Posted on 01/29/2009 1:58:59 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
MILWAUKEE, WI (AP) -- An Illinois family is sowing support for a White House farmer with a Web site allowing people to nominate and vote for their favorite growers.
The nominees range from 10 teens in Alameda, Calif., who grow food for more than 500 formerly homeless people to former pro basketball player Will Allen, an urban farmer in Milwaukee. The election ends Saturday, when organizer Terra Brockman plans to forward the names of the top three vote getters to the White House.
More than 100 farmers from 33 states and Washington, D.C., had been nominated by Thursday afternoon. More than 27,000 votes had been cast.
Brockman's family launched the Web site in mid-November after reading a New York Times Magazine article in which journalist Michael Pollan called for the appointment of a White House farmer to complement the White House chef. Pollan suggested replacing five acres of the White House's South Lawn with an organic fruit and vegetable garden.
Nominations and votes trickled in at first, but then word spread among farming and foodie groups. In the past few weeks, "it's kind of gone crazy," said Brockman, 50, of Congerville, Ill.
The push has been embraced by people who favor small, family run, community-oriented, environmentally friendly farms. Most of the nominees are organic farmers, and many run community gardens or nonprofit farms.
The White House did not have an immediate comment on the effort. But many early presidents grew food there, including John Adams, who planted a vegetable garden shortly after moving in in 1800.
A top vote getter in the Brockmans' contest has been Carrie Little, manager of Mother Earth Farm in Puyallup, Wash. Run by the Emergency Food Network, the farm supplies local food banks and hot meal programs.
Little, 48, of Tacoma, Wash., favors companion planting in which two plants, such as sunflowers and beans, are sown together because they foster each other's growth.
"One of the things that I love to do is work with things that work so well together," she said. "And companion planting is kind of symbolic of what we all need to be doing anyway."
Little surveyed food bank clients to determine what to grow at Mother Earth Farm and said her first move as White House farmer would be to ask what vegetables President Barack Obama and his family prefer.
"You certainly don't want to grow things that people won't eat or enjoy," she said.
Another nominee, David Perkins, said he sees the job as an opportunity to educate people about kohlrabi and other relatively unknown vegetables.
"What's been part of the problem with agriculture is sort of the narrowing down of diversity and the lack of it," said Perkins, 51, who runs a 35-acre farm in Vermont, WI, with his wife, Barbara.
They serve about 2,000 families who buy shares of their harvest in a community supported agriculture program. Perkins and other nominees said they see the White House farm as a way to show the public how small, environmentally friendly farms can feed people and create jobs worldwide.
"The key thing is that local people are producers," he said. "Hopefully, the seeds and the inputs you need for farming have a local base."
That's why Allen doesn't want the job. He grew up outside Washington, D.C., and said he feels strongly that the White House farmer should come from there, particularly when so many in the community need work.
Allen employs 35 people at six sites in the Milwaukee area and Chicago that produce vegetables and yellow perch, generating about $200,000 in sales per acre.
"Small scale farming operations become job creating monsters," said Allen, 59.
Still, he was excited about the idea of a White House farmer and said he would be happy to help train someone in green, urban farming techniques.
"What a great opportunity it would be to showcase and get people inspired to do this type of farming," Allen said.
Another urban farmer and nominee, Tim Wilson, 26, runs City Farm in Chicago. The nonprofit teaches low-income adults and youth to grow vegetables at three sites, including one bordering the Cabrini-Green public housing development. The produce is sold to the public and restaurants.
Wilson envisions the White House farmer using compost materials from inner city Washington, much as City Farm uses food waste from Chicago restaurants. Workers would learn business and agriculture skills by raising produce for the White House, food pantries and for sale.
"A major part of small scale agriculture is that people need to be making a living off of it for it to be realistic," Wilson said.
Pollan, 53, of Berkeley, Calif., said he would like to see the White House choose an organic farmer familiar with the challenges a hot, humid Washington summer could present. He might start by checking out the produce and farmers at the Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market.
"I would definitely look for a White House farmer who knows their way around a fungal disease," he said.
The farmer also needs to be in tune with the Obamas and able to speak publicly about growing whole and local foods, Pollan said. Overall, he was heartened to see all the nominations.
"I'm very hopeful this will actually happen," Pollan said. "And very encouraged that people around the country are giving it some thought."
White House Farmer: http://whitehousefarmer.com/
I heard Obama was replacing the rose garden with a watermelon patch.
That's about what is packed down on our driveways and sidewalks that we couldn't scrape up from the storm we had yesterday.
We're into feet on the lawns.
That figure is simply not possible ... unless you're growing something illegal.
We’re into feet on the lawns.**
No thanks! :)
Heard and seconded! 200,000 per acre? BWAHAHA
I agree. something very illegal.......coca, opium, don’t think even weed would bring that much for an acre.......but then again maybe.
This year we are probably going to try some strawberries, but no more than an acre and probably more like 1/4 acre. Reliable labor is nearly non-existent around here so we don't want to get into a situation that we can't handle by ourselves, if necessary.
Gardengirl, yesterday we ventured into Lowe's for some plumbing supplies and they had just received a beautiful shipment of fruit plants. In fact, they were still boxed and waiting to be put out on display. We dug in and got 4 blueberry bushes, 2 Thompson seedless grapes and 2 raspberries. I also got a new fig variety at the Ag show 2 weeks ago. I really can't wait to get these set out, and if you have any information that wouldn't take long to share, I'm all ears!
This is the kind of garden Obama REALLY wants to grow:
<<<Yeah, you’re probably right!
Those are the red cowboy boots I aspire to have someday. I love a flash of color plus there’s nothing like a pair of shi...well you know, kickers. Brings out my South Dakota heritage.
I was wearing my brown pair of cheapie Target cowboy boots today and about slipped on my backside. Not great shoveling gear (no traction, whatsoever) but I wanted to get the walk done to go, where else, Target. Kiddo needed a new sleeping bag for his first five day retreat away from home on the 9th. Got a great deal on a Coleman sleeping bag at 50% off. He was happy. Told me it looked more “adultish” (huh?) than his former bright-colored sleeping bag.
This talk about 200k per acre is insane. Guess it fits in with the 0’s porkulus plan. I’m still noodling around ideas about how to make 200k on my land...BWHAHA!
Seriously though, you two are a wonderful source of inspiration and I want to thank you both for your great responses on other threads. You’re great!
I wanted to buy a few blue berry bushes last year. Just for personal consumption of course.
Strawberries are tempermental. Every year you need to plow up about 1/3 of your patch and rotate the patch. I had a small patch but the berries were not too big and the squirrels got most of them so I mowed it off.
Growing the berries is one thing. But you have to have somewhere to sell them before they are ready. They don’t have a very long shelf life.
Well, we now have a pig sty inside the WH, so what different is a watermelon patch outside? I grew up on a farm in central Texas and gardens were our main source of food all year. I agree with several other FReepers' comments.
If this happens, everyone will think we are doing this to be part of the Hussein adoring idiots. I've had gardens every year I had enough room to grow plants. I even had tomatoes growing in pots on the patio at the condo we lived in for several years.
You are so right. I’ll never forget the scene: walked into a room and my daughter was holding a phillips head screwdriver in one hand and a flat head screwdriver in the other hand and she was giving her late twenties, Masters Degree boyfriend instructions in how to use screwdrivers.
That boy couldn’t do anything, even paint. Relationship didn’t last.
Tobacco is the crop I’m thinking of; gives you quite a return on each acre, though I don’t know the exact figures.
In high school (1970’s) a friend’s Dad gave each of the kids a 5 acre plot to grow what they wanted. Lin always planted tobacco. She had a new sports car each year once we could drive and her college fund was completely up to snuff before we graduated.
http://www.ryomagazine.com/july/review.htm
“Seriously though, you two are a wonderful source of inspiration and I want to thank you both for your great responses on other threads. You’re great!”
Thanks! I can’t imagine living any other way. I’d like to see more people get closer to the land...while the LibTards still let us actually OWN any. Grrrrr!
I loved that show. Those Harry Winston jewels were to die for! :)
If you can grow them down by you, Red Lake Currant bushes are nice. A very pretty red jewel-like berry (plentiful!) that makes great jellies and juice. You do need some sugar, though. They’re not sweet like blueberries and strawberries.
I prefer to buy pick-your-own on the strawberries. Harvesting them IS back-breaking work. I had a patch at one time; to me, it’s more work than it’s worth, though the strawberry ‘towers’ that I sell seem to be pretty good.
Blueberries need an acidic soil, so make sure you’re amending with the right stuff. Soil Sulfur has gone waaaay up in price because sulfur is an offshoot of the oil industry. Sound icky, I know, LOL!
So, you’ll have some expensive blueberries on your hands. You could try Miracle Grow Miracid. That would be a bit cheaper.
Also invest in netting because the SECOND they’re ripe, the birds and critters will be all over those blueberries.
You’re right—my thinking is too linear, I guess. I’m still thinking row crops/corn, soy beans, etc. Strawberries can do well, but like any gardening endeavor, weather, disease and season dependent. Plus you’ve got to have irrigation, a spray program, someone to pick, etc. They’re not the strawberry patches we grew up with for sure.
Glad you found some fruits and berries. Can’t remember where you are, but I hope they do well. Blueberries like acid soil but are otherwise fairly easy to grow. Don’t know about seedless grapes, except that I love to eat them. They won’t live here—muscadines only for us. Raspberries are my favorite, esp black ones. They won’t do here either—too hot and humid. :( Figs—no problem. They just need plenty of sunshine, limey soil, and lots of water. Once it gets going, you can take cuttings—we did ours last month—and make lots more. :) Lowes gets a lot of stuff, but you have to be careful—it’s not always the best plant for the area.
Go online and check your county extension site—they should have all sorts of info pamphlets specific to your area. Have fun!!
With all the tobbacco laws and heightening taxes I don’t know if that isa good crop or not given the current politics.
I think raising tobbacco is an opening for the government to come to your home to tax your crop.
Now if you grow it illegally you may succeed in the black market. But keep in mind the eye in the sky can identify all things cultivated.
Thanks for the ping..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.