<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>White House will grow vegetables: Michelle Obama
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Washington - As US President Barack Obama hopes for green shoots of economic recovery, his wife Michelle is seeking a different return to growth - from the first White House kitchen garden in 60 years.
The First Lady grabbed a shovel and joined local elementary school children on Friday to break ground on the first presidential vegetable patch since Eleanor Roosevelt's 'victory garden' in World War II, as part of her crusade to promote healthy eating.
The organic plot is on a secluded part of the White House's south lawn.
It is tipped to produce a bumper harvest of spinach, lettuce, kale, shell-peas, broccoli and radishes, as well as verdant traditional herbs.
'The whole point of this garden for us is that I want to make sure that our family, as well as the staff and all the people who come to the White House and eat our food, get access to really fresh vegetables and fruits,' Mrs Obama said.
She said they would also have a beehive.
'My kids aren't very excited about the beehive,' she said. 'But we're going to try to make our own honey here.'
Mr Sam Kass, an assistant chef, said the White House hoped to have a year-round garden and planned to share some of the produce with a local soup kitchen for homeless people. AFP, Reuters
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Washington - As US President Barack Obama hopes for green shoots of economic recovery, his wife Michelle is seeking a different return to growth - from the first White House kitchen garden in 60 years.
The First Lady grabbed a shovel and joined local elementary school children on Friday to break ground on the first presidential vegetable patch since Eleanor Roosevelt's 'victory garden' in World War II, as part of her crusade to promote healthy eating.
The organic plot is on a secluded part of the White House's south lawn.
It is tipped to produce a bumper harvest of spinach, lettuce, kale, shell-peas, broccoli and radishes, as well as verdant traditional herbs.
'The whole point of this garden for us is that I want to make sure that our family, as well as the staff and all the people who come to the White House and eat our food, get access to really fresh vegetables and fruits,' Mrs Obama said.
She said they would also have a beehive.
'My kids aren't very excited about the beehive,' she said. 'But we're going to try to make our own honey here.'
Mr Sam Kass, an assistant chef, said the White House hoped to have a year-round garden and planned to share some of the produce with a local soup kitchen for homeless people. AFP, Reuters
