_{(First Lady Michelle Obama hosts the Bancroft Elementary School for the garden harvest of the White House in
Washington, Tuesday, June 16, 2009. Offical White House Photographer Samantha Appleton)}
According to the White House website:
More than 90 pounds of produce has been harvested so far. Some of it has been used for meals at the White House, but much of it has gone to area soup kitchens. While fresh fruits and vegetables are delicious, unfortunately they are not easily accessible to everyone, especially those in low-income areas. As the First Lady explained, for those Americans who live in areas where healthy food is out of reach, a healthy future is also out of reach. This is why community gardens are so exciting. They provide the opportunity to make healthy, affordable food readily available while bringing communities together. People are learning the benefits of community gardening -- over 1 million community gardens are flourishing right now, many in underserved urban communities. These gardens are bringing neighbors together to create a healthier community and a healthier future for the kids.

Yesterday, Ms. Obama welcomed Bancroft Elementary students back to enjoy the fruits of their labors -- you'll recall that in March they were instrumental in helping plant the White House garden.

But I want to just welcome everybody here in the First Lady's Garden at the White House, and I just wanted to say a few words to make sure that we all really understand why we're here and what we've accomplished, because today is really the culmination of a lot of hard work. I mean, we -- I'm really proud of you all, you kids, all the Bancroft kids, for sticking with this process and for joining us here today at the harvest party. This is our reward for all that hard work, and we -- and I want the media here to give these kids a round of applause. Put your pens down! (Applause.) We're really proud of you guys for sticking with us.

The end of the DC school year and (another) gathering of organic produce coincided yesterday. Among other duties, the First Lady shelled peas.

MRS. OBAMA: We have some pea pickers, lettuce pickers. Who did some pea shelling? Because I shelled some peas. I know there were some people shelling peas. And somebody made a delicious dressing for the salad. I tasted it. Thanks to the lemons that Tafari was going to leave out. Got some tips.

Today, with help from the First Lady, they got to prepare a healthy meal with produce fresh from the garden. The kids harvested lettuce and sugar snap peas then cooked a delicious lunch consisting of salad, baked chicken and brown rice. And once kids finished their salads, they were rewarded with a cupcake topped with fresh garden berries. This was not only a culmination of their efforts, but it was also the realization of a small dream for the First Lady. She explained that planting an organic garden was one of the first things she wanted to do at the White House because of the severity of health issues facing America’s children:
But I also thought that this would be a fun and interesting way to talk to kids about healthy eating and nutrition. The President and Congress are going to begin to address health care reform, and these issues of nutrition and wellness and preventative care is going to be the focus of a lot of conversation coming up in the weeks and months to come. And these are issues that I care deeply about, especially when they affect America's children.
Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high-blood pressure are all diet-related health issues that cost this country more than $120 billion each year. That's a lot of money. While the dollar figure is shocking in and of itself, the effect on our children's health is even more profound. Nearly a third of the children in this country are either overweight or obese, and a third will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lifetime. In Hispanic and African American communities, those numbers climb even higher so that nearly half of the children in those communities will suffer the same fate. Those numbers are unacceptable.

Shelling peas is part of the joy of gardening.
Slicing tomatoes for a sandwich or a salad is another part of it.
What Michelle Obama's done here is to popularize, for a new generation, the value of food that you control. Doesn't have to be slow food. Doesn't have to be costly food (although her organic gardening principles appear to be providing real bounty). Can double as a way of showing kids that a meal needn't, necessarily, come from a drive-through and incorporate mass-produced ag-corp fodder.

Come to think of it, I think supper tonight'll probably reflect the season, here.
Cornbread and black-eyed peas, anybody?