Woohoo! The Obamas are planting a veggie garden on the front lawn. They’ve clearly been inspired by the good people of Melbourne’s inner north-west, where front yard veggies never went out of style. It’s most helpful if you’re a novice veggie grower, walking home from the tram you can see what seedlings you should be putting in and compare your harvest to the masters. It’s quite heartening to see how a bit of friendly viral internet-based lobbying can alter peoples’ thinking. So Kevin, how’s about some broccoli on the roof at your place?
In other news, I planted stuff too. From top to bottom there are scarlet runner and green beans, red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, nasturtiums, spinach and parsley. Out of shot there is sage, rosemary, thyme and alyssum (which we wont eat, they’re just for the pretty factor). Still to go in, carrots, more beans, onions and garlic. The Bloke planted some natives in the front yard, so it looks ever so slightly less bogan. And I finished the biggest thing I’ve ever knitted. The Jo Sharp Sideways top in Sublime Organic Cotton. The details are on Ravelry for the interested types.
Some time ago, when the lad was still getting started on the whole speaking English deal, some people were blogging their kids’ language, because you want to remember that sort of cute when your kids are teenagers. Lately we’ve had a storm of cute. He’s hailing cute. Every morning he gets up and declares it’s snowing (he’s got a northern hemisphere book about bunnies and seasons), which is pretty funny, he’s getting the hang of more grown up phrases, which is novel enough for us to be amused, and he’s still getting some words and phrases a bit wrong. Which is the best sort of cute. He’s quite fond of eating Ice Quackers and his rocking horse requires constant motivation from the rider: “Giddy Up! Giddy Down! Giddy Up! Giddy Down!”
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March 23, 2009 at 10:26 am
froginthepond
Some observations:
yay! on the top and glad to see I’m not the only one on Ravelry that labels things fairly broadly like ‘a hoodie for Niamh’;
Very impressed at the planting and I still wish we had that much level ground;
The lad really will need to work on his idea of stable (hah! another unintended pun!) equilibrium if he wants that horse to move.
March 23, 2009 at 10:40 am
Kel
try as i might, i cant help but be rather giddy at the thought! Its just such a great response to such a great community calling. Everyone i know has just a slight crush… as for the top, well… well done, no holes, stretchy bits or anything…and now that you have some seedlings in, you dont have to change your blog name. there’s some time saved!
March 23, 2009 at 11:04 am
innercitygarden
The knitting is far from perfect Kel, but if you take dodgy photos no one can see how uneven the stitches are.
I like your thinking, but it’s not an innercity garden anymore. So there’s still going to be a new blog. Just as soon as the local web developer gets a spare few minutes. There will be a new blog with a new name, and the person who inspired the new name will even get a prize. Just as soon as the blog and the prize are made. Now is everyone waiting in anticipation for the new blog launch?
March 23, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Simply.Belinda
Have to say I love the “giddy down” makes perfect sense if you are on a rocking horse.. not so much on a real one but with any luck he will get to find that out in the future.
Congrats on getting some seedlings in, I will be really interested to see what winter throws at you up there. It’s not a common occurrence from my understanding but your boy just might get to try out his new morning greeting sometime with correct context.
Kind Regards
Belinda
March 24, 2009 at 1:00 am
Timothy
Really suprised to see Ms Obama start an old-school garden that wastes water, offers poor yields, promotes topsoil erosion, and reduces oxygen producing grass.
Its a shame that they didn’t read on modern gardening and install a nice square-foot garden. A square-foot garden uses 20% of the space and 10% of the water of a traditional garden, but with 100% of the yield. Not to mention they look far nicer.
Its much easier to convince Americans to install a 3- or 4-foot box of food than the monstrosity they’re building in the South Lawn. Especially since theres no digging or tilling involved.
March 24, 2009 at 8:33 am
kate
It is a shame the Whitehouse wont have a more innovative garden. Personally, I’d love the whole 18 acres of Whitehouse garden to have a permabliz, but I’m happy about the baby steps anyway. Who knows, maybe the organic veg will inspire turning the rest of the garden organic, maybe involving schools will inspire more of them to start kitchen garden programs. Maybe they’ll get rid of the vast swathes of stupid lawn. I can’t imagine having so much land and not getting in some chickens, but for people who’ve never gardened before, a conventional veggie patch is a pretty good start. That it’s visible from the street makes my heart sing.
March 27, 2009 at 10:44 am
Ann oDyne
Disappointed by the negative remarks above re the White House Veggie garden: They are Setting An Example, and it’s a start fer chrissakes.
The Jo Sharp Sideways Top looks really really good. bravo.
In your family, they will be referred to forever as ‘Ice Quackers’.
March 30, 2009 at 9:19 pm
di
All great stuff.
We’re enjoying a spot of language related cuteness here too. Cute new things seem to appear on a daily basis, so coming home from work (for example) has the added anticipation of thinking “I wonder what exciting new trick he’s learnt today”…