A new site, whitehousefarmer.com, is taking nominations and votes for exactly what you think: A White House farmer.
The first family relies on chefs, butlers, staffers and a whole cadre of people that keep the White House going. But there's no farmer.
Imagine serving a head of state organic veggies grown at the White House? That says we're committed to making a better worlds and tightening our belts. You could see some great decisions being made over those veggies.
Voting is open till Jan. 31. Top vote-getters will be submitted to President Obama. (No, he's not the one soliciting this, so it could go in his garbage but why would it?)
Obama's from Chicago. We need to send an Illinoisan out there. We've got pride to maintain here. But, please, let's send someone from part of that state that knows corn and soybeans, not just city garden plots.
Make a nomination or pick a farmer to vote for.
Indecisive? May I suggest Vicki Westerhoff of Genesis Growers? Genesis Growers is a CSA in St. Anne that has a dropoff point in Mokena. Right now, without any new nominations, this is as local as it gets.
Vote now to send a local farmer to The White House
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Julie Todd
Julie Todd is the night editor at The Herald News in Joliet. She and her
husband are looking to cut the chemicals and get back to basics -- minus the
granola and hemp clothing. They live in a home they bought last year in
Plainfield, where they're making changes to create their own little patch of
utopia.
I don't know enough about the benefits of local farming as I have come to appreciate veggies as an adult and I am working on making them a larger part of my diet. I do realize the importance of supporting local business and using farms with organically grown food in terms of safety and environmental preservation. I say yes send a farmer, I just can't say which one.
Maybe we ought to send a label reader to Washington as well. Just one person who will read ALL the nutrition and ingredient labels of all the food served to the First Family and Heads of State etc. before they eat it. I wonder what would change if we had one of those too?
My mother was/is a voracious gardener, not just because fresher food tastes better but because it's so much cheaper.
It seems like we were constantly eating fresh veggies as children. As a result, I can only think of one green veggie I don't love (lima beans, which mom didn't grow).
I'm glad you're warming up to veggies. If I had someone on standby to steam fresh veggies, I'd only weigh about two pounds because I'd have no fat in my diet. I'll take a bowl of broccoli over a cookie. It's soooo good..
But cookies are so convenient. Dang it.
And I agree with you about food labels. Next thing you know, you've got a calculator out trying to figure out what the fat and sodium are for half a bag of something when the bag actually contains 2.4 servings ... And for prepared foods, have you noticed you get numbers for raw and prepared for some stuff on the listings, but not others? I never know whether the single numbers apply to the raw food or the prepared.
It shouldn't be that hard.
And I get ticked a little when people say, "Oh, I didn't realized that 9 pound bag of chips wasn't one serving. Why didn't someone tell me?" But at the same time, there are SO MANY people that doesn't realize how much of the label isn't transparent to so many people.