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Guess Who?

YumSugar — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:45:26 -0700

Guess who we spotted out and about at Slow Food Nation?

Good Food Garden: Love It or Hate It?

YumSugar — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:32:54 -0700

While attending the country's first-ever Slow Food Nation this weekend, I came across the Good Food Garden structure that the Food Network and the Share Our Strength unveiled just a week ago.

While I love the fact that Teich Garden Systems, which built the garden, designed it for everything from schoolyards to backyards, I also wonder if it's really necessary to have a special gardening platform, since people have been planting gardens for hundreds of years without them. What do you think of the Good Food Garden?

Food Network's Last-Minute Jump on the SFN Bandwagon

YumSugar — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:00:48 -0700

Yesterday morning, Food Network announced its participation in Slow Food Nation. Food Network, along with its charitable partner Share Our Strength, will "unveil a new original platform" called Good Food Gardens. The fully sustainable gardens will be filled with seasonal fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

The enclosed 10-by-16-foot cedar wood structures that hold the gardens are designed for the likes of schools, organizations, and homeowners. The first garden will debut across from San Francisco's highly buzzed-about Victory Garden, and be donated to a local Boys & Girls Club after the close of the event.

I find it unusual for Food Network to announce a partnership with Slow Food Nation just four days before the start of the event. They're also beating everyone to the punch by unveiling their proprietary garden the day before the festival actually begins. What do you think? Was this a last-minute effort on the part of the network?

Harvesting San Francisco's Victory Garden

partysugar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:39:02 -0700

Last week I went to City Hall to help harvest the Slow Food Victory Garden. Developed as a solution to food shortages during World War I and II, victory gardens not only supply vegetables, fruit, and herbs to the masses, but they also act as a morale booster during tough times. Today Slow Food has partnered with San Francisco to showcase the spirit and power of the public victory garden. The victory of these gardens, however, is to reduce the food miles normally associated with the average American meal and promote homegrown local produce. Every Thursday a group of volunteers meets to harvest the vegetables. Arranged in a stunning concentric design, the garden provides food and illustrates the pure beauty of such vegetables as red chard and squash blossoms. While I picked bunches of collard greens and washed heads of lettuce, I couldn't help but think how vegetables are as gorgeous and colorful as flowers.

Do you have a garden? Have you ever been a part of a large-scale harvest? While you may not be able to experience this victory garden's harvest firsthand, you can take a look at my gallery filled with images. To do so, read more.

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Maria Shriver to Plant California Victory Garden

CasaSugar — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:00:31 -0700

Taking a cue from Michelle Obama, Maria Shriver, first lady of California, is spearheading a victory garden for California. Edible garden beds will be planted in May in Capitol Park in Sacramento.

“I’m so excited to be joining California Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura, the California Department of General Services, the California School Garden Network, Alice Waters, and many others to bring an edible garden to the state capitol, Shriver said in a statement."This new garden will bring awareness to children, students, and visitors about the important role of food, where it comes from, nutritional value, how it is grown and harvested, and ultimately how it reaches the tables of those who need it most."

The Capitol Park plot, where the garden will be planted, was originally a flower bed, and will be easily converted into the edible garden. The design will focus on water conservation. It is likely that the food from the garden will go to an area food bank, similar to the use of produce from San Francisco's edible garden. Baltimore's City Hall is also planting a victory garden this Spring. Are any city or state buildings near your home planning a victory garden?

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How-To: Start Your Own Victory Garden

CasaSugar — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:00:41 -0700

Today, US First Lady Michelle Obama, along with elementary school students, took part in the ground breaking of the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn. This is the first kitchen garden on the White House lawn since First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden during World War II. Victory gardens are vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens that were planted at home residences during World War I and II to increase families' food supplies during the days of rationing and boost morale. From the Iraq war to the financial crisis, there are plenty of reasons to start a victory garden right now so, if you're up for the task, check out my tips for starting your own.
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Cool Idea: San Francisco's Urban Farm

CasaSugar — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:00:57 -0700

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to spend all day weeding garden beds, helping fix irrigation lines, and water seedlings in a 10,000-square-foot garden. But I wasn't on a rural organic farm, I was in front of City Hall in San Francisco.

Just last week, over 150 volunteers rolled up a huge swath of sod in front of City Hall, and over a few days, established this 10,000-square-foot edible garden. All of the organic garden beds are planted in rice straw wattles, which are essentially long tubes of rice straw. The project, called the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden, is open to the public from July 13 to Sept. 21. Stocked with beautiful, edible vegetables and native, drought-resistant Bay Area plants, the garden provides visitors with an up-close look at gardening, as well as inspiration for creating their own garden.

To find out more about the Victory Garden, read more.

When I wasn't planting seedlings or watering plants yesterday, I answered visitors' questions. A group of camp kids asked me if any of the plants had fruit yet, so I directed them to some yellow crookneck squash and green, tiny tomatoes. An older man asked me about how the rice wattles worked. Another woman told me that she could identify the corn plants, though nothing else, so I took her on a quick identification tour of the entire garden. Everyone whom I met was enthusiastic about the project, and said that it was relaxing to spend time in nature in the middle of the city, and also exciting to think about how much the plants were going to grow in the next two months.

The Slow Food Nation Victory Garden was designed and built in a collaborative effort by a number of local organizations, including the Garden for the Environment’s Victory Gardens 08+ Program, CMG Landscape Architecture, and City Slicker Farms. Seeds were donated from Seeds of Change, as well as individual donors from around the US, and support was also provided by several corporate sponsors, including Sunset magazine and New Resources bank.

Are you in the San Francisco Bay Area and interested in volunteering, too? Contact SF Victory Gardens to find out how you can help!

Obamas to Plant White House Garden Today

YumSugar — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:30:53 -0700

Today is the day that Alice Waters and other Slow Food supporters have been waiting for: the Obamas will begin planting a garden on the White House lawn, the first such victory garden to be created since the one Eleanor Roosevelt planted during World War II.

The garden, which will be overseen by Sam Kass, the Obamas' former private chef from Chicago, will provide food for the first family's meals and formal dinners. White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford will write menus based on what's available in the garden.According to First Lady Michelle Obama, the biggest reason for growing a garden is to educate children about the benefits of growing fresh produce locally. She said:

There’s nothing really cooler than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.

The first lady, who will dig up soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot of land with fifth graders from a local elementary school, has stressed the significance of healthful eating ever since entering the White House. Last month, she opened up the White House kitchen for a press tour, and recently spoke about the importance of fresh, local eating.

Advocates of farm-to-table eating have been campaigning for a White House edible garden for months now, and there is little doubt that many eat-local proponents consider this to be a huge step in the right direction. To see what fruits and vegetables will be in the White House garden, read more.

Arugula
Spinach
Chard
Black kale
Red romaine
Green oak leaf
Butterhead lettuce
Red leaf lettuce
Spinach
Cilantro
Tomatillos
Hot peppers
Berries
Thai basil
Bees, for honey

What do you think of the project? What would you plant if you were Michelle Obama?

Picture It: Time to Plant the Garden

CitizenSugar — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:30:49 -0700

A jet-lagged Michelle Obama slipped on brown-and-white gardening gloves (no, we don't know where to find them) and went to work on the South Lawn's garden yesterday. With the help of 25 beshoveled schoolchildren, she planted perennials, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. If all goes well, the assistant chef said the White House could be serving blueberries by June.

World leaders are très excité for the victory garden. "How does your garden grow?" (bad translation) was the number one question she was asked abroad. "Every single person," the first lady said, "from Prince Charles on down, they were excited about the fact that we were planting a garden." Can't blame 'em. I mean, blueberries! They're like crazy expensive in Europe.

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The Political Beet and President Obama

FitSugar — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Word on the street is that President Obama doesn't like beets. His aversion to this veggie is so strong that beets were not planted in the first lady's victory garden. Similar to the broccoli debacle that marred George Bush, Sr.'s nutrition record, beet advocates are up in arms about the president's dislike of the red root veggie. I am impressed that the garden includes the main ingredient of salsa verde, the tomatillo, as well as chard and Thai basil, and I understand that not every type of produce can make it into the garden. There was a period in my life where I avoided beets myself, but I have learned to love them. Roasted, they make great side dish or topping on a salad. Grated finely, raw beets make a colorful garnish.

You can eat both the leaves and the roots of a beet, so they are a two-for-one kind of plant. High in folate, beets are also high in betaine, which works with folate to help reduce inflammatory compounds that can damage your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease. Plus, the pigment that gives beets their crimson color has been identified as a potent cancer fighter in laboratory mice. Since beets offer all these health benefits, maybe our president will give beets another try? Although, it seems like he already has a lot on his plate.

Which side of the line do you fall on? Are you pro-beets, or anti?

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