2009

When I received an email from US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack regarding the President and first Lady’s summer of service initiative, United We Serve, I thought, “Oh no, now what?” As I read about the goals of the program, I wasn’t sure if I would have either the time or the energy to do anything. But, as I thought about how lucky I am at this time to have a job, a roof over my head and a reliable vehicle, it seemed very little to ask me to give up one afternoon. Little did I know how much value I would find in giving up one afternoon of my time.

The first community garden in the newest city in the United States, founded in 2008, celebrated its grand opening during National Community Gardening Week.

Community gardens are unique microcosms where people can learn about the science behind growing plants and provide an environment that cultivates social responsibility.

This week is National Community Gardening Week and USDA encourages you to do you part and connect with your community through gardening.

Today in the People's Garden, USDA volunteers hosted another Healthy Garden Workshop -- and visitors were once again able to sample a dish created entirely from garden-grown foods in the Chef's Garden. The events will continue all summer here in Washington, but you can also check out some video from this afternoon:

A volunteer from the Natural Resources Conservation Service leads the Healthy Garden Workshop, on attracting wildlife to the garden -- in this segment of the presentation, he's outlining how to attract hummingbirds.

Since the first event in June, we've been excited to see the Rural Tour generating really thoughtful conversation and debate on the issues facing rural America. At town hall forums across the nation, Secretary Vilsack and his counterparts across the government have met with large, sometimes overflow, crowds. They've been able to answer questions and engage in productive debate on the best ways to help rural America.

On Monday, August 17, Secretary Vilsack joined Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for a Rural Tour event in Hamlet, North Carolina. While they were there, the Secretaries had the opportunity to participate in a meal packaging service project at Richmond Community College to promote President Obama’s United We Serve summer volunteerism initiative. The event was coordinated by Stop Hunger Now, a Raleigh-based non-profit organization that has hosted similar events at area colleges, including North Carolina State, the University of North Carolina, NC Central and others.

Note: This blog post was originally published on the Official Google Enterprise Blog:

With Secretary Vilsack doing so much this month, I want to make sure everyone gets a chance to check out his great remarks last week on the future of our nation’s forests, and share people’s reaction.

This summer, we've had the privilege to hear from all sorts of experts in the Peoples' Garden at USDA, as part of the Healthy Garden Workshops series. We've learned about gardening various delicious vegetables, controlling pests, and preparing garden-grown foods. This afternoon, visitors to the USDA tents on the National Mall were treated to a really interesting presentation on pollination.