Michelle Obama Sets White House Kitchen Garden in Stone
Michelle Obama has made sure that whoever moves into the White House next won’t get rid of her kitchen garden quite so easily.
There’s a lot to love about first lady Michelle Obama. In her pre-White House life, she’s been a lawyer, fundraiser, and high-level administrator for the University of Chicago. As First Lady of the United States, she’s advocated for a number of social causes This includes the Let’s Move! campaign, which encourages American children to lead a healthy, active lifestyle.
In 2009, Obama established the White House kitchen garden, the largest and most expansive garden on the property yet. The White House has actually had multiple vegetable gardens throughout its 216-year-old history, but few have lasted through multiple administrations. The next President’s family will have the power to keep or discard aspects of the former family’s presence, including gardens, decorating, staffing, and so on.
Well, perhaps not in the kitchen garden. Now, workers have installed stone walkways, along with a more permanent seating area and archway. A paving stone cemented at the entrance reads: “WHITE HOUSE KITCHEN GARDEN, established in 2009 by First Lady Michelle Obama with the hope of growing a healthier nation for our children”. Other features added throughout the garden are made of wood or steel. Clearly, they were meant to last.
On Wednesday, 5th October 2016, in Washington D.C., the United States in the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House, below the Arbor, is an inscription in the concrete leading to the Kitchen Garden.(Photo by Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In a speech at the garden’s dedication on October 5, Obama said that “there were plenty of folks who thought that the issue of childhood obesity was actually too “soft” – some said it was too “First Ladyish”. I guess for somebody like me. Others had the opposite reaction. They thought this problem was much too large, much too complicated…. They worried that this was big government telling people what to feed their kids.”
Now, the kitchen garden grows about 2,000 pounds of produce a year. White House chefs serve it to the Obamas and at state dinners. Remaining fruits and veggies are donated to a local homeless shelter, Miriam’s Kitchen. Michelle Obama and her team also installed the first-ever White House beehive, which is delicious and admirable, if mildly terrifying.
The W. Atlee Burpee home gardening company and The Burpee Foundation have given $2.5 million to the National Parks Service to maintain the kitchen garden for at least 17 more years. Historian Marta McDowell now says that “If [the garden] were taken out, it would truly just be a political statement.”
On Wednesday, 5th October 2016, in Washington D.C., the United States in the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House, University of Virginia School of Architecture students and faculty, designed the updated layout, along with the arbor, table and benches. The structures contain wood and steel that were combined to make it stronger. The wood used has historical significance: Longleaf Heart Pine from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Va., Black Walnut from Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison in Va., and Longleaf Heart Pine from the home of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Atlanta, Ga.(Photo by Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The timing of the dedication is convenient. The installation of steel and cemented-in stones, along with a large, obvious dedication stone, is a little more direct. Who, oh who, could Michelle Obama have been thinking of when she decided to secure this piece of her legacy?
With the November election lurching ever closer, we must face the possibility (however slight or incomprehensible) that a certain Cheeto-dusted Republican might take the Presidency. There have already been many jokes about Trump encasing the White House in gold, putting his name on the lawn, or turning the historic structure into a casino and hotel. Perhaps he wouldn’t go quite so far. Still, it’s hardly off-brand for him to rip up a garden.
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Whoever moves into the White House next will certainly put their own spin on things. That’s a matter of course. Decorations will change, the chefs will make different meals, and staffers will have to adjust to new schedules and personalities.
Now, however, Michelle Obama has ensured that they’ll have to eat their vegetables. At the very least, they’ll be forced to maintain the garden or risk losing face.