Vanessa Barrington

Victory over Bureaucracy = Edible Civic Center Garden

It’s pretty amazing to witness the transformation from grass to edible landscape over at the Civic Center. They’ve torn out the lawn, carted it away, and designed these gorgeous circular beds. Saturday, July 11th was planting day and what a wonderful day! These plants are putting down roots in the same spot where the World War II Civic Center Victory Garden sat. At one point 40% of the produce consumed in the US was grown in Victory Gardens. We can do it again!

Victory Gardens 2008 + partnered with Slow Food Nation and City Slicker Farms to create this garden. On September 21st the garden will be harvested and the harvest donated to the San Francisco Food Bank.

It was a great day and felt historic. This movement has been going on for awhile now, but it’s been pretty easy to ignore for those who don’t pay attention to such things. It’s pretty hard to miss now!

This is a start, but I wish the garden could be permanent.

At the height of planting.

Native foods of the Americas bed

Brick Oven Lovin’ Community Dinner

Eduardo Morell, a former colleague from Headlands Center for the Arts, runs a one-man bread-baking operation. He bakes gorgeous loaves in the Headland’s wood-fired Alan Scott oven, and then sells them at Berkeley’s Saturday and Thursday farmers’ markets. Because artisan bread is a true labor of love, and not exactly a large profit-producing endeavor, there’s not a lot of cash left over for unplanned expenses. The oven needed some repairs to keep it producing Eduardo’s gorgeous, hearty loaves so he came up with the idea of a benefit dinner for the oven.

Last weekend, Eduardo brought together all the past and present chefs from the Headland’s kitchen and all, save Vince, who is India, showed up. Together we chopped, diced, caramelized, sautéed, and baked, producing a wonderful dinner and a successful benefit for the oven.

For those of us who knew each other, it was fun to catch up and for those who didn’t, it was great connecting. Thanks to all the volunteers who jumped in to do dishes, we had a great time. It’s always gratifying to witness true community spirit when it comes together so beautifully. If you haven’t tried Eduardo’s bread or attended an event at Headland’s Center for the Arts, I hope you’ll do both soon.