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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Growing Food on the White House Lawn
  • Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:48:15 -0700



http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/growing-food-on-the-white-house-law
n/

Growing Food on the White House Lawn

The nonprofit group Kitchen Gardeners International wants to inspire
people to grow their own food in home gardens. More recently, its
“Eat the View!” campaign has targeted the ultimate home garden — the

White House lawn.

To boost its efforts, the group has launched a new video: “The Garden
of Eatin’: A Short History of America’s Garden.” The video details
the fascinating and sometimes tumultuous history of White House food
gardening. (A previous video by founder Roger Doiron of Scarborough,
Me., called “This Lawn Is Your Lawn,” was the subject of a blog post
by my colleague Andrew Revkin last year over at DotEarth.)

The latest video shows that the concept of a White House garden is
hardly a new idea. Presidents throughout history have tried to grow
their own food, and there was even a White House greenhouse that was
torn down to make room for the West Wing. Here are some of the
highlights from the history of the White House lawn:

1800: President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams move into the
presidential manse and plant the first garden there.
1801: Thomas Jefferson takes office and redesigns the garden, adding
ornamental and fruit trees that are tended to by slaves.
1814: British troops set fire to the building, and reconstruction of
the White House begins almost immediately.
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.
1857: The orangery is demolished and a full-scale greenhouse is
built. But that is later demolished in 1902 and replaced by the West
Wing.
1918: President Woodrow Wilson and First Lady Edith Wilson use sheep
to mow and fertilize the First Lawn at a time when the country is
trying to conserve resources for the war effort.
1943: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt plants a large Victory Garden on
the White House lawn, inspiring millions of Americans by her example.
The video doesn’t get into the more recent history of White House
gardening. President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels and tended
to an herb garden. As my colleague Marian Burros recently reported,
during the Clinton administration, a small garden was planted on the
roof that provided enough tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and
herbs for the first family, but not their guests. The White House
also now buys food from local farmers and co-ops, and Laura Bush was
reportedly “adamant” about organic foods.

Lately, lots of people have been interested in what gets eaten at the
White House. Chef Alice Waters has proposed that President Obama
appoint a new “kitchen cabinet” to advise him on food issues. And
others have asked “Is a New Food Policy on Obama’s List.”

Watch the video, then join the discussion below. Should the Obamas
turn the White House lawn into an organic garden?





  • [Livingontheland] Growing Food on the White House Lawn, Tradingpost, 01/27/2009

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