AGRICULTURE REPORT - A Vegetable Garden Grows at the White House

Broadcast date: 3-31-2009 / Written by Jerilyn Watson

From http://www.unsv.com/voanews/specialenglish/
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Earlier this month, Michelle Obama and twenty-three schoolchildren helped prepare the ground for an
organic vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House. The first lady showed the young
gardeners how to turn the soil for the one hundred square meter garden.
The students from nearby Bancroft Elementary School will help grow
fifty-five kinds of vegetables, herbs and berries. They will plant
organic seedlings in a few weeks. The White House will provide
organic fertilizer for the garden. Crops will include lettuce, spinach,
broccoli, peas, onions and berries. Missus Obama said two beehives
will provide honey. The whole Obama family, including the president,
will pull weeds in the garden. The total cost of the seedlings and
fertilizer is two hundred dollars.
The vegetables and fruit will help provide meals for the Obama
family, White House workers and guests. The produce will also go to
a nearby center that provides food for homeless people. Michelle
Obama said the main goal of the garden is to educate children and
influence communities to choose and prepare healthful food.

First lady Michelle Obama breaks

ground for the White House Kitchen
Garden with the help of local students

The garden will be the first on the White House lawn since World War Two. President Franklin
Roosevelt's wife Eleanor planted what was called a "Victory Garden" as part of the war effort in
nineteen forty-three.
Eleanor Roosevelt urged all Americans to grow their own vegetables and fruits. Much of the nation's
farm produce at the time was feeding American soldiers. More recently, President and Missus Clinton
had a small garden. But it was planted in containers on the roof of the White House.
The White House garden marks a victory for people like Professor Michael Pollan of the University of
California, Berkeley. The writer and food expert has worked to increase public education about good
food. He said gardens like the one at the White House help people reconnect with food and eat more
healthfully.
In a public letter to Mister Obama several months ago, Michael Pollan said a White House garden
would set a revolutionary example of healthful eating and local farming for the whole country.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can learn more
about growing food at our Web site, www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.