A group of fifth-graders from Washington D.C., have been charged with a very special mission. They have been called to serve as advisers to the First Lady of the United States.

Their area of expertise? Gardening.

The students have gained valuable knowledge about gardening by tending to plant plots at their school, Bancroft Elementary. The First Lady brought the group of 26 to the White House on Friday to break ground on a garden of her own.

The students used shovels, rakes, and pitchforks to dig up an 1,100-square-foot patch on the South Lawn-just below Sasha and Malia’s new swing set.

The First Lady worked alongside her new “student-advisers” too. When some students started pulling up the grass with their hands, Obama joined right in.

The First Lady’s student advisers will come back in about a month to assist with the planting phase of the garden.

And they will have their work cut out for them-they will be planting 55 kinds of vegetables, all grown from organic seedlings kept at the White House’s greenhouse.

The garden will even include a couple of beehives for making honey.

The Obama family will also take part in maintaining the garden. The First Lady told reporters (with a smile) that everyone, even the President, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not.”

The First Family’s efforts will be rewarded, however.

The fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit grown in the garden will be part of regular meals at the White House. The produce will also be served to guests at formal dinners.

But the First Lady wants the garden to serve a larger purpose than providing ingredients for the White House kitchen. She hopes the garden will help teach children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables.

“My hope,” Michelle Obama said in an interview with the New York Times, “is that children will begin to educate their families, that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.”

The First Lady’s student advisers will be able to spread the word about healthful eating by giving firsthand accounts of how delicious homegrown food can be. Later this year, they will return to the White House to harvest and cook the vegetables and fruits they helped grow.

This is the first White House kitchen garden since the 1940s. Then-First-Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was the last resident to have a full garden on the White House grounds.

Source: Scholastic Online