April 22, 2009 11:38AM 

# I Swear I’m Not Making This Up 

By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) 

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From today’s *[Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042100876_pf.html)*:

> In another sign that the Department of Agriculture is embracing sustainable food, the agency today will unveil expanded plans for a People’s Garden that will include the entire six-acre grounds of the Whitten Building, the department’s neoclassic marble headquarters on the Mall.
> 
> 
> The plans, to be announced at the agency’s Earth Day celebrations, include a 1,300-square-foot organic vegetable garden — slightly larger than the one at the White House — as well as ornamental flower gardens and bioswales, or mini-wetlands designed to reduce pollution and surface water runoff.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find out exactly what a “bioswale” is, and why I should pay for one in our new “People’s Garden.”

##### Related Tags 

[Energy and Environment](https://www.cato.org/research/energy-environment), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) 

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