Bringing home gardening gifts from his roadtrips becomes a Presidential habit...In case anyone was worried that First Lady Obama might be upset that he is spending three days tooling around the heartland in an armored bus, on Monday evening President Obama assured his town hall audience that he's in good shape. Speaking at the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, the President said he is returning to the White House with a special gift for his wife. (Above: The President details his plans to create jobs)
"They gave me a pack of seeds for Michelle’s garden," President Obama said to laughter, as he stood in front of a big red barn draped with an American flag. "So I’m going to be in good stead when I get home."
The 850-acre Seed Savers Heritage Farm is one of the largest seedbanks in North America, and preserves heirloom seeds and plants. Mrs. Obama's White House Kitchen Garden grows heirloom vegetables, gleaned from President Thomas Jefferson's vegetable garden at Monticello, and most recently, from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
The bus tour seeds are not the first gardening-related road trip gift President Obama has brought home for Mrs. Obama. In June, as he returned from a trip to Toledo, Ohio, the President presented his wife with two sets of neon-green gardening gloves he'd picked up at a hardware store during his day-trip. He presented them to Mrs. Obama, beaming, as he stepped off Marine One on the South Lawn. (Above: Mr. and Mrs. Obama walk toward the White House with her gift)*Photos by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama