clipped from: seattletimes.nwsource.com   
First lady Michelle Obama, right and Chef Sam Kass, left, take part in the groundbreaking of the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House March 20.

BOSTON — You have to admit that this gives new meaning to the idea of a "shovel-ready project." There are now 1,100 square feet on the South Lawn of the White House being transformed into a kitchen garden. If Americans follow the first family's lead, the seed pack will become the new stimulus package. At least we'll have something to do with those pitchforks after the AIG bonus babies surrender their money.

What Michelle and the kids and the crew did the other day was to drive a shovel right into the heart of that American icon: the lawn. They literally took the most pampered lawn in America, dumped it in the wheel barrel and carted it away. All that was missing was a chorus of "This lawn is your lawn."

This may be a fertile time for change
If we settle into a view of home as a place we nurture ourselves, we may have a grass-roots anti-grass movement.