If actions speak louder than words, then Michelle Obama’s move to turn a portion of the White House grounds into a kitchen garden is a fabulous way to encourage all of us to think about the environment, our health and the sheer pleasure that comes from growing your own food.

If you are fortunate to have time on your hands and a good size piece of land, then here are the White House kitchen garden plans (White House kitchen garden plans).

However, for many of us who don’t have the time, help or expansive land to grow such an ambitious kitchen garden, you may consider an urban version of it which I have in my home in San Jose. It is a raised vegetable garden planter which gives me enough area to grow some tomatoes, peppers, and basil.

I built it last year, yes, before Michelle Obama…for the record. It provides enough for me to play the role of an urban vegetable gardener and allows me to brag to Clint every time I make a salad with my own tomatoes.

You can find the details of the project here.

Loni Stark
Loni Stark is an artist at Atelier Stark, psychology researcher, and technologist whose work explores the intersection of identity, creativity, and technology. A self-professed foodie and adventure travel enthusiast, she collaborates on visual storytelling projects with Clinton Stark for Stark Insider. Her insights are shaped by her role at Adobe, influencing her explorations into the human-tech relationship. It's been said her laugh can still be heard from San Jose up to the Golden Gate Bridge—unless sushi, her culinary Kryptonite, has momentarily silenced her.