Planet Veggie Garden

Slow Food Nation ‘08 San Francisco City Hall

A beautiful sunny day, we arrived via BART for the first day of the Slow Food Nation ‘08 Celebration to tour the Victory Gardens in front of San Francisco City Hall.

Surreal View of City Hall Through the Victory Garden

It seemed almost surreal to see what was once a neatly manicured lawn now planted with such a variety of summer vegetables.

But once I realized this was all real I reveled in the abundance of food this garden was producing

Field of Chard in Front of San Francisco City Hall

 

Victory Garden Broccoli

Companion Gardening – Three Sisters: Summer Squash, Corn and Pole Beans

There was the classic example of companion gardening used by the American Indians called the ‘Three Sisters.’

Here the summer squash shades the ground for the corn to grow without competition from the weeds; the corn is the ‘pole’ for the green beans and the beans add nitrogen to the soil to feed the summer squash and the corn.

What a great collaborative effort in the name of survival – we can all learn from that even if we don’t eat our veggies.

Bricks made of worm castings to be added to your garden

There was also a compost demonstration area along with a section on worm composting. They had made some bricks out of worm castings that they plan to give away on Sunday. Other freebies included seeds from Ecology Action and the Food Network.

To round out the Slow Food Nation celebration – on one side of the Victory Garden, there were stands from a number of local sustainable farms showcasing one example of their many summer crops. Most of these farms attend many of the Farmer’s Markets that happen through out the week in cities around the Bay Area.

On the other side of the gardens were food stands selling hand crafted foods – most local and some from other parts of the US.

The Topsy Turvey Bus

All in all it was a great afternoon – educational and full of inspiration. In this topsy turvey world of food choices (what the heck should I eat?) and questions of food safety, there’s hope some will walk away with the desire to plant a few seeds.

After all, what’s healthier than home grown veggies? …and you’ll certainly know the source. So grab your worm casting brick, your packets of seeds and hop on the bus!

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