USDA Brings Gardens to National Mall
The Washington Post writes about USDA efforts to grow food for soup kitchens and food pantries on the National Mall and at USDA facilities across the country and around the world.
Agriculture Department seeds the way for ‘people’s gardens’
Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post
April 13, 2010Vilsack carved out the garden last year from an asphalt parking lot. He grabbed a jackhammer and challenged USDA facilities across the country to follow suit and create what he calls a People’s Garden.
As of last week, 255 gardens have been established by Agriculture Department workers worldwide, including an indoor lettuce garden in North Carolina and a vegetable garden on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in South Korea. All of the food grown at these gardens — 29,656 pounds last year — is donated to food pantries and soup kitchens. The garden at USDA headquarters last year yielded more than 300 pounds of peas, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and other produce, which was given to D.C. Central Kitchen.
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