Bring Back The Victory Garden

How about this??

ADVOCATES URGE WHITE HOUSE TO LEAD BY GROWING VEGETABLES ON FRONT LAWN
By Virginia A. Smith
The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — Roger Doiron has an idea for the next eater-in-chief: Bring back the victory garden!

He wants the next president to plant an organic vegetable garden on the front lawn of the White House, one that would supply fresh produce to the first family and local food cupboards; set an example of self-sufficiency, healthy eating and sustainability for the whole country; and make a statement about what we grow in front of our homes.

He calls this vision "Eat the View," and here's the statement it (he) makes:
"People are starting to rethink what a healthy landscape looks like. It's not the TruGreen chemical lawn anymore. It's a landscape that's more multipurpose, that combines beauty and utility."

Fans are signing an online petition on Doiron's Web site (www.eattheview.org) and watching his entertaining video on YouTube — set to "This Land Is Your Land," sung by Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen, it chronicles his own "white house" front lawn being transformed into an edible landscape. Doiron, his wife, Jacqueline, and three sons live in a white house, all right, a Cape Cod on one-third acre in his hometown of Scarborough, Maine. He calls this place "the belly of the suburban beast," and this is where he hopes his vision will catch on, one lawn at a time, all over the country.

Don Irby of South Coventry Township, Pa., dug a 45-by-60-foot organic vegetable garden this year because he wanted better-tasting,less-expensive, safe-to-eat fruits and vegetables. He did it in his front yard not to make a political statement but because "that was good, level ground with good sun."

He likes the idea of a victory garden at the White House that the public could see and emulate. "I would love it, the front yard of the White House. We could get back to our roots," says Irby, who's in high-tech software sales.

His corn hit eight feet by mid-August. He's also had success with asparagus, raspberries, beans, eggplant, beets, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins.

However, some municipalities and homeowners' associations legislate to prevent the incursion of front-yard vegetables.

Even if no one objects to peppers and sprouts in front of the White House, Doiron says the president should keep it neat: "Aesthetics matter a great deal."

Having a garden at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. isn't a new or radical idea. Several presidents were farmers, and horticulturists and flower gardens have a long history there. And though it hasn't been as fully documented, many first families "probably had vegetable, herb or kitchen gardens," according to historian Rose Hayden-Smith, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, whose dissertation topic is national war-garden programs during World War I.

"Early presidents were responsible for providing for their own households and feeding dignitaries," Hayden-Smith says. "But in general, the history of vegetable gardening at the White House got lost because it's so ordinary."

Wartime gardens were the exception. They got a lot of attention, starting with "liberty gardens" during Woodrow Wilson's administration.

"Most people don't realize that the victory garden program is a World War I program," Hayden-Smith says, mainly because the country's most famous victory gardener was first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who inspired millions to grow their own food during World War II.

"Her victory garden was a visible symbol that the family was pitching in, doing their bit and making a sacrifice," Hayden-Smith says.

Doiron wants to resurrect that spirit with front-yard gardens, which, in these oil-conscious times, mean less grass to mow and fewer "food miles." Michael Pollan, author of "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto," estimates that most of what we eat in this country has traveled about 1,500 miles to get to us.

"Food miles" was an unknown concept when Doiron was growing up; his family had the typical "tomato and cuke garden" out back. His gastronomical awakening came in the 1990s in Brussels, where he was working for the nonprofit environmental group Friends of the Earth.

During the week, Doiron was immersed in the global. On weekends, he was out in the country with his Belgian in-laws, enjoying everything local.

"I was realizing that the Europeans were really onto something when it comes to food," Doiron recalls

In 2001, Doiron and his family returned to Maine; two years later, he started Kitchen Gardeners International to promote "the localest food of all, globally." His virtual community now numbers 7,000 "from Alabama to Azerbaijan," and his thinking has evolved into "Eat the View."

Yet while it's engaging, the idea of an edible lawn isn't a universal no-brainer. Scott Guiser, an educator with the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Doylestown, outlines a couple of objections:

First, some veggies aren't pretty, and "to pretend they can be a functional part of a front-yard ornamental landscape is a stretch," he says.

Two, "bashing lawns as useless and environmentally unsound is a tired old story."
"I don't think that trend's going to take off," Guiser says.

John Adams was the first president to live in the presidential mansion, not yet known as the White House.

According to "The White House Garden" by William Seale, Adams had a vegetable garden readied for planting the next spring. By then, however, there was a new president, farmer and horticulturist Thomas Jefferson.

Presidents since have planted ornamental flowers, shrubs and trees, fruit trees, vegetables and herbs. Woodrow and Edith Wilson grazed sheep on the White House lawn, auctioning off the wool to raise money for the Red Cross during World War I.
And Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt ripped out part of the lawn for a victory garden. "It was a real garden, very large, very visible," historian Hayden-Smith says. "It really engaged American citizens," she adds. "Thousands and thousands of people wrote Mrs. Roosevelt personally, describing their gardening experience or asking for seeds or tools."

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

For more information on edible landscaping, visit:
Eat the View (www.eat theview.org).

On Day One, which solicits ideas for the next president (www.ondayone.org).

Kitchen Gardeners International (www.kitchen gardeners.org) or the National Gardening Association (www.garden.org/ ediblelandscaping).

YouTube, to watch Doiron's video; search for "This Lawn Is Your Lawn."