Neil Hamilton, a law professor long active in the local food movement, predicts that the White House will have a vegetable garden by this summer.
"I believe that by this summer there will be a garden – another garden,
a vegetable garden – on the White House lawn,” Hamilton said at a
weekend legal seminar at Yale University.
If he's right, a lot of activists and foodies - from Alice Waters on down - will be quite happy. My only question is who the farmer in chief will be and whether the Obamas will upset the produce industry by going organic.
My guess: the garden will use "sustainable," low-input practices, but won't be fully organic to side-step the issue. But either way, it will be a boon for the community garden movement in this nation, showing that it ain't real hard to grow your own greens, tomatoes, peppers and okra.
So what unusual variety should the Obamas grow? My vote is for the long Asian cucumber and would suggest that Sooyow Nishiki variety sold at Kitazawa Seed Company. Sweet and prolific, one cuke can make a nice lunch salad.
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Posted by: Jana | February 28, 2009 at 01:32 AM
The White House vegetable garden doesn't do much for me. The Obamas could do much better by adopting a school in D.C. and planting a garden there, then figuring out a way to get fresh produce into the school lunch program. If the White House wants to promote kitchen gardening, they should come up with some policies, even tax incentives for growing produce at home.
Posted by: Ed Bruske | March 05, 2009 at 07:58 PM