People.com Celebrity Michelle Obama's New Garden Will Have D.C. Buzzing With bees, that is, as the First Lady plants fruits and vegetables at the White House By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall Sandra Sobieraj Westfall Sandra Sobieraj Westfall is the White House and National Political Correspondent for PEOPLE. She also writes for and occasionally senior edits the magazine's Crime section and the brand's Let's Talk About It mental health series. Westfall joined PEOPLE in 2003 as Washington Bureau Chief and specializes in bringing readers inside the personal experience of political life. She twice won the White House Correspondents' Association Merriman-Smith Award for excellence in presidential reporting under deadline pressure (for her inside-the-room election night exclusives on the "snippy" phone call between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000; and the hear-a-pin-drop silent moment in 2008 when Barack Obama, holding his mother-in-law's hand, took in the news that he would be America's first Black president). Prior to joining PEOPLE, Westfall was a White House Correspondent for The Associated Press after beginning her career in Congress, where she wrote legislation on women's health, mental health, and domestic violence. A native of Rochester, New York, she received her Bachelor's degree in politics (with a certificate in Latin American studies) from Princeton University, and a Master's degree in journalism from Stanford University. People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 20, 2009 08:10 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Jason Reed/Landov The First Lady may be all gung-ho about what she’s calling her new White House Kitchen Garden, but her daughters are worried the venture will get them stung. “We’re going to have a beehive,” Michelle Obama announced Friday to “ooohs” and “ahhhs” from Washington-area school children wielding shovels and rakes and hoes to help with the garden groundbreaking. “I’m glad you’re excited, but because my kids aren’t very excited about the beehive. But we’re going to try to make our own honey.” The First Lady and assistant White House chef Sam Kass, who cooked for the Obamas in Chicago, have begun work on an organic fruit and vegetable garden on the White House’s South Lawn – the first such planting since Eleanor Roosevelt installed a victory garden during World War II. In leggings and flat black boots, Mrs. Obama turned soil with a shovel and pitchfork, saying plants will go in the ground – mint, lettuces, berries and perennial herbs – in the next several weeks, with the harvest to be used in both the White House kitchen and a nearby soup kitchen. The First Lady hopes the farming will get her daughters, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, more interested in eating vegetables. “With my kids, especially if they were involved in planting it and picking it, they were much more curious about giving it a try.”