First Lady Michelle Obama cultivated a fresh vision heard around the world when she initiated a kitchen garden on the White House ground last spring. But don’t think that as the snow flies this growing venture will dive into hibernation. Thanks to the vision of Sam Kass, Food Initiative Coordinator at the White House and garden visionary, the First Family will be eating local through winter thanks to simple winter gardening tactics.
Here are three tips from the White House for eating local and season from your garden year round:
1. Add a Hoop House
A hoop house (sometimes also called a “high tunnel”) is an inexpensive way to extend the growing season, basically consisting of metal bars holding up fabric or plastic pulled tight to keep the warm air in. Here’s basic hoop house how-to’s from my friend, Roger Doiron, founder of Kitchen Gardeners International and the leader behind the “Eat the View” campaign supporting the White House Garden.
2. Plant Greens
The White House winter garden offers a variety of greens and cool weather crops such as spinach, lettuce, mustard greens and chard. “Winter spinach is extra sweet,” comments Kass on the White House website. “Sugar doesn’t freeze, so spinach produces extra sugars in the winter to protect itself from frost. It tastes almost like candy.”
3. Take Cover
Cover crops, that is. Kass planted a cover crop of rye in the areas of the garden that will go dormant over the winter, revitalizing the soil and preventing erosion. “This is an incredibly important technique all growers can utilize,” adds Kass. “Topsoil is one of our valuable commodities, and we are working hard to protect it.”
Lisa Kivirist
Lisa Kivirist embodies the growing “ecopreneuring” movement: innovative entrepreneurs who successfully blend business with making the world a better place. Lisa is co-author, with her husband, John Ivanko, of Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life, capturing the American dream of farm living for contemporary times. Her latest release, ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits is a compact, dynamic tool kit for a fresh approach to entrepreneurial thinking, blending passion for protecting and preserving the planet with small business pragmatics. As a W.K. Kellogg Food & Society Policy Fellow and Director of the Rural Women's Project, Lisa champions a voice for women farmers and rural ecopreneurs through media, speaking and advocacy work. Lisa runs the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed and Breakfast in southwest Wisconsin, completely powered by renewable energy and considered amongst the “Top Ten Eco-Destinations in North America.” Her culinary focus on local and seasonal cuisine – with most ingredients traveling less than 100 feet from her organic gardens to B&B plates – earned recognition in publications from Vegetarian Times to Country Woman and inspired her cookbook, Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity. In addition to feature writing for publications such as Hobby Farm Home, Mother Earth News and Wisconsin Trails, Lisa is the lead writer for Renewing the Countryside, a non-profit organization showcasing rural entrepreneurial and agricultural success stories. Lisa also penned Kiss Off Corporate America: A Young Professional’s Guide to Independence. Lisa shares her farm with her husband, their young son, a 10kw wind turbine and a colony of honeybees.
One Response to Three Tips from the White House on Winter Gardening
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I love that they are setting up hoop houses and taking the garden seriously. I love winter spinach, it goes great with a tart vinegar dressing.