The White House vegetable garden has received a ridiculous amount of publicity, so I had to see it for myself this week.  Visible from the Ellipse, it looks rather small (but maybe it’s just dwarfed by the huge South Lawn).  I could see lots of tomatoes from the fenceline, but I didn’t see any corn, okra or potato hills.

I was far more excited to see the tall, narrow structure located a short distance away from the garden patch.

It’s a beehive!  The Obamas are keeping bees in  a lovely raised hive, located in a small grove of shady trees about 50 feet from their garden.  Somehow, in all of the garden hype, the message about bees being required for garden pollination and the menace of colony collapse disorder that threatens the US bee was lost in the hype over the veggies.  As it happens, a White House carpenter is also a beekeeper who will tend the hive.