama's vegetable garden to tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis.

There are forms to fill out and and hoops to jump through, of course. The White House says the tours will be limited to "local" schools, and we assume that means Washington, D.C. And the tour will include the vegetable garden only, and not the interior of the White House.

This is good news.

I am sure Mrs. Obama never imagined the impact her vegetable garden would have -- the Queen of England even copied the idea -- when she planted it with the help of school children in the spring.

But the fact that garden is located behind iron fences and under tremendous security made it off limits to just the people the first lady hoped to influence with her fresh food message -- children.

Go to this White House Web site to begin the application process for your school's tour.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

Photo credit: Sesame Street

First Lady Michelle Obama will appear on the season-opening episode of Sesame Street to teach the furry characters how to plant a vegetable garden.

The show's 40th season debuts Nov. 10, with Mrs. Obama teaching the characters the value of eating fresh fruits and vegetables.

"All these seeds need to grow are sun, soil and water. If you eat these healthy foods, you're going to grow up to be big and strong, like me," Obama says on the show.

"I know you're going to like these vegetables, because in addition to being healthy, they really taste great!"

Rumor has it that Cookie Monster is noticeably absent from the show.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

As we've noted here on Garden Variety, there are those who believe that the White House kitchen garden is contaminated with toxic levels of lead as the result of a supposedly sludge dump in the early 1990s that was designed to encourage the grass on the South Lawn to grow.

(It was actually ComPRO that was used. It is a commercially available soil amendment that was, indeed, made from recycled waste, although it has been reformulated since. No one arrived at the White House with a dump truck from the nearby sewage treatment center.)

This controversy, which we are calling "Watercressgate," was given added momentum last week when Mother Jones magazine reported that "the national Park Service disclosed that the garden's soil is contaminated with toxic lead."

The editors of the blog Obama Foodorama, who keep track of the "Obama foodscape, one bipartisan bite at a time," went the extra mile and contacted three soil experts, all of whom agreed that a lead level of 93 parts per million, as recorded during soil testing of the proposed garden site before planting, is "ridiculously low," especially for an urban area where lead levels easily can be something like 2,000 parts per million.

Dr. Gabriel Filippelli, chair of the geology department at Indiana University and associate chair of the Center for Environmental Health, told Obama Foodorama 93 ppm was "ridiculously low."

Another expert, Dr. David Johnson, professor of environmental chemistry, environmental science and forestry at the State University of New York, said that the only way a lead contamination of 93 ppm could be toxic would be if the dirt itself were being eaten in large quantities.

Even concern that microorganism in the sludge might be harmful are unfounded since any such organisms are long since dead.

We here are Garden Variety would like everyone to take a deep breath and relax.

The Obamas are not growing lead paint chips on the South Lawn.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

More on the conspiracy behind the White House kitchen garden.

 A reader of my op-ed column in today's Baltimore Sun e-mailed me with details of how President Obama faked his birth certificate, allowing him to run for president despite the fact that he was not a native born citizen.

 "I guess growing your own Birth Certificate isn't that hard if you have knowledge of Quantum mathematics and the ability to understand photon streaming and the sensitive computer technology it takes to create a Birth Certificate without any pixel flaws which occurred in the Internet copy of Barry's. His phony document is like the poor little petunia in the onion patch," wrote Bonnie Sisson Stilwell of Concord, N.C.

 She also said the White House used the wrong mulch on the vegetable garden and I should contact Martha Stewart and find out what she uses.

This ties in nicely with another e-mail from someone at "Sludge Watch," that said that White House South Lawn was used as a toxic sludge dump, and the Obama family, and everyone else who eats from that garden, is in danger.

Please, Garden Variety readers, someone send me a pretty picture of their garden before I completely lose my perspective here.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

Sheesh.

Matt Drudge, editor of the blog Drudge Report, has posted a pair of before-and-after photos of the White House kitchen garden which seem to suggest that the garden couldn't have grown so much between April and June.

Me? I think the First Lady is involved in a vast left-wing conspiracy to get people to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Garden news, White House Kitchen Garden
        

 Photo credit: AFP/Getty

I guess all politics is vegetable.

I should have seen this coming - Garden Variety readers who are not fans of the current administration think the First Lady's kitchen garden is a fake.

They believe the garden was "installed," planted with mature vegetable plants in order to fool the public.

(Fool the public into believing what, I don't know. Believing that there were weapons of mass destruction there?)

Indeed, the garden did look very mature on my visit there Tuesday. But not that mature.

The snap peas and the greens were ready to harvest - but that's no surprise for Washington, D.C., and a spring as rainy as ours has been.

And the soil was amended with compost before it was planted. When I did that in a new bed I installed, the plants went crazy.

The kale, chard and lettuces look exactly as they do at the Farmers' Market in Annapolis that I visit each Saturday.

But there are no cukes yet, no peppers, mostly tomato flowers, and one tiny eggplant. The sweet potatoes and okra are just seedlings.

Garden Variety readers are entitled to their opinions. But let's talk gardens, not politics.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

Here's a look at the White House kitchen garden -- on paper.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

Not exactly a state dinner, but it probably ought to be.

Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama invited her fifth-grade friends from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington to harvest some of the vegetables they planted on the South Lawn in April, and stay for a picnic made from the harvest.

It is a challenge to get children to eat vegetables, the First Lady admitted during her remarks. It helps if they taste good. And fresh tastes good.

Here's the menu for Tuesday's picnic:

Salad made of lettuce (and, boy, was there plenty!!!) carrots, cucumber, fresh herbs, salt and pepper. The dressing was made with honey (not from the White House hives. That honey isn't quite ready yet), lemon, oil and a little mustard.

 Boneless, skinless chicken, coated with beaten eggs, flour and bread crumbs and baked.

 Brown rice, dressed with salt and a little butter after cooking.

Peas, stir-fried with a little garlic.

Oh. And cupcakes. Decorated with fresh fruit instead of icing.

Photo credit: Associated Press

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

The White House kitchen garden is one any vegetable gardener would envy.

L-shaped and nestled in some trees in the South Lawn, it is perfectly manicured and incredibly bountiful.

White House chef Sam Kass, who has become something of a rock star since the garden was planted in April, said he and members of the White House staff do one big weeding every week to keep the garden in shape.

No signs of insect damage or disease, but Kass said no pesticides or chemical fertilzers are used.

"It isn't certified organic, but it's organic," he said.

 Once the turf was lifted by Michelle Obama and her grade-school helpers, the soil was amended with crab meal, green sand, compost and powdered lime before the seeds and seedlings were planted.

The rainy spring is the reason the garden is so bountiful, Kass said. "Kale, collard greens and chard have been non-stop. The snap peas are going crazy."

Some of the lettuces were planted with seeds handed down from Thomas Jefferson's gardens and have been allowed to bolt and go to seed this spring. The children will harvest the seeds and learn that even plants have history, Kass said.

Photo credit: Associated Press

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

Talk about your summer picnic.

Three dozen fifth-graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington had a picnic with First Lady Michelle Obama Tuesday.

But they had to work for it.

Before sitting down to salad, brown rice and baked chicken in the First Lady's flower garden, they had to put in some time in the First Lady's vegetable garden.

Working along side the First Lady and White House chef Sam Kass - and under a threatening sky - the school children cut lettuce and harvested snap peas - eating some right off the vine at Mrs. Obama's urging.

This is the same garden the school children and the First Lady planted in April and the abundance was impressive. Kass said the White House kitchen has harvested more than 90 pounds of produce already.

A handful of the students then followed the First Lady into the White House kitchen, where they shelled peas and prepared the boneless, skinless chicken breasts for baking by dredging them in flour and bread crumbs.

"It's the new fried chicken," said Kass.

Meanwhile, the rest of the children prepared the salad and dressing and decorated cupcakes with fresh fruit on damask-covered tables set up in the First Lady's garden.

The students then listened -- along with the gathered press corps -- to Mrs. Obama speak about health care and the importance of diet in maintaining good health before the press corps was shooed away and Mrs. Obama and the kids got down to eating and chatting.

You can view a photo gallery of today's White House harvest here.

Check back later tonight and tomorrow for more details.

Photo: Associated Press

Posted by Susan Reimer at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

The woman on the other end of the phone identified herself and said she was from First Lady Michelle Obama's press office.

Yeah. Right.

It was after 4 o'clock last Friday afternoon, the end of the workweek and the end of my patience. I was sure it was a practical joke, but I am old enough and smart enough not to say something stupid. Well, most of the time, anyway.

It WAS Michelle Obama's press office. And they were asking if I was available to cover the harvest of some of the spring crops in her vegetable garden. She and her grade-school helpers were then going to go into the White House kitchen and cook up something healthy.

Was I available? You bet.

I immediately began to behave in a completely unprofessional manner -- I called everyone I knew to tell them. Even my Republican nephew was impressed.

Covering events at the White House isn't like covering events anywhere else. It can be a complete logistical nightmare.

You have to provide everything but your DNA, go to pre-determined gates that you can't find, hope against hope you are on The List, stand behind a rope line and simply watch what happens, hoping you can hear what's being said -- this isn't going to be the two of us in the Blue Room with tea - and then scramble to find a place to write and file your story.

I know all that. I've been in this business since the Nixon administration. But I'm thrilled anyway.

To a completely unprofessional degree.

The event begins at 2:30 today and is supposed to last until 4.

 I'll let you know how it goes.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden
        

Your tireless reporter here on Garden Variety just got a call from the White House.

I've been invited to be part of the pool of reporters who will cover First Lady Michelle Obama and her school children friends on Tuesday as they harvest the first fruits of her kitchen garden and prepare a healthy meal.

More than 30 years in the business and it is gardening that gets this newshen White House credentials. Whoda thought?

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: White House Kitchen Garden