Spring has sprung in the nation’s capital and for the second year, First Lady Michelle Obama invited elementary school students to help her plant vegetables in the White House Kitchen Garden.
She explained to the students from Hollings Meadow and Bancroft Elementary Schools that last year’s garden produced 1000 pounds of vegetables.
“We used it for food in the White House and to feed the homeless.”
It was a great day to plant a garden. DC’s weather was extremely kind with sunny skies and temps in the upper 60’s. Samuel Kaas, the White House chef and his staff welcomed the group, showed them where to stand when the First Lady was ready to plant and what they would be doing.
While awaiting her arrival, they sat at picnic tables with checkered tablecloths topped with baskets filled with apples.
“Did you eat an apple? asked the First Lady. “Noooo,” they said. “Eat an apple,” she instructed.
This gathering was the latest in Mrs. Obama’s campaign to address childhood obesity. “We want to eliminate this problem of childhood obesity in a generation. We want to get that done,” the First Lady told “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts in an exclusive morning television interview. “We want our kids to face a different and more optimistic future in terms of their lifespan.”
Her signature, nationwide plan, “Lets Move” calls for the following: Getting parents more informed about nutrition and exercise, improving the quality of food in schools, making healthy foods more affordable and accessible for families, and focusing more on physical education.
Her spring garden is another step in the right direction.
“Ketchup used to be considered a vegetable,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebilius to puzzled faces. “But it has too much salt and too much sugar. Did you plant ketchup last year?”
Many of the children present were also at the first planting last year. Mrs. Obama was happy to see familiar faces.
The garden includes family favorites like spinach, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, cauliflower and artichokes. It also includes herbs, thyme, spearmint, chervil and chamomile.
The children seemed to have as much fun as the first lady did in digging, planting and watering.
“I’m planting,” said one little girl with a big smile on her face.
Nisa Muhammad, MOW Washington, DC Correspondent
