Debate: The Kitchen Garden
When it comes to eating green, Roger Doiron reminds us that there’s an alternative to Whole Foods. As the founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, Doiron encourages homeowners to turn their windowsills and lawns into vegetable gardens.
Amongst the chard, cucumbers, and pumpkins sprouting in his own yard stands a signpost with the words “1,500 Miles/400 Gallons/Say What?” As Doiron explained to the New York Times, it refers the average 1, 500 miles food travels from farm to plate; and the 400 average gallons of oil for the fertilizer and pesticides, as well as animal feed and transport, needed to feed a single person each year.
Doiron’s latest mission, which he calls “Eat the View,” is to get our next president to lead the kitchen garden campaign. “That would make a powerful political statement—a garden large enough to cover most of what the White House needs, with an overflow to a local food pantry.”
This is not as radical as it may seem: John Adams tended a White House vegetable garden, as did Woodrow Wilson’s wife, Edith, during World War I, and Eleanor Roosevelt after Pearl Harbor.
What do you think? Should the White House take this step to grow greener?
Amongst the chard, cucumbers, and pumpkins sprouting in his own yard stands a signpost with the words “1,500 Miles/400 Gallons/Say What?” As Doiron explained to the New York Times, it refers the average 1, 500 miles food travels from farm to plate; and the 400 average gallons of oil for the fertilizer and pesticides, as well as animal feed and transport, needed to feed a single person each year.
Doiron’s latest mission, which he calls “Eat the View,” is to get our next president to lead the kitchen garden campaign. “That would make a powerful political statement—a garden large enough to cover most of what the White House needs, with an overflow to a local food pantry.”
This is not as radical as it may seem: John Adams tended a White House vegetable garden, as did Woodrow Wilson’s wife, Edith, during World War I, and Eleanor Roosevelt after Pearl Harbor.
What do you think? Should the White House take this step to grow greener?
Posted by: Audrey Tempelsman on Apr 17, 08 at 06:00 PM PDT
This is great! And - exactly what I planned to do this season...attempt to live just from my garden! I am a raw foodist (most of the time!) and know that this is a healthy, gentle, possible way to live! Thank you!
Posted by Dianne Fischbach on 05/02/08 08:07AM PDT
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