Michelle Obama got a lot of help from little hands today for fall harvest at the White House.

Michelle Obama got a lot of help from little hands today for fall harvest at the White House.
 
Students from the Kimball and Bancroft elementary schools were on hand for the event, which dug up the product of their labor. Michelle and fifth graders from Bancroft planted the seeds for this season’s harvest back in March.
 
“This garden wasn't here before.  Nothing was here.  This was grass like everything else,” Michelle said of the White House’s own lil’ green patch. “So we thought, ‘Well, wouldn't it be great if we could use this garden to talk about the importance of healthy eating and what good, fresh foods taste like?’”

 
Together, Michelle and the kids picked fresh tomatillos and lettuce from the veggie patch on the White House lawn. And the horticulturalists must really know what they’re doing because the sweet potatoes we saw the young gardeners harvesting were huge!
 
And Michelle was the most fabulous farmer we’ve ever seen. The first lady donned jeans, a purple cardigan and gray t-shirt this afternoon, and she tied the whole look together with a black belt. And we especially loved that she rocked some purple Converse All-Stars.
 
Altogether, the garden produced about 740 pounds of food that was all being donated to a soup kitchen.
 
“Everything that you guys pick here today, we're donating it to the Miriam's Kitchen.  So it makes it even extra special,” Michelle reminded her helpers.
 
Miriam’s Kitchen gives food to families in need, but the charity also makes sure that it’s beneficiaries have access to healthy food.

-- Sonya Eskridge

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