Melania Trump joined schoolchildren to harvest and replant the White House kitchen garden on Friday, extending a project that Michelle Obama began and which became a symbol of her effort to revamp childhood nutrition and fight obesity.
“I’m a big believer in healthy eating because it reflects on your mind and your body,” Mrs. Trump told the school children, according to Politico. “I encourage you to continue to eat a lot of vegetables and fruits, so you grow up healthy and take care of yourself.”
After brief remarks, the First Lady joined the children in harvesting lettuce and kale, peas, radishes, Swiss chard and mustard, Politico said. They also planted fall crops such as cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, spinach and kale.
Once Donald Trump was elected president, there was a great deal of uncertainty about what would become of the White House garden, which initially had been championed by proponents such as Alice Waters. Politico said the First Lady’s decision to replant the garden “surprised some food advocates, especially after the Trump administration in May said it would relax elements of the school nutrition standards Michelle Obama had championed.”