+
upworthy
Heroes

Photos from the fall harvest at the White House garden are here and they're super sweet.

This week, first lady Michelle Obama hosted students from four schools at the White House.

But this was not your average tour of the executive branch. These students got unrestricted access to one of the first lady's favorite spots: the White House Kitchen Garden.


Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

The garden is the first built on the White House grounds since Eleanor Roosevelt's famous Victory Garden during World War II. The garden quickly became a passion project for Mrs. Obama and inspired her Let's Move campaign to teach kids about staying active and eating fresh fruits and veggies.

With help from the first lady, students pulled peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and even peanuts from the garden.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

And, this year, for the first time ever, the harvest went high tech.

As part of their new Expeditions Pioneer Program, a team from Google attended to shoot a virtual tour of the White House Kitchen Garden. Which means that, soon, kids from coast to coast can learn more about backyard agriculture and the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables thanks to the handy power of the Internet.

A camera captures a 360-view of the garden. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Mrs. Obama gives students the grand tour. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Of course, it wasn't all work. The students also had time to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor.

After a busy harvest, the students sat down to lunch with the first lady. Together, they made a kitchen garden vegetable salad bowl with zesty chicken, quinoa, and farro (it's a mouthful to say and to eat!) from some of the greens and veggies pulled from the garden.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

I wish I were as excited for anything as Mrs. Obama is for salads. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Students have always played a big role in the White House Kitchen Garden.

The first lady broke ground and planted the garden with students in the spring of 2009, just months after taking up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.


The first lady and White House chef Sam Kass at the garden planting in 2009. Photo by The White House.

The White House Kitchen Garden has since expanded to include a wide array of deliciousness, including herbs, lettuce, collard greens, carrots, peas, flowers, and a beehive. Every summer and fall, students lend a hand.

Chefs in the White House frequently prepare meals using crops from the garden and even brew beer with honey from the hive. The Obamas also donate fruits and veggies to Miriam's Kitchen, which serves people experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C.

Want to see the garden for yourself? You can!

If you just can't wait for Google's virtual walk-through, make plans to see the real thing.

Why should these adorable kids have all the fun? Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Tours of the White House Kitchen Garden are free and available to school and community groups with an interest in gardening or cooking with fruits and vegetables. Groups need to sign up in advance, and due to the number of requests, not every group can be accommodated.

But if you want to see how the first family eats, there's no better way.


Time travel back to 1905.

Back in 1905, a book called "The Apples of New York" was published by the New York State Department of Agriculture. It featured hundreds of apple varieties of all shapes, colors, and sizes, including Thomas Jefferson's personal favorite, the Esopus Spitzenburg.






Keep ReadingShow less

Joey Grundl, Milwaukee pizza guy.

Joey Grundl, a pizza delivery driver for a Domino's Pizza in Waldo, Wisconsin, is being hailed as a hero for noticing a kidnapped woman's subtle cry for help.

The delivery man was sent to a woman's house to deliver a pie when her ex-boyfriend, Dean Hoffman, opened the door. Grundl looked over his shoulder and saw a middle-aged woman with a black eye standing behind Hoffman. She appeared to be mouthing the words: "Call the police."

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Here’s a paycheck for a McDonald’s worker. And here's my jaw dropping to the floor.

So we've all heard the numbers, but what does that mean in reality? Here's one year's wages — yes, *full-time* wages. Woo.

Making a little over 10,000 for a yearly salary.


I've written tons of things about minimum wage, backed up by fact-checkers and economists and scholarly studies. All of them point to raising the minimum wage as a solution to lifting people out of poverty and getting folks off of public assistance. It's slowly happening, and there's much more to be done.

But when it comes right down to it, where the rubber meets the road is what it means for everyday workers who have to live with those wages. I honestly don't know how they do it.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Listen to this organ in Croatia that uses the sea to make hauntingly beautiful music

It's a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.


In 2005, a Croatian architect designed a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.

Nope, not nonsensical bellows or chaotic tones. Real, actual, music.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modern Families

A comic from The Oatmeal illustrates how we're missing the mark on happiness.

I do the things that are meaningful to me, even if they don't make me "happy."

By Matthew Inman/The Oatmeal. Used with permission.

How to Be Perfectly Happy


Matthew Inman is the Eisner Award-winning author of The Oatmeal. He's published six books, including New York Times Best-Sellers such as "How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You"and "The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances."He enjoys running marathons, writing comics, and eating cake.

You can read more of Matthew's comics here.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

Sweeping UN study finds that 9 out of 10 people worldwide are biased against women

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways.

Photo by Joe Gardner on Unsplash

As the U.S. ramps into an all-too-familiar presidential election cycle where the only viable candidates left on the ballot are men, the UN announces a study that may—at least partially—explain why.

The Gender Social Norms Index released yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers a look at gender equality as measured by people's personal gender bias. The data, which was collected from 75 countries covering 81% of the world's population, found that 91% of men and 86% of women show at least one clear bias against women in the areas of politics, economics, education, and physical integrity.

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways. Splendid.

Keep ReadingShow less