U.S. News

Michelle Obama's garden honors former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt

By Ashley Williams   |   May 11, 2022 at 1:42 PM
First lady Michelle Obama participates in the annual vegetable garden planting with Marley Santos, 11, of Boulder, Colo., at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2015. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI First lady Michelle Obama joins elementary school students to dig up eggplant during the annual fall harvest of the White House Kitchen Garden in the South Lawn on October 14, 2014. File Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI First lady Michelle Obama uses a pitchfork to dig up sweet potatoes as she and White House Chef Sam Kass (R) help school children in the annual fall harvest of the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 30, 2013. File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI Former President Barack Obama makes a surprise visit to the White House Kitchen Garden harvest as retired NBA basketball player Alonzo Mourning and first lady Michelle Obama with school children dig up sweet potatoes on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 6, 2016. File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI

May 11 (UPI) -- Michelle Obama announced the unveiling of the Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit and Vegetable Garden at Chicago's Obama Presidential Center on Wednesday in her ongoing efforts to promote good nutrition.

"We're all so excited to honor Mrs. Roosevelt's legacy with a garden, where so many folks can follow her lead and plant something to help nourish the world around them," Obama said in a video of the project, named after the longest-serving first lady of the United States.

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Obama and her husband, former president Barack Obama, broke ground on the South Side facility in 2021, and the center is expected to open to the public in 2025.

Described as a "living, growing, vibrant space," on the center's website, Obama says she plans to continue the work she started during her time in the White House -- the former first lady planted the Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn, sparking national conversations about leading healthier lives.

Decades prior, Roosevelt planted a World War II-era victory garden at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to encourage families to support war efforts by growing their own food.