We are blessed in the San Francisco Bay Area to have an abundance of farmer’s markets, many of which operate year-round. The thrice-weekly farmer’s market at the San Francisco Ferry Building provides a multiple blessing, with its huge array of fresh, local foods, and the possible added fun of a ferry ride across the bay, the Ferry Building shops, and the energy of city shoppers bustling through a farmer’s market. Here are some snaps from a recent visit:
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
This has been a big year for the Slow Food movement, with some high-profile help from First Lady Michelle Obama.
In June, the Obama White House broke ground for its organic kitchen garden (involving local schoolchildren in the process), the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden in the 1940s.
I wrote about it on Slow Family Online, in a story about the bumper crop of home gardeners.
The above picture of First Lady Michelle Obama and children in the garden appeared in the White House blog. Food from the garden is feeding the White House, as well as homeless recipients at Washington, D.C.’s Miriam’s Kitchen.
The blog, Eat The View, offers an entertaining round-up of the White House Garden, and other Edible Landscape campaigns.
In September, the First Lady went a step further, inaugurating the first ever weekly farmers market on the White House lawn, allowing visitors the opportunity to purchase fresh food directly from the farmers who grew it. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was on hand for the opening, and he spoke about the importance of eating fresh, locally-grown food.
Says Mother Earth News:
The White House farmers market serves as a symbol to the rest of the United States that the current administration is supportive of small food producers and sustainable, healthy food systems.
The 2009 White House Farmers Market ran through October and will resume again in the spring.
This week, Michelle Obama decided to raise awareness of the importance of fresh, healthy food another way — by announcing a campaign aimed at curbing childhood obesity. She told the U.S. Conference of Mayors, “Obesity in this country is nothing less than a public health crisis” and said that healthier habits were imperative to the next generation of children. In addition, they needn’t be expensive to undertake. Her campaign will include specific programs like improved school lunches.
You might want to visit Slow Food USA for more information on the Time for Lunch Campaign to improve school lunches.
If you are remotely a foodie or White House follower, you will want to follow the Obama Foodarama blog, which keeps up with both. Given the Obama White House’s emphasis on fresh food and good health, there is certain to be no shortage of news.
Photos: The White House/Joyce N. Boghosian, AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta. Art: National War Garden Commission/US Department of Agriculture, 1917-19.
Posted in Community, Slow News, Sustainability, The Great Outdoors, To Market
Tagged Childhood Obesity, Farmers Markets, Food, Food Blogs, Gardens, Homesteading, Michelle Obama, Obama, Slow Food, Slow Food USA, Sustainability, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardens, Victory Gardens, War Garden, White House Farmers Market, White House Garden
Last summer, I noticed a spate of news stories about the rise of home gardening. In July, ’08, Newsweek and NPR both reported that concerns about food safety, as well as an increasing desire to eat locally and healthily, was turning a lot of folks into Green Thumbs. People like Fred Davis and Yvette Roman Davis, bloggers at Beyond the Lawn, reported reclaiming their L.A. front lawn for a thriving Victory Garden.
I thought this was supremely cool, as it seemed to usher in an era of getting away from water-guzzling, appearance-oriented lawns and into practical, food-producing gardens. These prove beautiful, too, of course. It’s just a shift in perspective and priorities that allows us to bring the backyard up to the front. (Some neighborhoods have even loosened their restrictions on such sustainable practices as front-yard growing and line-drying of laundry.)
As a bonus, front yard gardeners get to know — and sometimes feed — their neighbors. Community happens when we move yard and porch living out of the private and into the public. This summer, I’ve already heard about two monthly plant exchanges and a weekly vegetable harvest exchange in my neighborhood, as well as new farmers’ markets in my larger community.
Of course, further afield, the Obama White House broke ground for its organic vegetable garden (involving local schoolchildren in the process), the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden in the 1940s.
I’m very moved by this picture of First Lady Michelle Obama and children in the garden, that appears in the White House blog. Food from the garden is feeding the White House and Washington, D.C.’s Miriam’s Kitchen, which feeds the homeless.
Last week’s San Francisco Chronicle had another story about the rise in home gardening. Chris Romas, the president of W. Atlee Burpee, the world’s largest seed company, said he hasn’t seen this kind of interest in home growing in 30 years. Lots of currents are influencing people to turn or return to gardening — It’s a cost-effective way to supply one’s food, you have complete control over the way your food is grown, you can get in touch with the land, you can enjoy companionship or solitude, and it’s very satisfying to grow and make your own food.
I have fond memories of vegetable gardening with my dad, growing up. We had wonderful raised beds and great Southern California sun. But you don’t have to have either to enjoy growing food. I’ve grown tomatoes on a Manhattan balcony and pumpkin, corn, peppers and more on my fog-shrouded deck in Mill Valley. If you’ve been following my Deck Garden tales, you know the advice to use your vertical space, with trellises and vines. I also urge beginning gardeners to start small, follow seed-pack directions, weed out seedlings so that the hardiest new plantings will have room to grow, and harvest your crops, so you can enjoy them and also give new growth some room to come in.
I’m going to take my own advice and have a big home-grown salad for lunch. This is my 2’x 2′ lettuce box today:
This is the box a month ago:
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
White House Garden Photo Courtesy of The White House/Joyce N. Boghosian
Posted in Community, Deck Garden, Slow News, Sustainability, The Great Outdoors
Tagged Bay Area Gardening, Burpee Seeds, Community, Container Gardening, Farmers Markets, Food, Gardening, Homesteading, Lettuce, Nature, Slow Food, Small Space Gardening, Sustainability, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardens, Victory Gardens, White House Garden
Some time ago, a friend told me about his tradition of making a wish as he bit into the first peach of the season. I’ve never heard or seen anything about this custom since, but I made a point of adopting it nonetheless. It’s such a happy moment when the seasonal farmers’ markets start up again and the grocery stores start offering local berries and stone fruit in season and at in-season prices.
For me, that moment happened this morning, as I was greeted at the market with the first real deals on ripe, sweet berries and the first cherries, apricots and peaches. I chose the most local peach, California’s Summerwhite, which happened to be the one that felt the ripest. White peaches, though not the classic deep summer yellow, have a multi-colored soft peach skin, and fruit the pale yellow color of spring butter. They also boast a lower acidity than yellow peaches, which renders them sweet and flavorful, even though these first ones have a relatively short growing season.
White peaches also ripen more quickly than traditional peaches and they tend to taste sweet when picked, in contrast to yellow peaches, which sweeten over time, as they ripen and acid levels drop. Though white peaches have been around for about 30 years and are popular in Asia, it’s taken American consumers a bit of time to discover their joys.
Once home, I washed the ripest specimen and bit right in, ushering in summer right then and there. It was sweet, wonderful, and extremely juicy. The air coming through the open window suddenly felt extra warm and the leaves on the trees seemed particularly green. My wish? A great, warm, sensual summer, with lots of time to enjoy family, friends and nature, to be outside, to make and grow things, to eat healthy food and to take enthusiastic bites out of life.
Last year, we made peach chutney and apricot-lavender jam, among other delights. I sense another good canning season to come.
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
Posted in Porch Swing, The Great Outdoors, To Market
Tagged California Peach, Chutney, Farmers Markets, Food, Jam, Nature, Peach, Produce, Slow Food, Summer, Summerwhite Peach, White Peach
