The White House will have a garden.

An ode to Spring, I thought this is refreshing news. The New York Times is reporting that Michael Pollan’s dream will come true, as a 1,100 square foot patch of [useless] White House lawn will be dug up and replaced with 55 varieties of vegetables and fruits.

As I'm busy tilling my little patch of earth and planting more basil, summer squash, zucchinis and tomatoes, the White House decided that would be a good idea, too

I remember when having a garden was a hippy thing to do. Who knew it'd be the "in thing" nowadays to have dirt under your fingernails and find intense pleasure in pulling out a turnip, or discovering your grocery store is in your backyard. Well, at least for me it is.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the NY Times article:

“First of all,” Mrs. Obama said, “there’s nothing really cooler than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.”

AND

“A real delicious heirloom tomato is one of the sweetest things that you’ll ever eat,” she said. “And my children know the difference, and that’s how I’ve been able to get them to try different things.

Heirloom tomatoes are just about the best food out there. If you can grow your own, you'll save lots of money, as they're in the fancy section of your local farmer's markets. But well worth both the price to buy or the energy to grow. Do you think the White House will consider putting a compost pile somewhere? Or a rain barrel? Or maybe some chickens?

Anyways, Happy Spring. [New York Times]

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