Real Victories: My day at the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden with Urban Sprouts alums

Top: Jose, Vera, Lisa, and Mario in the Victory Garden



Bottom: Urban Sprouts hanging out in Mayor Gavin Newsom's office. Mario, when you become mayor, you will remember to put a garden in every school, right?


Okay, by now everyone and their grandmother has heard about the Slow Food Nation conference, which is quickly approaching – the first such event in the country! I think that most of us in the urban & sustainable agriculture / school garden worlds are excited that these issues are now garnering deserved notoriety.

While most of the workshops require that you purchase tickets, one of the most exciting programs of the conference is free to all – the incredible Victory Garden currently installed at Civic Center Plaza. If you haven't seen it, try to visit soon, because in September the garden will be dismantled and all the veggies will be given to charity.

Last week, I took two Urban Sprouts students from MLK Middle School on a tour of the Victory Garden, City Hall, and the Civic Center Farmer’s Market. We started off at the farmer's market, sampling the fresh fare and chatting with vendors. I was SO proud when the boys, both alums of our Summer Program, were filled with questions about the produce - they asked the beekeepers about how to extract honey, learned how to select the sweetest peaches, and tried new and pungent cheeses. Jose's pleas for soda aside, the boys were engaged and excited to be amidst the activity of the market. At one point Mario said to me, "I always thought this place looked boring from the outside, but this is so much fun!" Both of them went home with summer berries and white nectarines.

Afterwards, we went on a brief walk around City Hall, where I interned this summer in the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services. The highlight was when my former supervisor, Mike Farrah, took us to see Gavin Newsom's office (who was away on his honeymoon). The boys had a blast sitting in "Gav's" chair!

We finished the afternoon in the Victory Garden with a picnic lunch. While the garden is indeed lovely, and amazingly prolific, its beauty goes beyond its physical features. Whenever I visit the garden, I am blown away to see how people respond to it – visitors are genuinely curious and delighted to see food growing in front of City Hall. It is a bold statement and shows how urban farming is finally being embraced by a mainstream audience. The students were impressed by the volume of food that was being grown in a limited space (and in our unpredictable San Francisco climate, no less!) By the end of the day, they had the same question that has been on everybody's mind: why can't this garden be a permanent part of the Civic Center?



For more information on the Slow Food Nation event and the Victory Garden Movement:

Slow Food Nation
Victory Gardens 2008+
Garden for the Environment

End-of-Summer News

Just a few bits of news in the Urban Sprouts world that I didn't want you to miss!

• I just posted our Results of the 2007-2008 school year—all our accomplishments in words and pictures.
• We're hiring! Check our new job opportunity.
• Save the Date of October 10-11 for SFGSA's School Gardens Conference. We'll be there and leading a workshop. Don't miss it!
• Missing news about the youth while school is out? Enjoy all our school garden photos.
• We're looking for volunteers to help at school starting in September! Click here for more.

Summer Team: Suzi, Julius, Vilma, Lisa, DeAdrienne, Sophia, Abby.
Missing: Esperanza, Nicole, Cesia.

Name a Chicken Contest!

The Urban Sprouts chicken coop at June Jordan School for Equity is completed and the lovely hens are doing well! However our hens remain nameless. We are inviting you, our reader, to submit names for the birds. Just submit your suggested names in the comments. At the beginning of the Fall 2008 school year, students in the Urban Sprouts Food Systems class will select the winning names. We even have little prizes for those whose name have been selected.

Pictures of the hens to be named have been provided below for inspiration. Urban Sprouts would like to thank the many people that helped implement the chicken coop! A big thank you goes to those nailed, drilled, sawed, climbed, carried, balanced, and dug to make it happen: Reggie, Juan Carlos, JJSE students and teachers, Isadora, Kevin and the Google Serve group! Thank you!!

Breed: Cuckoo Maran; Likes: spending early mornings looking for grubs







Breed: Plymouth Barred Rock; Likes: imperiously watching other hens from the perch








Breed: Blue Andalusian; Likes: dancing and singing into the wee hours







Breed: Araucana; Likes: running in open spaces






Breed: Silver Laced Wyandotte; Likes: having her picture taken...and cooked rice

Summer Program '08!

We are having so much fun at the Urban Sprouts and Garden for the Environment Summer Program, now in the middle of our second week. The 21 youth—16 middle school youth and 5 high school youth staff—are working in the garden, cooking lunch from garden-grown produce, and learning all about organic gardening, recycling & composting, nutrition, and where food comes from!

Yesterday we took a field trip to Slide Ranch in Muir Beach, across the Golden Gate Bridge. There, we milked goats, handled chickens, and explored the gardens.

Check out our photos to see everything we've been up to!

New Urban Sprouts T-shirts!

Announcing the newest addition to the Urban Sprouts line, Summer Program t-shirts! Choose from two designs—flowers or beets—both created by Lisa Chen.

The elbow-length raglan tee from American Apparel is available in pink or baby blue, or choose the organic cotton tee. Click on the items above or visit our store on Cafe Press and be the first on your block to show them off!