White House Garden goes through 2nd major harvest

Cupboards at a soup kitchen near the White House will be spilling over for several days after a donation of fresh produce harvested Thursday from first lady Michelle Obama's vegetable garden.

Mrs. Obama invited about 30 fifth-graders from two District of Columbia public elementary schools to help with the project. One of the schools, Bancroft Elementary, has helped with the garden since it began, preparing the soil, planting the seeds and harvesting in the spring.

The students were broken up into groups of three and paired with an adult who instructed them on what to do. All told, they spent about a half-hour jabbing and digging at the plot on the South Lawn with pitchforks and other tools.

They filled one wheelbarrow with huge sweet potatoes and filled baskets and bowls with carrots, fennel, red leaf lettuce and more. The total weight was not immediately available, but everything is to be given to Miriam's Kitchen. Mrs. Obama helped serve meals there earlier this year.

The first lady and her group first tackled sweet potatoes before moving on to carrots and big bulbs of fennel. At one point, she held up a one of the larger orange-colored spuds and said: "This can feed an army."