The White House Garden
Last week I had the privilege of accompanying an American University class on the final White House Garden tour of the year.
My three takeaways from the tour:
Small garden, huge symbol The space really is quite small, which compared to its impact in the national conversation on food and farming underscores its symbolic nature.
It clearly is a working garden There was a lot of evidence of the plots and plants being picked and worked repeatedly. While its orderly and clean, its not manicured for show.
Still sensitive about organic Chalk this up to some of my possible cynicism over the political discourse in food, but our guide – who was excellent – made a point of saying the garden was 100 percent organic but not certified organic. The reason given was it sends the wrong message to home gardeners who would think the USDA certification process too onerous.