In the spring of 2016 I was invited by the USDA to photograph Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden planting. Mrs. Obama started the WHKG when Barack Obama first took office and every year she invited school children from around the country to help plant the garden as a way to bring awareness to healthy eating. The 2016 planting including special guests from NASA who had recently grown the first vegetable on the International Space Station. The vegetable NASA chose to grow happened to be a lettuce bred by Frank Morton, an organic plant breeder in Philomath, Oregon. Frank named the lettuce Out"red"geous for it's beautiful red color. NASA found the lettuce to be hardy and resistant to bacteria and good for growing in a difficult environment. You can find photos of Frank and his farm under Wild Garden Seed in my Farms: Plant Breeding gallery. Since this was the last planting under the Obama leadership, Mrs. Obama invited us all back to harvest the garden in June and to have a cooking lesson with Rachel Ray and the White House Kitchen Staff.

New Day School in Portland, Oregon employs a full time gardener that teaches the preschoolers how to garden and grow food. The food grown in the garden is used in the kids the lunches.

2014 Parrish Middle School Agricultural Festival