[Pollinator] Earth Day in DC

[Ladadams at aol.com]

    The People's Garden: to Promote  Healthy Food, People and Communities 
Across the Nation   
(http://imperialvalleynews.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=5320)   
(http://imperialvalleynews.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5320&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=23)   
(http://imperialvalleynews.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=5320&itemid=23)     
Written by Green Liver    Thursday, 23 April 2009    
Washington, DC - Yesterday in honor of Earth Day, Agriculture Secretary  
Tom Vilsack declared the entire grounds at the USDA Jamie L. Whitten  Building 
as 'The People's Garden' and unveiled plans to create a  sustainable 
landscape on the grounds. 
"USDA is an every day every way kind of department and this garden will  
help illustrate the many ways USDA works to provide a sustainable, safe  and 
nutritious food supply as well as protect and preserve the landscape  where 
that food is produced," said Vilsack. "The garden will help explain  to the 
public how small things they can do at home, at their business or  on their 
farm or ranch, can promote sustainability, conserve the nation's  natural 
resources, and make America a leader in combating climate change."   
The People's Garden is designed to provide a sampling of USDA's efforts  
throughout the world as well as teach others how to nurture, maintain and  
protect a healthy landscape. If practiced, these garden concepts can be  the 
general public's, government's, or business' contribution to providing  
healthy food, air, and water for people and communities.  
In response to the overwhelming public support and hundreds of letters  the 
'People's Garden' concept has received, Secretary Vilsack challenged  USDA 
facilities around the world to plant their own 'People's Gardens.'   
Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan officially kicked off the Earth Day  
event at the Whitten Building with Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman  Brings 
Plenty who performed a traditional song and planted seeds at a  ceremonial 
Three Sisters Garden to celebrate American Indians'  contribution to American 
agriculture. Merrigan led volunteers and USDA  staffers in planting 
vegetables, herbs and flowers to complete the first  phase of The People's Garden. 
Eventually, the garden will include organic  raised vegetable beds, organic 
transition plots, an organic urban  container garden, an organic kitchen 
pollinator garden, rain gardens and a  bat house.  
A Three Sisters Garden is a traditional garden consisting of corn,  beans 
and squash that has been planted by American Indians for centuries.  Stories 
of the Three Sisters refers to a tradition of interplanting corn,  beans and 
squash in the same mound. It is a sophisticated, sustainable  planting 
system that has provided long term soil fertility and a healthy  diet to 
generations of American Indians.  
The People's Garden is not confined to USDA headquarters in Washington,  
DC. Secretary Vilsack has challenged all USDA facilities-across the  country 
and around the world-to create similar gardens and create  healthier 
landscapes.  
The garden at the Whitten Building was first dedicated on Feb. 12,  2009, 
to commemorate the 200th birthday of President Lincoln. USDA is  planning to 
have the garden fully certified organic within three years.  USDA's 
vegetable garden will provide a great variety and amount of organic  produce, which 
will be donated to a local food bank.  
To expand the People's Garden, USDA partnered with 75 representatives  from 
other federal and state agencies, universities, non-governmental and  
non-profit organizations to redesign an innovative and sustainable  landscape for 
USDA's headquarters. This landscape will demonstrate  environmentally 
responsible practices and will educates and engages the  public through 
accessible exhibits.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 





Laurie Davies Adams
Executive  Director
Pollinator Partnership 
423 Washington Street, 5th  floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137
LDA at pollinator.org

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

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National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009. 
Beecome  involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 
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