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Michelle Obama Breaks Ground
March 20, 2009 9:50 PM
ABC NEWS' Yunji de Nies Reports:
First lady Michelle Obama ushered in the first day of spring with a groundbreaking on the South Lawn of the White House. The Obamas plan to grow their own organic vegetables, berries and herbs.
Obama has said that the entire family, including the president, will pull weeds – though given the garden’s proximity to the street-side gate on the South Lawn where tourists often pose for pictures, it’s hard to envision the president doing any heavy lifting on site. The White House kitchen and grounds staff will be doing most of the work.
Twenty local elementary schoolchildren joined the first lady digging and plowing the grounds. They will return for planting and harvests later in the year. Obama said she wants to use the garden to nourish her family and as a teaching tool for kids around the country.
“I want to make sure that our family, as well as the staff and all the people who come to the White House and eat our food, get access to really fresh vegetables and fruits,” she said.
Click here to see a layout of the new White House garden.
The first lady also supports a healthier diet. She said fresh, locally grown vegetables simply taste better.
“What I found with my girls, who are 10 and 7, is that they like vegetables more if they taste good,” she said.
Obama’s garden, which she calls, “the White House Kitchen Garden,” is not the first on the White House grounds. Eleanor Roosevelt’s vegetable plot inspired as many as 20 million victory gardens during World War II. Toward the end of the war, nearly 40-percent of the country’s fresh produce was home grown.
Author Michael Pollan believes America needs to return to growing its own produce. He cited a recent National Gardening Association study that revealed a $70 investment can yield $600 in fruits and vegetables.
“The idea of a victory garden, especially in a time of economic crisis, makes a whole lot of sense,” he said. “In hard times, everybody talks about how expensive fresh produce is and how expensive it is to go to the farmers’ market. Well, food you grow yourself is about as cheap as any food you can get.”
Watch our report on "World News":
And tune in to “Good Morning America Weekend Edition” on Saturday for more on this story.
-Yunji de Nies
March 20, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (74)
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I think what Ms. Obama is doing is just excellent. She's doing her best in trying to help, and thats what matters. All I have to say about the situation is, You go ahead and do your thing Michelle!
Posted by: Amanda | Apr 6, 2009 7:07:37 PM
The Prez has said that 30% of the
White House garden will go to growing
tobacco. After all, he's just waiting
to be caught in a cigarette moment
by the press.......and he taxes
tobacco wayyyyyyyyyyyy to much. "Tote
dat barge, lif' dat bale..."
Posted by: Trajan | Mar 24, 2009 10:40:58 PM
I was very skeptical of Michelle Obama..I guess I will have to say that she is the best of the bunch - a rose amongst thorns.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | Mar 23, 2009 7:08:48 AM
I just can not figure this out. No matter what the Obama's do, everyone has something to say about it. Michelle is trying to teach our youth of today that there is another way to eat healthy. It does not matter what has been said by the Obama's, there is some smart@## out there trying to bring them down. Get over the color issue people, let it go. This is 2009. I guess if Sarah Palin had put a garden on the White House lawn, everything would have been just great. This is one tremendous thing that our youth of today DO NOT have is someone to show them some care and concern. That is what is wrong with our education system. Ignorant parents who can not let the past go.
Posted by: UNCTarheels | Mar 23, 2009 12:18:59 AM
Michelle is just as corrupt as BO.
Posted by: Carrie | Mar 22, 2009 8:44:03 PM
Sharkgirl, I am tired of people making claims that they cannot support with solid evidence.
So: I want to know EXACTLY what clothes Michelle Obama has purchased for her children that cost more than your monthly salary. Do you mean J. Crew clothes? I shop at J. Crew, which is a mid-priced chain. The last adult item I bought there was a merino wool sweater that cost $78. The last children's item I bought was a dress that cost $59.
Those prices are not high. So: what's your problem?
Posted by: Eleonora27 | Mar 22, 2009 7:25:40 PM
...a recent National Gardening Association study that revealed a $70 investment can yield $600 in fruits and vegetables.
--------------------------------------
Most of that $600 in fruits and vegetables will bear at the same time and cannot be consumed by the average family. One must can and/or freeze in order to utilize all of the produce or it lies in waste in the garden.
Some items, like lettuce, are not conducive to preservation.
Posted by: mad | Mar 22, 2009 5:10:09 PM
This is a very good thing, what Michelle is doing, but she is not the first with the idea. Sarah Palin hunt her own organic wild food, and cook it herself, and The fresh fish that her husband caches and bring home from the clean waters of Alaska. And millions of Americans hunt and fish they'r own organic fresh foods. I dont know if Obama go out in the woods for wild foods, or if he fish in the wilds, but I think Michelle is just trying to imitate Sarah Palin. And I think Sarah Palin is number one in every way.
Posted by: Sam | Mar 22, 2009 12:14:21 PM
Michelle Obama is a great first lady! It is spring now and this story is a great way to start spring!
Posted by: Casey | Mar 22, 2009 9:15:04 AM
Raising your own fruits and vegetables is a fantastic idea. America was built on farming. Unfortunately, it was the slaves that tendered most of the fields.
Michelle go forth with much vigor. We have to begin somewhere and home grown food is a great start and the possibilities of what can stem from this are endless. At least we will know what we are eating. A lot of health problems for some should diminish if they grow and eat their own home grown foods.
Reading some of the posted comments really grieves me. Republicans got us in this mess. Trickled down economics have never worked and never will. Yet there are arrogant people among us making all sorts of negative comments.
People are losing their homes, their jobs, many have no food to eat. You would think for once, conditions like this would soften their hearts.
America will never rise to the height that it can be. Why? Hatred and racism is alive and well.
Posted by: Julia Preston | Mar 22, 2009 7:27:16 AM
Maybe tomorrow she will teach those kids how to knit their own sweaters.
Oh,,don't forget to use an organic cotton also!
Posted by: cilla | Mar 22, 2009 1:00:28 AM
Those of us who were children during the WW II years learned the importance of having a victory garden and a compost pile to enrich the soil. We raised chickens and turkeys. too. These practices continued even after the war. Canning season began just when the fruits and vegetables were at their peak; the Mason jars filled with our canned foods put food on the table through the winter months and into spring. We had a sense of responsibility, of pride. We got good grades in school, too, and grew up to be self-sufficient, yet neighborly... The White House garden honors our past, and shares it with the present generation of children. Hope...
Posted by: L.Gray | Mar 21, 2009 11:48:41 PM
With the coming inflation that will make EVERYTHING cost more, everyone should plant a garden.
My "victory" garden is dedicated to the retaking control of Congress by the Republicans in 2010.
Posted by: Neville | Mar 21, 2009 11:12:22 PM
Michelle Obama makes too much sense. She's a centsible woman and she's raising the Obama girls right. She's 100% correct about the veggies tasting better when they are organic and fresh. There's nothing better than home growns! Nothing!
Posted by: Common Sense | Mar 21, 2009 9:29:36 PM
Like everything else Ms. Odrama has done, it won't last.
Posted by: jeff | Mar 21, 2009 7:19:56 PM
The issue of gardening at home is an important one. Just as home gardens during the World Wars freed up oil supplies, so would gardening at home. The amount of energy spent transporting food to our local stores is huge. As an example, the other day I picked up a package of frozen pea pods from China. Now how ridiculous is that. A vegetable our country can grow, being shipped all the way around the world.
Another way growing at home saves oil is if your garden is organic. Many garden and lawn fertilizers are made from oil products. Switching to organic fertilizers, or your own homemade compost is healthier for our planet and the environment, as well as saving oil. The less oil we use ensures that oil prices will stay low.
As for lawn and garden pesticides there are studies that show an increase in children's leukemia rates if they are exposed to these very strong chemicals. The recent die-off of bees is felt by some scientists to be related to a new type of pesticide.
And organic produce tastes much better!
If you can't grow a garden, try to shop at a local farmer's market often this summer. You'll meet some wonderful local people and buy really fresh produce.
Posted by: Lydia | Mar 21, 2009 6:59:36 PM
I think there is nothing wrong with home gardening, and it is realy a great thing our first lady Michell Obama is promoting here, and I dont care how she dresses. And soon I may have to look for a job also, but I dont think I will be going to any job fairs, I like to think outside of the box.I think i will buy a few acres in Arizona, if they still have some vacant land left there, and grow my own vegetables, chickens , turkeys etc, and open a road side vegetable stand, and sell home grown, organic vagetables. And I think Michelle is the greatest first lady we ever had.
Posted by: Jim | Mar 21, 2009 5:04:09 PM
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Contact Michelle, she will probably give you a job weeding her garden. They are so generous and kind to the folks that are down on their luck. Give her atry...she is so special.
Posted by: Mildred | Mar 21, 2009 5:42:43 PM
I think there is nothing wrong with home gardening, and it is realy a great thing our first lady Michell Obama is promoting here, and I dont care how she dresses. And soon I may have to look for a job also, but I dont think I will be going to any job fairs, I like to think outside of the box.I think i will buy a few acres in Arizona, if they still have some vacant land left there, and grow my own vegetables, chickens , turkeys etc, and open a road side vegetable stand, and sell home grown, organic vagetables. And I think Michelle is the greatest first lady we ever had.
Posted by: Jim | Mar 21, 2009 5:04:09 PM
Viv...if you voted for obama then I blame you!
Posted by: American Infidel | Mar 21, 2009 3:47:38 PM
Haters. Don't forget who put us in this mess.
Posted by: Viv | Mar 21, 2009 2:41:59 PM
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Voters, don't forget who buried us!!!
Posted by: Mildred | Mar 21, 2009 2:55:15 PM
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