(HOST) The next President is going to have a long list of requests from many people on how to turn the country around. Commentator and gardening expert Charlie Nardozzi would like to add to that list with a simple, elegant, and powerful idea that could inspire Americans to grow more of their own food.
(NARDOZZI) It’s an election year, and there are a lot of issues on the table. One of the biggest concerns on many people’s minds is the price, safety, and availability of healthy food. As fuel prices soar, so have food prices. Like many in Vermont I’ve grown and stored more vegetables than ever this year to help cut costs. But how can those of us who are edible gardeners spread the word to a larger audience about the benefits and joys of gardening? Well, being a gardener, I try to keep things pretty simple and down to earth. That’s why I joined my friend Roger Doiron’s movement to petition the next President of the United States to build a kitchen garden at the White House. Roger’s website, Kitchen Gardener’s International, is about inspiring people to grow some of their own food and spend more time preparing and eating food together with family and friends. Gardening is a great way to slow down and reconnect with ourselves, each other, and with Nature. Who can argue with those ideals?
But to make edible gardening more than just a nice ideal, and to create more gardeners, we need leadership. And what better example could we have than the President of the United States dedicating some of the White House lawn to growing a kitchen garden. Think of the message he’d be sending to the American people. Locally grown, fresh, healthy produce is so important the President is willing to use some of this valuable real estate to grow his own.
Edible gardens at the White House are not new. In 1800 John Adams planted the first edible garden there filled with vegetables and fruits and plants for making beer. One year later Thomas Jefferson added fruit trees. In those days, edible gardening was a matter of household economics. Initially the President had to fund his own household, just like you and me. Growing vegetables and fruits would reduce how much he would have to pay to keep the White House running. Wouldn’t that be an interesting requirement of the next President?
But back to U.S. history. In 1835, Andrew Jackson built a greenhouse to grow food year round. However, the greenhouse was demolished in 1902. In 1918, Woodrow Wilson proposed using sheep to mow the White House lawn and started growing vegetables again. The 1940’s saw Eleanor Roosevelt start the first Victory Garden at the White House to help the war effort. Unfortunately, it’s been all downhill for edible gardening at the White House since then. Food has gotten cheap and rose gardens, green lawns, and tree lined walks have seemed more important than raising food.
But times change and things have a way of coming back around. So I signed the petition on Roger’s website asking the next President to plant an edible garden at the White House. Maybe a little time in the garden each day would help our next executive be more grounded in the common man’s everyday reality.