Photo credit: Reuters
It was harvest time at the White House vegetable garden this week, and first lady Michelle Obama munched a baby turnip, dug up giant sweet potatoes and snipped pumpkins off the vine as she worked alongside local schoolchildren and world-class chefs.
One sweet potato weighed in at 4 pounds, drawing an admiring stare from the first lady.
"You guys have witnessed the first White House pumpkins," she told the children as they loaded up wheelbarrows and weighed in their haul.
Students from Tubman Elementary and Bancroft Elementary harvested broccoli, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and other fall crops, and later, White House chefs demonstrated how to pickle vegetables.
The Associated Press also reports that Mrs. Obama posed for a group photo with the harvest team, and at first prompted the children to smile and say "cheese." But then she had a better idea, declaring, "Let's say 'veggies!'"
Photo credit: Reuters
After the kids finished their harvesting, they were put to work once again, washing the produce and then slicing and dicing vegetables for a fresh garden salad made just for them.
The White House kitchen team got some help from world-renowned chefs Daniel Boulud and James Kent.
Boulud quizzed the schoolkids on what to do with turnips and then told them, "We can make a good soup with that."
The garden has produced 1,600 pounds of food this year, used to feed the first family and White House guests and for donations to shelters such as Miriam's Kitchen in Washington.