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31st Senate District Report - Senator Kathleen Vinehout
Eat Your Vegetables!
June 16, 2010
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“I sent my grandson out to cut some lettuce,” the woman told me. “He came
back with beet tops. Then I knew the garden really needed to be weeded.”
The family put the beet tops to good use and the beets were no worse for the
wear.
As I drive through our Senate District it seems like every one has a garden.
The wet weather has made the plants flourish. And even though finishing the
hay crop has been a challenge, pulling weeds is a lot easier, if you don’t
mind the mud.
Gardening is America’s number one hobby. Estimates are three out of four
American households have a garden and those numbers have increased. Last
year seed merchants reported increased sales of 20 to 30 percent. This year
the National Gardening Association estimates 7 million more families will
grow their own vegetables - an increase of almost twenty percent.
People garden for all sorts of reasons. And the National Gardening
Association has tracked them all. Better tasting food and saving money on
food bills are at the top of the list. Better quality food and knowing the
food is safe is close behind.
Even the First Family is getting into the action. Michele Obama started a
family garden on the South Lawn of the White House. This is the first “First
Garden” since Eleanor Roosevelt started a “Victory Garden” during World War
II.
Twenty-three Washington fifth graders joined the First Lady who broke ground
last spring. With the help of the White House kitchen staff, the Whitehouse
garden has 55 different plant varieties including herbs and berries.
While good food certainly motivates gardeners, Mrs. Obama realized the
importance of educating the next generation about healthy eating. She told
the New York Times “My hope is that through children, they will begin to
educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our
communities.”
Bringing good food to children motivated the First Lady to get started
gardening. Like many working parents, she saw what a diet of fast food did
to her children. Her pediatrician raised a red flag and she got thinking
about teaching youngsters about eating right.
The same desire to teach youngsters to eat right motivated families and
teachers in Vernon County. They started a “Farm to School” program that I
learned about this spring as I chaired a Senate Agriculture and Higher
Education committee hearing.
Twenty-six people traveled to the State Capitol to testify in favor of a
bill to create a state-wide Farm to School initiative. The bill would help
farmers find new markets and give schools access to locally grown fresh
fruits and vegetables. Those who testified explained that students ate more
vegetables when they understood where the vegetables came from and how they
were grown. One lady brought her carrots into a fifth grade class and was
amazed to see, when the students learned of the story of the carrots, how
much they enjoyed eating them.
Amid the spring flurry of legislative activity, the bill passed with wide
bipartisan support and is now law. While the state’s budget doesn’t have
much room for new programs this one became law without spending new money.
Farmers see how the new markets increased local economic activity. And
schools actually report that students eat more vegetables when kitchen staff
can buy locally grown food.
Whether the teaching happens at home, at school or on grandma’s farm, the
lessons learned last a lifetime. And maybe the children will enjoy knowing
even the President has put in his time weeding the garden.
But don’t worry about our President mistaking the beets for lettuce when the
‘missus’ sends him out to the garden. There will be no beets in the
Whitehouse garden. Mr. Obama doesn’t like them!
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Contact me in Black River Falls at (715) 284-1730; or in
Madison at (877) 763-6636 (toll free); or write: State Capitol; P.O. Box
7882 Madison, WI 53707-7882 or email
Sen.Vinehout@legis.wisconsin.gov
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