Vermont beats Oregon to the punch: State-House Garden

H/t to Energybulletin.net. Isn't it wonderful to imagine that big green quad in front of the Capitol building in a huge, blooming variety of vegetables, berries, replacing the ornamental cherries with sweet cherries . . . etc. Let's give the Golden Pioneer something great to look at!

At Vermont State House, time for green thumbs

MONTPELIER — Signs of the times: a cash-strapped state government cutting the budget for flowers outside its Capitol – and frugal Vermonters stepping up to plant vegetables instead.

A Statehouse known for the green legislation that gets crafted inside — and for the crunchy, green ethos of many of its constituents — now sports two long, narrow plots of organic vegetables on either side of the steps leading to its front door.

"We're the only state which has a capital that doesn't have a McDonald's," said Carolyn Jones, a Montpelier sixth-grader. "We're a green state, a healthy state."

What organizers are calling the first Statehouse vegetable garden in the country got its start Thursday, as a crew of students from Montpelier High School brought 150 lettuce seedlings from the school's greenhouse to plant under the gaze of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, whose statue graces the top of the building's golden dome.

The youngsters — whose school's Web site touts a "Composter of the Month"—braved a steady rain to do the planting, while adult organizers and dignitaries huddled under a party tent nearby. Sopping wet, the teens disappeared as soon as the plants were in the ground. (17 May 2009)