A Time to Plant and a Time to Harvest

It was brought to my attention today that First Lady Michelle Obama has utilized her own front yard to feed the stomachs of her family and guests, as well as the malnutritioned souls of an increasingly obese nation. I am obviously late on the news of Mrs. Obama planting an organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn for all passerby to see, as it made front page for the New York Times and Washington Post back in March. However, it just came to my attention today in an AOL feature, which dished that part of Mrs. O's secret ingredient (besides the TLC of the D.C. 5th graders who helped plant the garden) is that some of the garden vegetables began as seeds that came from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Charlottesville, VA. I did not know much about the history of the White House garden, but it immediately occurred to me the irony of a Black First Lady harvesting crops in 2009 on the very grounds that enslaved ancestors toiled to construct, using seeds from a slave owning president that helped create our founding government with the idea that enslaved Africans were 3/5 of a person...you know the rest. (By the way, the idea of another Black woman carrying TJ's seed is diverting in itself). I began to research the history of the WH garden to understand the social impact of advocating healthier food decisions in American culture and found that hers is not the first produce-bearing plot. But the momentousness of one of the most influential Black women in current events promoting fruits and vegetables when, according to the CDC "African Americans are at greatest risk for every major health disparity and diet related disease," is simultaneously relevant and historic.  

During my online search I was glad to find that the same thought crossed someone else's mind.  Peep out this interesting blog on Obama & Food: http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com


For everything there is a season. Bon appétit!