Claire is just the woman to turn 5 acres of the White House lawn into the nation’s premier urban farm. Claire has worked in small-scale organic agriculture for 15 years, including her 8 years at Troy Community Farm where she turned a 5-acre parcel of weedy urban landscape into a highly productive and wonderfully beautiful vegetable farm. Not only does Claire produce food for CSA, market, and wholesale on this small urban farm, she also educates college students, high-school youth, and adult volunteers through the farm’s internship programs. Claire is an excellent farmer and educator who could not only feed the first family and others in the DC community well, but also serve as a brilliant role model for future farmers all over this country.
What’s more, Claire’s farm is part of a larger non-profit that also runs a 5-acre community garden, a restored prairie, and several kids’ gardening programs on 26 open acres in the city of Madison, WI. Community GroundWorks at Troy Gardens not only feeds people, it also teaches people to feed themselves. Claire’s work with this organization connects her with other growers and educators who have the skills and ambition to help this country both eat local and grow local. First the White House lawn, then the lawns across the nation!

Vicki transitioned her family’s chemically-based flower and vegetable farm near St. Anne, Illinois in order to heal the earth and heal herself.  Her inspiring story can be read in full in the summer issue of Edible Chicago and on her website, www.genesis-growers.com.   She supplies delicious vegetables to customers at the Chicago Green City Market as well as through CSA drop-offs at churches and synagogues throughout the city.  She is a dedicated farmer and an inspiration.

Henry has been raising hundreds of varieties of vegetables for over 17 years, and is dedicated to organic, locally grown food. Henry has a passion for every aspect of this back-breaking undertaking. He inspires me to eat well.

It is hard to think of a person better qualified than Jeanne to be the first White House Farmer. She has had decades of experience working on organic farms all across the country, and she currently runs her own suburban organic gardening business, The Organic Gardener, Ltd. In addition, she is in charge of the Edible Gardens at Lincoln Park Zoo in downtown Chicago, where she accomplishes small miracles every day: making children excited about eating healthy food at home and in their schools.

Jeanne has a strong positive impact on everyone she (or her vegetables) come in contact with. These people range from school children to Green City Market customers, to chefs, university professors, community members, and funders. Jeanne is also a powerful and charismatic communicator, conveying the importance of organic farming and local foods–from ameliorating climate change to promoting personal health level to enhancing national security.

Elizabeth Henderson is an amazing farmer and farmer advocate. She has been part of many organizations, and at the same time she manages her farm in New York. She has great social skills, and she has also written two books on the subject of sustainable farming, including Sharing the Harvest, the first book explaining and popularizing CSAs (community supported agriculture).  For a great interview about her pioneering work with CSAs, click here. For more background and information on Elizabeth and Peacework, click here.

Charlie has been a highly successful market gardener in both Phoenix, Arizona and Hanover/Richmond, Virginia. His dedication to sustainable agriculture, natural/beyond organic methods, community involvement, and sound business practices make him a perfect candidate. He has also grown for over 25 fine restaurants in both Phoenix and Richmond, working one-on-one with award-winning chefs to provide the highest quality products (Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix would happily serve as a reference). His fervent support for President-elect Obama inspires his perspective on the country’s green future. Additionally, his farm is only 1 1/2 hours from the White House allowing it to continue to serve the community here while he provides a beautiful, abundant and thoroughly productive garden on the White House grounds.

For more than fifty years Fred Lucas has been the owner of a small family farm operation on about 80 acres in southeast Iowa. As a family, we grew a wide variety of crops –corn, beans, alfalfa, oats, sweet corn, tomatoes,potatoes, peas, green beans, jalapenos, eggplant, squash, pumpkins, strawberries, watermelon, canteloup, kohlrabi, flowers of all kinds, raspberries, peaches, apples, pears, rhubarb, cucumbers, onions, lettuce, cabbage, organic chicken and eggs.  As a part of the operation Fred designed and built a hothouse to incubate plants in the early spring to transplant into the “big” garden later in the spring. Fred worked in partnership with his wife and 5 children to cultivate produce as well as the love and stewardship of the land and environment. Before organic farming was the “in” thing to do, Fred implemented innovative ways of using conservation methods and organic farming techniques to feed our immediate and extended family.