WASHINGTON – Squirrels are living high on the hog thanks to the government stalemate – feasting on tomatoes from the First Lady’s beloved White House garden while federal gardeners remain idle.
With the shutdown entering its third week, the Park Service gardeners who normally tend the mushrooms, peppers, squash and other tasty items have only been permitted to water the plants.
Under the peculiar rules in effect, they are not allowed to rake or weed or even mow the grass.
“The tomato plants are now an impressive tangle of browning vines, with ripe Sungolds littering the ground beneath,” writes Eddie Gehman Kohan on her Obama Foodorama blog.
“Yellow and brown leaves now remain on crops throughout the garden, including on the potted dwarf papaya tree that sits on one side, now boasting five big green papayas,” she continues.
Local squirrels – already a nuisance in D.C. thanks to soft-hearted tourists bearing popcorn and other snacks – have been milking the shutdown as much as camera-hungry politicians.
“The squirrels are always a problem in the garden, eating the berry crop in the summer months,” notes Kohan. “But they’re now kids in a candy store, gorging themselves” on Sungolds and other tomatoes.
Many White House staff members who normally volunteer to help weed the garden are on furlough.
Food from the garden gets served at state dinners as well as an array of other events, and has been featured prominently in Michelle Obama’s healthy eating campaign.
“Due to the shutdown, regular maintenance has stopped and only periodic watering is being done, consistent with other National Park Service managed landscape areas,” a White House official told the Post.