Published on Monday, March
2, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
The First Vegetables
by Roger Doiron
In Jerzy Kosinski's novel and award-winning screenplay, "Being
There," the U.S. president turns to a plain-spoken gardener named Chance
for wisdom at a time of economic crisis. The insight Chance offers is as simple
as it is reassuring: Growth has its seasons and, as long as the roots of growth
are not severed, all will be well.
President Barack Obama would be wise to add a gardener or farmer to his team
of advisers. I already know what advice I'd offer if called to serve: Launch a
new victory garden campaign starting with one on the White House lawn.
To some, this idea might seem too small to have an effect on anything as
large as the country's economy, environment or health-care system, but you need
to dig
into U.S. history a bit to grasp the idea's full potential[1]. The last time a victory garden was planted at
the White House was by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943 when the country
was at war and the economy was struggling. Roosevelt's leadership inspired
millions of Americans by giving them something tangible and meaningful they
could do to make their own lives better and their country stronger.
But the victory garden movement did much more than simply lift America's
spirits. It also grew tons of healthy, affordable food (nearly 40 percent of
the nation's produce at its peak), encouraged millions of citizens to become
more physically active, and helped conserve natural and financial resources at
a time of crisis.
That season of crisis has come again, and the idea of relaunching a new
homegrown movement is once again winning hearts and minds, not to mention
contests. A year ago, well before anyone knew who the next "eater in
chief" would be, I entered the proposal to replant a food garden at the
White House in the "On
Day One" contest[2], an online
project sponsored by the United Nations Foundation to generate policy
recommendations for the new administration.
To my own surprise and many others', the proposal won first prize, beating
out more than 4,000 other entries including ones by a Nobel Peace laureate and
a Spice Girl. Whenever you can finish ahead of a peace star and pop star in a
popularity contest, I think you're on to something. What the idea needs now is
some star power of its own, and I can't think of anyone better than the Obamas
for planting the seeds of the next victory garden movement.
Time will tell whether the First Family decides to plant the first
vegetables, but I can already tell you that my first veggies are looking
promising. Last fall, I planted a few rows of salad greens in a cold frame that
poked their green noses out of the ground an inch or two before the cold, Maine
winter sent them into a deep slumber. I recently shoveled out my cold frame and
gently pulled back the blanket of mulch I had put over the greens. With the sun
now rising higher in the sky and taking daytime temperatures with it, those
greens are starting to wake up and begin a new season of growth.
Skeptics may read this and say that that my garden and other new ones won't
add up to much, but my findings suggest otherwise. Over the course of the last
growing season, my wife and I weighed every item that came out of our garden
and calculated that we grew $2,200 worth of organic fruits and
vegetables[3], which we're still happily
eating our way through. And that's not counting all the sweet peaches, snappy
snap beans and drip-down-your-chin tomatoes that never made it as far as our
kitchen scale. If you take into consideration that there are more than 50
million American households with modest yards like mine who could be making
healthy, homegrown savings of their own, those are no small potatoes.
It is true that keeping a garden takes time and occasionally requires some
hard work, but what worthwhile thing in life doesn't?
Roger Doiron is the founding director of the non-profit
group Kitchen
Gardeners International[4] which is
leading the Eat the View
Campaign[5] to replant a Victory Garden
at the White House. He lives and gardens with his wife and three sons in
Scarborough, Maine
Sheep on the White House Lawn - Library of Congress
There's much to be excited about this week in the world of sustainable
agriculture in the United States. The news of Obama's nomination of Kathleen
Merrigan to be Deputy Secretary of USDA was met with cheers from across the
country. Then the president announced that he was aiming to end
direct payment farm subsidies. Hot on the heels of that news is the hope
that the much dreamed of White House Farm could be here sooner than we thought.
I believe that by this summer there will be a garden -
another garden, a vegetable garden - on the White House lawn...I believe the
Obamas are committed to that. It's a big idea, and its gonna happen. During the
campaign, going around shaking peoples' hands, he never got sick once. He was
eating well, and it could have to do with having an organic chef with him. This
is someone who 'gets' nutrition.
OK, so it may be more of a garden than a farm but it's a start. Once the
veggies get planted we can start lobbying for the Obama's to get backyard
chickens, and heck why not a bee hive or two? Stay tuned.
Located in Mill Valley, California, at Edna Maguire Public Elementary School, the Mill Valley Children's Garden is a 1/3 acre outdoor classroom laboratory. The garden is a hands-on treasure for both curriculum-based teaching and exploratory creative experimentation - it is a "textbook come to life." Through the Children's Garden, children learn botany, ecology, math, science, language arts, creative arts, stewardship of the land, community service, and much more.
The Children's Garden is a grassroots, volunteer effort by the parents, faculty and community of Mill Valley. The garden operates through private funds and donations and is supported by the Edna Maguire PTA - a 501 3 (c).
Are you a parent of an Edna Maguire student interested in volunteering to help with the Mill Valley Children's Garden? Click here for more information, or contact Saor Stetler. Green thumbs are not required - all that is needed is a desire to have fun with the children in the garden while observing the cycles of nature.
