Michelle Obama knows: Great food is the first step to good health.
Michelle Obama is a first lady unlike any who have come before her.
Just sixty-one days into the Obama presidency, it has become clear that Michelle is not only dedicated to the health and well being of her family, but to that of her extended family as well, all 300 million of them.
On Thursday of this week it was announced that Mrs. Obama is planning a White House organic vegetable garden complete with ladybugs and praying mantises to help control harmful insects without the use of unhealthy pesticides.
The rows of vegetable plots will be in raised beds, fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. The weeding to prepare the plot will be done by the first family, including the Gardener-in-Chief, Barack Obama. To help with the project, Michelle has recruited twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, who will help her dig up the soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot.
As reported in a March 19th story in the New York Times, “Whether there would be a White House garden had become more than a matter of landscaping. The question had taken on political and environmental symbolism, with the Obamas lobbied for months by advocates who believe that growing more food locally, and organically, can lead to more healthful eating and reduce reliance on huge industrial farms that use more oil for transportation and chemicals for fertilizer.”
Beyond the important environmental symbolism of this first family project, is the health aspect of raising and eating your own home grown vegetables. As was reported by the Times, “The first lady, who said that she had never had a vegetable garden, recalled that the idea for this one came from her experiences as a working mother trying to feed her daughters, Malia and Sasha, a good diet. Eating out three times a week, ordering a pizza, having a sandwich for dinner all took their toll in added weight on the girls, whose pediatrician told Mrs. Obama that she needed to be thinking about nutrition.”
As is obvious looking at the Obama girls today, their weight has been reduced and with two parents who themselves are in great physical shape, it’s apparent that this is a commitment to good health that Barack and Michelle Obama take seriously.
Needless to say there are many individuals and groups that are greatly pleased with the creation of this garden. It is the first vegetable garden on the grounds of the White House since the days of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, who planted a “victory garden” to encourage Americans to grow some of their own food as a precaution against food shortages during World War II.
As for this garden, it is dedicated to the proposition that we can all become advocates for healthier approaches to what we eat and an integral part of how that food is grown. For the millions of urban dwelling Americans who don’t have a plot of land to create a vegetable garden, there are co-op community gardens that have sprung up in cities and suburbs across America that give individuals and families the opportunity to develop a plot of land.
As for the chefs at the White House, they are greatly pleased as well with this new development. In years to come family meals and state dinners will be graced with fruits and vegetables from the Obama garden. Perhaps not since the days of Abigail Adams has the White House been blessed with a first lady who not only knew how to charm heads of state, but how to grow some great tomatoes as well.
Other MarsVenusLiving.com Health & Happiness Articles
From Bonnie’s Garden: Feed Your SOL, One Ingredient at a Time
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When the Search for the Perfect Diet Goes Too Far
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