Because California has no official residence for its governor, First Lady Maria Shriver is focussing on Sacramento's State Capitol Park as the perfect site for demonstrating edible and sustainable landscaping. It's more accessible to the public than a governor's mansion would be, anyway. So, what's there?
VEGETABLE GARDEN
Not long after we all learned of Michelle Obama's vegetable garden, Shriver announced that a garden will be planted in Capitol Park. She'll be getting help with the garden from state Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura, the California School Garden Network, and chef Alice Waters, a long-time advocate for school and public edible gardens. The 800-square foot demonstration garden, which will replace an existing flower bed, will be planted in May. It'll be open to students and other visitors, and any resulting produce will go to a food bank. Here's the story.
“This new garden will bring awareness to children, students and visitors about the important role of food, where it comes from, nutritional value, how it is grown and harvested and ultimately how it reaches the tables of those who need it most,” Shriver said in a statement. In the five years that she's served as honorary chairwoman of the School Garden Network, the number gardens in the program has doubled, reaching 6,000 last year, according to her spokesman Francisco Castillo.
SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPING?
But the focus at Green the Grounds is on the rest of the landscape - is it sustainable? Castillo tells me that this same State Capitol Park went green years ago and that California's Secretary of Food and Agriculture would call to tell me all about it. That was April 23 and no word yet, however, and a follow-up phone call was not returned. Hmm.
