73 Pounds of Lettuce and 12 Pounds of Peas

My favorite story from my NPR this week on my 9 minute treks back and forth to work in the Mom Mobile was about the Washington school kids harvesting their veggies from the White House garden. On that one afternoon with Mrs. Obama and the White House chef, Sam Kass, they harvested 73 pounds of lettuce and 12 pounds of peas! Wow. I have lettuce and peas in my garden and I'm not sure the whole harvest for the last few weeks would even bump the scale up a pound or two. If my family was depending on me for actual sustenance, it would be pretty sad. Some day I'll get good enough at this to actually feed people regularly. The closest I've come to providing for others, from my garden, is the baggie of fresh peas I had in my purse on the airplane ride to Portland. We passed it around to my sister, my daughters and my niece. I think we all got exactly three peas! And yep, that was it. The peas were done by the time I got home!

I ate probably three whole bowls of salad I picked from the garden. That was it. My tomatoes are looking good.

So I was truly amazed at the amount of veggies that are coming from the White House garden. And while reading about THAT garden I started reading in general about the current emphasis on growing your own food. OK, maybe you haven't noticed that particular emphasis, but I have. Did you know that Queen Elizabeth has approved a new garden on palace grounds?

Kitchen Gardeners International report that...

For the first time since the war, fruit and vegetables are to be found in an allotment-sized plot in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. Called the Yard Bed, Buckingham Palace's 4x10 metre plot is in a challenging, north-facing area to the garden's rear, tight up against the Gardeners' Yard. "Not ideal, but it is the only open space available, because everything is so landscaped," admitted deputy gardens manager Claire Midgley, 32, one of eight gardeners at the palace.

Garden Organic's chief executive, Myles Bremner, said: "The fact that this is the first time that food has been grown at the palace since the second world war will undoubtedly bring about the Dig for Victory analogies, but the challenges for self sufficiency and a need to re-skill a generation in how to feed itself resonate even now. What is important is to put people back in touch with food and how to grow, and hopefully the palace allotment will be a driver getting more people to achieve this."

Interesting.

And then there is the LA Eco-Village, a neighborhood in Los Angeles that is working together to create a sustainable community, including a community garden. If they can convince the LA School District not to build a parking lot on their garden! I loved their video of neighborhood pictures, along with a great video of the White House garden in action.

So where did the idea for a White House garden come from? The folks at "Eat the View" recall the history of their campaign to convince the First Family to provide an example for the nation to eat the "localist" food. Actually, their campaign was conducted before they knew which candidate would be occupying the White House. There is a terrific video of how things got going. It's fascinating to track how this small idea became a big idea through on-line sources and main stream media.

I have green beans and tomatoes coming on. Seriously! I hope I have beans and 'maters to share.