Civil Eats

Sunday brought beautiful weather to Civic Center Plaza for the 13 amazing volunteers who spent their days off moving piles of chocolate-cake soil into the circular raised beds that make up the design of the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden.

A huge thanks goes out to Holly Valerio, Derrick Williamson, Oliviana Zakaria, Besha Grey, Tamar Peltz, Noah Balmer, Jessica Cunningham, Lorelei Lamberton, Heather Smith, Mari Wallace, Claire Heitkamp, Johanna Walsh and Otis Lerer who joined John Bela and Luke Hass to shovel, rake and prepare the beds to be planted on July 12.

The 150 cubic yards of organic soil, generously donated by Lyngso Garden Materials, mixed with the Earth Saver rice straw wattle, being used to create the round beds, and together they created an earthy-sweet scent in the air.

According to their web site, Earth Saver rice straw wattles are made from recycled, naturally weed-free California rice straw. The wattles imitate natural stabilization by reducing rate of flow, absorbing water and filtering sediment runoff. The wattles also form a durable containment area to prevent polluted runoff from reaching surface waters.

Tourists and locals alike streamed by, shouting words of encouragement, asking questions and generally drawn to the hive of activity and excitement. There seemed to be a great sense of possibility in the air as the teams worked, the summer sun bouncing off of City Hall’s gleaming dome.

It will be critical this week for more volunteers to join our efforts in order to make our Friday, July 11 deadline. If you’re interested in volunteering this week, between 9 am and 4 pm, please contact us at info@slowfoodnation.org with “Victory Garden” in the subject line. Thanks goes also to Google Café for providing delicious sandwiches for our volunteers all week long!

Photos by Naomi Starkman

Naomi Starkman is a food policy consultant to Consumers Union and others. She is the co-founder and editor of Civil Eats and Kitchen Table Talks, a local food forum in San Francisco, a board member of 18 Reasons, a nonprofit connecting community through food, and is on the Circle of Friends Council for the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. She served as the Director of Communications & Policy at Slow Food Nation ’08 and has worked as a media consultant at The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, GQ and WIRED magazines. She was previously a senior publicist at Newsweek magazine and was the Director of Communications for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). From 1997 to 2000, she served as Deputy Executive Director of the S.F. Ethics Commission. Naomi works with various clients on food policy and advocacy and is an aspiring organic grower, having worked on several farms.