American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America

In April 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama planted a kitchen garden on the White House's South Lawn.� It is a garden with roots in the American past, stretching back to George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, but it is also a garden very much designed for America's future.� As fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs sprouted from the ground, this White House Kitchen Garden inspired a new conversation all across the country about the food we feed our families and the impact it has on the health and well-being of our children.�
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Now, in her first-ever book, American Grown, Mrs. Obama invites you inside the White House Kitchen Garden and shares its inspiring story, from the first planting to the latest harvest.� Hear about her worries as a novice gardener ��would the new plants even grow? Learn about her struggles and her joys as lettuce, corn, tomatoes, collards and kale, sweet potatoes and rhubarb flourished in the freshly tilled soil.� Get an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at every season of the garden's growth, with striking original photographs that bring its story to life.� Try the unique recipes created by top White House chefs and made with ingredients freshly-picked from the White House garden.��And learn from the White House Garden team about how you can help plant your own backyard, school or community garden.�
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Mrs. Obama's journey continues across the nation, sharing the stories of other gardens that have moved and inspired her.� Here are the tales of a modern day vegetable truck that brings fresh produce to underserved communities in Chicago, of Houston office workers who make the sidewalk bloom, of a New York City School that created a scented garden for the visually impaired, of a North Carolina garden that devotes its entire harvest to those less fortunate, and other stories of communities that are transforming the lives and health of their citizens.�
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With American Grown, Mrs. Obama tells the story of the White House Kitchen Garden, celebrates the bounty of our nation, and reminds us all of what we can grow together.��������