Like any good first lady, or non-fiction author for that matter, Michelle Obama begins her new book on her White House Kitchen Garden by drawing on history, walking the reader through other presidential gardens that came before. And like her book, her garden itself carries elements from the past, such as seeds from Thomas Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello, like good-luck charms.
Obama broke ground on the White House South Lawn in late March 2009. Planting began a couple of weeks later when Obama invited some fifth-graders from a local school, Bancroft Elementary, to help. It was the first time that food had been grown on the White House lawn since Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden during World War II.
Obama, too, was making a public statement with her garden.
“I hoped this garden would help begin a conversation about this issue,” she writes, “a conversation about the food we eat, the lives we lead, and how all of that affects our children.”
Her book is brightened with photographs of smiling children enjoying the produce, some trying new vegetables and quoted as liking them. The pages are filled with vibrant photos of plants, herbs and flowers. The first lady, local schoolchildren, White House staffers, and even the Obamas’ dog, Bo, are pictured helping with the Kitchen Garden.
The book is divided into four sections, marking the four seasons. Starting with spring and traveling through the year, Obama details the crops unique to each season, illustrated with maps of the changing garden. The book also includes a selection of recipes featuring produce that can be grown during each season.
Besides her programs with local schoolchildren, Obama has stressed the importance of making fresh and healthy food available in city neighborhoods. The Vermont Avenue Farmers’ Market, another of her initiatives, opened for business on Sept. 17, 2009.
Sitting across the street from Lafayette Park, the market is open every Thursday from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m through Oct. 25.
Throughout the book, Obama highlights various urban community gardens through interviews and photographs. These pages are meant to encourage gardening in areas that traditionally haven’t supported gardens.
The only thing that left me wanting more was that these were biographies rather than how-tos. The first lady does a satisfactory job in her book of outlining the possibilities for applying healthy living standards to all classes in society, but a more real and defined approach to actually putting fresh produce in the hands of the poorest would strengthen the book and Obama’s project.
After all, Obama writes, “It is my hope that our garden’s story — and the stories of gardens across America — will inspire families, schools, and communities to try their own hand at gardening and enjoy all the gifts of health, discovery, and connection a garden can bring.”
