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Slow Food Nation Victory Garden
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For the first time since 1943, the City of San Francisco is growing a Victory Garden in front of City Hall. The Slow Food Nation Victory Garden is a 10,000 square-foot model edible urban garden providing visitors the opportunity to learn about urban food production practices and demonstrating the potential of truly local agriculture. The garden will serve as an educational centerpiece leading up to, and following, Slow Food Nation–an event taking place in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend (August 29 – September 1, 2008). In late September, bounty from the garden will be harvested and donated to the San Francisco Food Bank.
The Victory Garden Project takes its name from 20th Century wartime efforts to address food shortages by encouraging citizens to plant gardens on public and private land. During World War II,
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| Victory Garden in front of City Hall |
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Victory Gardens sprouted in front yards and vacant lots, producing 40 percent of the nation’s vegetables. San Francisco’s program became one of the best in the country; Golden Gate Park alone had 250 garden plots.
On July 12, more than 180 volunteers joined Mayor Gavin Newsom and Slow Food Nation founder, Alice Waters, to plant the garden. Together they planted a variety of heirloom vegetables, herbs, flowers and cover crops, including beans, beets, corn, okra, tomatoes, basil, cilantro and sunflowers.
During the summer, the garden will be open to the public daily from 9 am to 4 pm. Educators and docents will be on-site to answer questions and lead garden tours. Field trips will be held for school groups and summer camps. For more information, please contact victorygarden@slowfoodtnation.org, or visit www.slowfoodnation.org.
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- Hardware Hotline September, 2008
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