Smile: Obama Family to Plant Organic Garden at White House

Posted by Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake at 7:31 AM on March 20, 2009.

The Obamas will plant a garden at the White House, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden during WWII. Now that is some change I can fully believe in:

On Friday, Michelle Obama will host a groundbreaking for a White House kitchen garden on the South Lawn. She will be joined by students from Bancroft Elementary in Washington, who will be participating in the project during tomorrow's event as well as by planting in the coming weeks and harvesting later this year....

The White House will be using organic seedlings, as well as organic fertilizers and organic insect repellents. The garden will be located near the tennis courts and visible to passerbys on the street. The whole Obama family will be involved in tending the garden....

It's not just Alice Waters that's thrilled with this development.

I love this. And not just because I'm planning on doing the same with my family.

While there will be no beets in the White House garden (nor in mine, thanks), there will be a variety of veggies and fruits.  And hives for honey; wonderfully thoughtful touch at a time when bees are fighting back for survival.

Michelle says Barack will be expected to pull weed duty:

Almost the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said laughing. “Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know.” Her mother, she said, would probably sit back and say: “Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot.”

This is a wonderful "watch what we do" teaching moment, and something those local school kids will always remember. Fantastic promotion of healthy locally grown foods, organic gardening, and working together as a family -- as so many other people do every year, all across this country.  Bravo.

Seem to be saying that a lot about Michelle Obama lately -- but she's earning it with actions speaking loudly about who we ought to be.  Now why do I think some of this fresh produce might find its way to homeless shelters in the DC area, too?

It's Friday.  Thought we could all use a smile. 

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Christy Hardin Smith is a former attorney, who earned her undergraduate degree at Smith College, in American Studies and Government, concentrating in American Foreign Policy. She then went on to graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania in the field of political science and international relations/security studies, before attending law school at the College of Law at West Virginia University, where she was Associate Editor of the Law Review.