White House plants winter garden under row covers

Home-garden-sized row covers.

Sam Kass preps and plugs the winter garden

By Jane Black
Washington Post
Dec 16, 2009

First, he was profiled in Men’s Health magazine. Then it was People. Now White House assistant chef Sam Kass has taken the first step to small screen stardom. And by small screen, I mean YouTube.

Today, the White House released a video of Kass and Department of Agriculture officials readying the South Lawn garden for winter. A group of what appear to be a dozen volunteers set up hoop houses – a kind of temporary green house – in which staff will grow cold-weather greens for the White House table. The group also plant a cover crop of rye, which will help protect and enrich the soil during the cold months.

Kass’s official title is White House food initiative coordinator. But he also serves as one of Washington’s top heartthrobs. By introducing the video, which was filmed Dec. 4, he will not doubt attract thousands of viewers that your average USDA video can’t.

USDA officials capitalized on the opportunity. Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, for example, talked up a new agency program called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food,” which helps support smaller farmers and local and regional food systems.

USDA brass also outlined a new policy that would offer assistance to farmers who want to build their own hoop houses. Made of ribs of plastic or metal pipe covered with a layer of plastic sheeting, the tunnels are easy to build, maintain and move. They can help provide steady incomes to farmers by letting them grow all year round.

So what is the White House growing this winter? In a blog post, Kass said the team has planted spinach, lettuce, carrots, mustard greens, chard and cabbage. He is especially looking forward to winter spinach, which is so sweet that it “tastes almost like candy.”

If anybody can persuade Americans to believe that, it might be Sam Kass.

See article here.