Melania Gets A Nudge To Show Interest In Michelle Obama’s Garden?


Michelle Obama’s infatuation with healthy food carried over to a White House garden that would put homegrown veggies on the table at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for many years to come. First Lady Melania Trump has inherited that garden from the previous first lady, but she hasn’t shown much interest in Michelle Obama’s legacy so far, according to NDTV News.

Michelle was seen in pictures not only getting the garden up and running but also spending time with volunteers maintaining the area of the White House lawn that was sprouting up fresh produce. Now that the garden is no longer providing fresh produce for the Obama household, the chefs preparing meals for the Trump family have their pick of garden delights, despite the first lady not paying much attention to the garden.

Photo ops of Michelle Obama with garden tools made it appear that she was doing all the painstaking work on that garden so the White House would reap the rewards of a harvest. But in reality, it was volunteers and the folks from Burpee who have put in the elbow grease and expense to make that garden grow. While Michelle wasn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and dig in, the garden is mostly cared for by staff and volunteers. It is also called the “White House kitchen garden,” according to Dallas News.

The folks from Burpee have promised to fund this garden through the year 2030. They’ve donated a hefty sum of $2.5 million to preserve the garden that utilized Burpee products to grow the fresh vegetables and fruit for the White House table, according to the Dallas News.

Melania hasn’t turned her back on the garden or given any indication that she doesn’t care too much for the garden, according to NDTV. It just seems that she’s not shown much interest in the plot of land that’s sprouting fresh veggies at the White House. Melania did tell Michelle Obama that she would not get rid of the garden, however, she made no promise to work at it or even utilize its harvest.

Now there’s something in the wind that may spark Melania’s interest in gardening and that something is an onion. This onion not only comes from her roots in Slovenia but also right out of her family tree. Will this new onion from Melania’s roots be the key to sparking more interest in the garden for the first lady today? The folks from her hometown sure hope so.

So how do you get the first lady to show interest in the garden? George Ball, who is the chief executive at Burpee, describes an idea that might get Melania’s interest in the garden. Melania’s grandfather was an onion farmer, but he didn’t plant and harvest just any onion, it was a special kind of onion.

Melania’s grandfather was the “largest single grower of the “Raka Red” in Slovenia in the 1970s. This is a different type of onion and although it is used for cooking, the Raka onion is mild enough for people to eat raw. The folks in the region that grow this onion do eat the onion raw, sometimes it is offered with wine and sausages. With the Burpee garden at the White House and Melania having the Raka onion in her heritage this could be a winning combination.

The Burpee folks are setting out to make the Raka onion a popular market offering. One way to do this is for Burpee to introduce a piece of Melania’s heritage into the White House garden, suggests the folks at Burpee.

According to Ball, “I can’t predict if she’ll be a champion for the garden. I hope so. I don’t know.” The Pennsylvania-based Burpee Company sent a plant breeder, Simon Crawford, to the region to research the Raka onion.

Crawford shares his thoughts on the Raka onion, saying… “It’s fascinating that this thing has survived for so long, and that these guys are actively trying to resurrect it.” Crawford continued, “Also, it’s a really, really lovely onion.”

The “tiny agricultural community in Slovenia” has been attempting to promote this onion for years, but it’s not been very successful. If the Raka Red onion gets a spot in the White House garden, this might be the beginning of the onion’s journey into the markets for the masses.

Melania’s grandfather, Anton Ulcnik, and his descendants are private citizens and because of that fact, the first lady has declined to comment on her family’s farming and heritage, according to a spokeswoman for Melania Trump.

[Feature Image by Carolyn Kaster]

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