Ground broke today for the Victory Garden project on the front lawn of San Francisco's City Hall. Slow Food Nation and dozens of Bay Area organizations are collaborating to transform the lawn into an edible garden. A Community Planting Day is set for Saturday, July 12th, with Mayor Gavin Newsom, Slow Food Nation founder Alice Waters (Chez Panisse) and hundreds of volunteers.
It'll be the second edible garden in the city's Civic Center – the first surfaced in 1943, when Victory Gardens came to life in both public and private spaces around San Francisco in response to the struggling domestic food supply during World War II. Victory Gardens across the nation produced 40% of the nation's vegetables.
This time around, the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden was planned to demonstrate the city's commitment to sustainability, serve as an educational tool and give many residents access to nutritious food as the garden's produce will be donated to local food banks and meal programs.