San Francisco is known – probably worldwide – for being on the “liberal” edge.
In the past few years they’ve put through a rather huge restaurant food waste recycling program, banned plastic bags in grocery stores, banned polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) food containers and most recently dug up a large chunk of City Hall lawn to plant a “Victory Garden” and host Slow Food Nation 08 last weekend.

The food from the garden is being donated to food banks.
And the garden itself serves as example, education and inspiration… as did the White House lawn turned Victory Garden by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943.

News comes out now that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome is expected to release the City’s first “food policy” in the upcoming months.
The policy is said to significantly push the line on “local” food growth.

According to Jared Blumenfeld, director of the city’s Department of the Environment within a 200-mile radius of San Francisco more than 80 different types of food and more than 20 million tons of it are grown a year.
I’m not sure, but I’m guessing this doesn’t include home gardens.

Blumenfeld also notes the Bay Area consumes about 6 million tons and San Francisco specifically about 1 million tons of food a year.

Reportedly Newsome wants – as much as possible – the food that’s served by the City government (schools, hospitals, prison, ect.) to be grown locally.

Additionally, the policy will also encourage home gardens, community gardens and fruit trees in median strips and abandoned lots.

The question comes… who will “tend” all the production. Will all those fruit trees come to drop ripe fruit on the ground to rot?

No doubt there are MANY details to turn “hey wouldn’t it be nice if we…” into a truly revolutionary change in how we grow and distribute food as well as changing our diet from largely processed food products to real food.
And along the way… our understanding and relationship to food.

As Newsom comments: “It’s better to invest in people’s health and wellness. What we’re doing will save money in the long run.”

Another San Francisco “zany idea” or a trail blazing evolutionary idea?

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Yesterday, we took a day trip down to Ben Lomond, CA home of Love Apple Farm. Farmer Cynthia Sandberg gave us and 30 others an incredibly informative class on growing heirloom tomatoes.

I first heard of Love Apple Farm when my sister sent me the link to her page on “How to Grow Better Tomatoes”. It was already June when she sent it to me so I didn’t get a chance to try out her methods, though I have half heartedly done some extra fertilizing every so often. The tomatoes do perk up a few days after I have fertilized them so will get into better habits next season.

You may ask, why take a class when you can just read the guide on her website?
Wow, I have to say you will get so much more information from the class – the extra hints, important details, the latest new technique and answers to your specific tomato growing questions.

Plus, her garden is beautiful – not just full of over 100 varieties of 8 and 9 foot heirloom tomato plants but gorgeous zinnias of all hues, sunflowers and lots of other vegetables as she is the kitchen garden for the world renown Manresa restaurant.

Here are some pictures from our day:

The rare Litchi Tomato aka Morelle de Balbis

Large Heirloom on the Vine

Cynthia Showing us the Proper Way to Shade a Tomato Fruit and to Prune a Tomato Plant

Heirloom tomatoes tend to be indeterminant – that is, the size of the plant is not limited by it’s genes so they can can keep growing and growing under optimal conditions. To keep them healthy and off the ground she likes to make cages out of 7 foot concrete reinforcing wire. Whoa…and does she ever need all 7 feet of that cage.

Cynthia showed us a number of methods to prevent tomato sunburn, when to prune and the proper way to prune.

She also stressed there are 100’s of tomato diseases – not just limited to the few commonly talked about wilt diseases – which by the way she sees as too often misdiagnosed. She pointed out that many of the signs and symptoms of wilt may in fact be a specific mineral deficiency thus she recommended soil testing from a company called Timberleaf.

This point comes up time and time again from every gardener and farmer out there: Properly amending the soil will prevent nutrient deficiencies and thus many diseases (much like people) and will improve the quality of your vegetables.

There was just so much more information! We both came away from the class with a lot of practical information (and info we can apply to growing other vegetables) that we feel will make us so much better gardeners.Thanks Cynthia for a well organized and information packed class!

Now, it’s time to get the winter vegetables in…

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Slow Food USA is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to supporting and celebrating the food traditions of North America through programs and activities dedicated to Taste Education, Defending Biodiversity and Building Food Communities. Slow Food USA believes that pleasure and quality in everyday life can be achieved by slowing down, respecting the convivial traditions of the table and celebrating the diversity of the earth’s bounty.

Slow Food Nation ’08 is part promotion for the cause, part education and part celebration of how far we’ve come since the Slow Food movement began in Italy in 1986. It is expected that 50,000 people will be participating in the festivities. We’re mainly interested in the Victory Gardens so will pop over to tour that.

Change

The point is that we can and do have a say in how our food is grown and we do not have to succumb to the industrialization of our food supply…we do not have to live the life of the Fast Food Nation.

While the Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco seems to celebrate perhaps the more gourmet (and costly) items on the food palate – certainly foods that are outside the budgets of the average person – we can take the message…the mission of Slow Food USA and find ways to make the changes that make sense in the context of our living situation.

For what is at stake – but the most precious possession of all – our health.

Industrialized food has been implicated as the cause of most of today’s chronic diseases. Study after study shows people who eat more fresh vegetables and fruit (read: less processed foods) are healthier.

Industrialized food’s dependence on oil is undisputed

• 10% of fossil fuel used in the US goes towards food production
• 40% of the energy used for food production is used for producing pesticides and fertilizers – that’s 5 ½ gallons of fuel per acre
• Fertilizer runoff is responsible for a ‘dead zone’ the size of New Jersey at the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico
• 23% of the energy used for food production is used for processing and packaging
• The food in the typical grocer has traveled an average of 1,500 miles

Industrial food has decreased our food diversity

• Historically we cultivated up to 7000 species of plants
• Today, 90% of our food comes from 15 plant and 8 animal species
• Biodiversity is important because a varied gene pool helps with natural pest and disease control as well as providing a more complete nutritional profile for our plate

Industrial food increases our chances of food borne illness

• Many processed animal products are made from a pool of thousands of animals from multiple sources. One diseased animal can contaminate thousands of pounds of product
• Even fresh produce can be pooled and repackaged before sent out to retailers
• These practices and others make it all the more likely for contamination and food borne illnesses to occur.

Fresher food, grown locally without chemical fertilizers and pesticides IS no doubt healthier for us – more nutrients, less contaminants – both chemical and microbial, less green house gasses, less pollution.

Do we need yet another multi-million dollar study to prove this to us? Don’t you know it in your gut?

It’s within our power to choose to commit to the principle of supporting sustainability and biodiversity for our food supply, though it’s not always the easiest (but surprisingly sometimes is) route to getting a meal into our stomach.

The beauty of moving toward a healthier food model though is – it isn’t an all or nothing proposition. We can slowly take steps towards improving the quality of what we put into our bodies. After all, we are worth the effort.

One way to start no matter where you shop is to cut back or stop eating altogether, processed foods: frozen dinners, canned soups, baked goods, etc. Buy and eat more vegetables and fresh meats. While many items may not be local you are reducing your consumption of industrialized foods.

Another place to start is your local farmer’s market as these markets have rules ensuring vendors are local. Peruse the items, shop, taste – learn what’s in season. Take home something new to try.

Another way to eat local and fresh is to plant a vegetable garden. Yes!
It can be anything from a few pots in a sunny spot on the front stoop or balcony to your entire backyard or maybe even replacing your front lawn.

It may very well be that the Victory in the Victory Garden is that of reclaiming our food – the source of our energy, vitality and health.

No matter how or where in the process you start, the important thing is to remember that every step, big or small, is a step towards a healthier food model which translates into a healthier you.

Eat your veggies!

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That may change in the future.
Home veggie gardens are starting to attract the endorsement – and even promotion – by large corporations.

Could veggie gardening be turned into another cereal box promotion of a Hollywood flick thing?

Demo farm by Burpees

Burpees announced this week a “Save $10,000 on Groceries” promotion.
They’ll be doing a display garden in Doylestown, PA which promises to show people how they can save $10,000 a year ($500 for urban dwellers with a container garden).

I haven’t found the specifics… $10,000 is A LOT of money. Not sure what the square footage of growing space will be or how large the family would be that could save $10,000.

Sidebar: We do plan to record our harvest for all of 2009 and try to calculate how much that would cost if purchased from a grocery store.

Anyway, Burpee is the largest seed company with a long history (founded in 1876). And they’re a Pennsylvania company. Nice they’re doing it locally.
So it fits.

Virtual garden by Hellmann’s

Also this week I read about Hellmann’s – the mayonnaise company – with an urban gardens program in Canada. They’re sponsoring 94 8×4 garden plots across Canada.

They’ve gone quite a bit further with their website. Basically they’re latching on to and promoting the “real food movement” and not in a dismissive, “lip service” way.

Their website is completely designed around it… they’ve setup a forum moderated by a chef (Chuck Hughes).
They’ve added educational materials including information about buying local.
They’ve partnered with Evergreen, an environmental non-profit for a garden section with “tips & tricks” and various guides.
And then there’s an application (which I spent a bit too much time on yesterday) that allows you to design your garden virtually.
You choose from a list of veggies and fruit and the application designs the garden.

Fringe to Mainstream

Some people will believe these corporation are only motivated by ulterior (profit) motives.
They are for-profit corporations. So I’m sure they have some marketing goals. That doesn’t necessarily make their intentions evil.

When movements go from fringe to mainstream, some may argue they get diluted or corrupted. Popular = unworthy.

Certainly if you broaden the base of participants, the level of commitment within that base will vary. And over time some individuals will become less enthusiastic.
However, other folks will be introduced to an idea that will stick with them. And will make a difference to them individually, in the lives they touch and perhaps to the world at large.

These “showy” corporate programs get noticed, get people talking, get people thinking, get people considering and questioning, and hopefully… get people doing.

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I was on a walk the other day and spied this garden tucked away on a garage roof.

Some folks don’t have space in their yard or even have a yard. As they say, where there is a will there is a way.

If you are considering a roof garden – be sure the roof and the building below is structurally able to handle the extra weight.

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A locavore is one who eats locally grown food. Local often defined as grown within 100 miles.

So Carnivore – meat eating.
Vegetarian – vegetable (and fruit eating)… shouldn’t it be a Vegavore?
Locavore – engages in the sustainable practice of eating food grown or produced within 100 miles.

It’s officially a trendy thing now so reports The New York Times.

There are do-it-yourself locavores – people that grow most of their own food. Such as chronicled by Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

People that mostly seek out food produced within the 100-mile radius such as Alissa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon, The 100-Mile Diet.

And then there are people that have staff to take care of it… such as folks that have a private chef to do the foraging, or folks that hire someone to come into their backyard, create a vegetable garden, maintain it, and leave the harvest on their back porch.

It’s all good… and good for you.

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The beds were planted over the weekend. Harvest is scheduled for Labor Day.

Not your typical City Hall thing to do. But this exercise is somewhat reminiscent of “Victory Gardens” which the government encouraged citizens to do during World War I & II… out of necessity.

Necessity is truly here again.
Food costs have been inflating dramatically. More people now cannot afford to eat nutritionally.

And there’s the food security issue… how many tainted food outbreaks have occurred over the past year?

And, we have global warming/climate challenge. On average, your food has traveled 1,500 miles to your plate… a not insignificant carbon footprint.
17% of our petroleum consumption is spent on farm food production and food processing, packaging, transportation and refrigeration. What you grow and harvest to eat decreases food related petroleum use.

The San Francisco Victory Garden Project is a public example and encouragement to reconsider our habits as well as our relationship with food.

City Slicker Farms is a co-creator of this project.
City Slicker Farms started in 2001 and is active in West Oakland (across the Bay from San Francisco).

Their goal is for 40% of West Oakland’s veggies and fruits to be grown in West Oakland through backyard gardens, community gardens and any plot of land they can put into production.
Noble goal.

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That’s a big part part of eating well.
But there’s another part that has been getting some attention…

Eat Local.

The benefits to eating local are reducing your carbon footprint and perhaps eating food that you’re physically/evolutionarily more adapted to. For instance corn has been a huge part of the Mexican diet for a bazillion years, fish a huge part of the Japanese diet.

This is a little trickier in the US particularly areas like San Francisco where the population is largely from somewhere else.

But we can certainly focus on the carbon footprint aspect. I mean does it make sense to eat something that was grown 5,000 miles away and flown in?

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver is about she and her family eating only “local” for one year. And The 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon is another book on the topic.

Being a “locavour” means eating food from within a 100 mile radius of your home. Some definitions bump that up to 250 miles.

Not an easy task to do if you consider all you consume over the course of a year. Personally, I don’t think I could give up coffee or tea and I don’t believe any of that is grown within 100 miles of me.

Smith and MacKinnon have formed an organization promoting the 100 mile diet. You can read about it and join here.

The 100 foot diet is about growing your own foot.

You can also join the newly formed social network – Freedom Gardens. This has just been started by the DerVaes family in Pasadena, California. They turned their 1/10 acre residential lot into an urban farm back in 2001. Last year they produced 6,000 pounds of food. Their goal this year is 10,000 pounds.

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