"First Lady Michelle Obama made international headlines when she hula hooped on the South Lawn of the White House in October, but now there's a different kind of South Lawn hooping going on. W
hite House gardeners, led by chief horticulturalist Jim Adams, installed what are known as hoop houses in Mrs. Obama's White House Kitchen Garden at the end of last week, in order to ensure that crops can be grown through the winter. Fabric-covered aluminum hoops have been placed over the crop rows and these capture passive solar energy and boost the interior temperature dramatically, so the garden soil and air is warmed, and crops can flourish--even in winter. Hoop Houses are often tall enough to walk through, but the White House is using mini versions, about two feet tall, which some farmers and gardeners refer to as "low tunnels" or just simply "row covers." (Photo at top: The Kitchen Garden with the newly installed hoop houses, right before a weekend snowfall. Small photo is the First Lady, doing her own hooping)
Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass oversees the Kitchen Garden as the policy architect of the First Lady's health and nutrition agenda, and he intends the Kitchen Garden to be a "succession" garden, meaning that it will grow crops successively through the seasons, barring any prolonged freezes or deep enduring snows. The hoop houses ensure this, and were put in place just in time. It's been really cold in DC lately--over the weekend there was a storm that dumped enough snow to actually accumulate (!), and today there are black ice warnings for drivers, and in general the temperature has been between the low 30s and mid 40s f, with blowing winds. More snow is possible later in the week. But no matter: It's warm and cozy inside the covered beds in the 1,100 square foot Kitchen Garden, and the winter crops, which include lettuces, cabbage, winter radishes, onions, broccoli, turnips, and carrots, are easily accessible, because the covering fabric is held down with sandbags, and can easily be flipped back to weed, harvest, or water, if for some odd reason it doesn't rain (but it'd been raining a lot before it started to snow). (Photo above: The hoops in the garden, before the fabric coverings were put in place)The latest estim
ate of total crop production for the garden since its first planting in April is about 1,000 pounds, which Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses announced during last week's Holiday Decoration preview, when he was showing off the adorable mini-marzipan replica of the Kitchen Garden that's a new addition to the White House Gingerbread House. Total costs for the Kitchen Garden--minus the incalculable sum for labor, which included weeding by kitchen staff and volunteers, as well as planting and harvesting by local elementary school groups--are estimated at $175.00. (Photo: The mini-marzipan Kitchen Garden)Washington, DC is in what USDA identifies as "hardiness zone 7," a fairly temperate zone...although temperatures have varied wildly in the past three years (the -5 degree temperature at President Obama's inauguration last January was unprecedented, yet DC does seem to be getting colder. Thus one more reason for addressing climate change in Copenhagen...). Because the Kitchen Garden is situated on a part of the South Lawn that gets a lot of sun for much of the day, even in winter, with the hoop houses in place, the garden is expected to continue to provide healthy fresh and ultra local veggies for the White House with no problem--minus permafrost conditions. Home gardeners often use plastic as their hoop covering, but the White House is attempting to be a citadel of green modeling, thus the choice of eco-conscious fabric.
For the State Dinner menu on Nov. 24, Arugula harvested from the garden was used in the salads, and guest chef Marcus Samuelsson personally harvested fresh herbs for his dishes, including pineapple sage, dill, oregano and thyme. Yosses used lemon verbena and mint as garnish for his desserts, and he poached pears for one of the desserts in honey from the White House Beehive. The Beehive is now dormant for the winter. Just one month ago, on Oct. 30, at the Fall Kitchen Garden Harvest, Mrs. Obama, a team of elementary school helpers, and the White House chefs harvested 224 pounds of crops from the Kitchen Garden, to begin the process of preparing for the winter planting and the installation of the hoop houses. At that point, crops were knee- and shoulder high, depending on variety, and had to be cleared to make way for the latest planting. The Fall Harvest crops were donated to Miriam's Kitchen, the local social services agency that also received crops from the garden during its first harvest last spring. (Above: During the Fall Garden Harvest, the crops were lush and large. Mrs. Obama holds a huge sweet potato that weighed around 4 pounds; below, the Kitchen Garden moments before it was harvested for Fall)"
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