Written by Jay | 23 July 2010

Bananas, Pigeon Pea, Scarlet Runner Bean, and Comfrey at 18th and Rhode Island. Photo by Jay Rosenberg, July 7, 2010

http://bit.ly/banana-circle

Written by Morgan | 03 August 2010

It’s a funny place this world we live in. On the one hand, we have over one billion people who go hungry every single day all over the world – from the refugee camps in Sub-Sahara Africa to the people who sleep on the sidewalks abutting our million dollar homes right here in San Francisco. And yet, on the other hand, through a new program between the Wigg Party and Hayes Valley Farm, we’ve discovered that simply by going around and asking for whatever the farmers don’t want at the end of the Farmers’ Markets, we can divert thousands of pounds of fresh, (sometimes) organic, and (always) delicious food away from the waste stream and onto the plates of smiling, grateful, and gracious people.

The only thing more staggering than the feeling of gratitude and awe that I felt as I was collecting boxes upon boxes of tomatoes, peaches, bell peppers, eggplant, and other fresh delicious food for the first week of the Fresh Produce Free-For-All, was the realization that all of this food that we were so happy to receive would have gone into our landfills or back into compost piles if we hadn’t shown up and asked for it.

First Load: Just Getting Started

Now, it’s not as if I’d never thought about how much food gets wasted before; I’ve heard the statistic that nearly 50% of food grown in the United States goes to waste, enough to feed 200 million adults every day. Nor was the concept of gleaning from the Farmers’ Markets foreign to me; Tree from the Mission’s Free Farm Stand has been doing it for years, not to mention Food Not Bombs, traditional Food Banks, and the legendary Diggers who gave away free food in the Panhandle every single day from 1966-68 (although the Diggers were often known to steal their food). But there was just something about carrying 1,000 pounds of food back to Hayes Valley Farm and biting into a perfectly ripe yellow plum that drove home this unconscionable paradox at the heart of our food system in a way that mere concepts could never touch.

Written by Zion Johnson | 13 July 2010

Humans have grown their own food for centuries. It was the industrial revolution that changed the way we ate. What we thought would bring ease actually brought dis-ease. Food processing has inundated our food system with greed of mono-cropping and food addicts. McDonald's slogan of "Gotta Have It" explains a lot. Before fast food people ate fresh fruits and vegetables bought in markets or grown in their own backyards. Immigrants came to this country and found that stores did not sell their cultural foods and they grew vegetables familiar to them. The Great Depression and World War II inspired even more to grow their own food out of necessity and in support of the war effort. Kitchen gardens are a familiar companion to man.

In France, the potager (kitchen garden), was traditionally a space separate from the rest of the residential garden. They were used seasonally and most were miniature versions of an old family farm plot. The kitchen garden can be a source for herbs, veggies, fruit and edible flowers. Whatever shape, it is a structural garden. The potager comes from the gardens of the French Renaissance and Baroque times. The goal was to make the function of food production aesthetically pleasing. Kitchen gardens have a long history.

A well designed kitchen garden can provide food, cut flowers, and herbs for the home with very little maintenance. The kitchen garden can disguise their function of providing for a home in a wide array of forms...herb gardens, vegetable garden, knots, and cottage gardens. Sometimes urban design calls for a windowsill, a kitchen counter and an old coffee can.

When choosing the location for your garden, keep in mind that most vegetables and herbs need as much sun as possible to do their best.  Good drainage is also a must, so avoid areas where water collects.  Another consideration is the distance from your garden to the kitchen. Your garden may be in your kitchen, a back deck, a backyard or even a kitchen window. Some challenges faced in installing a kitchen garden could range from determining the site, access through and to the site, and access to materials.

People are installing and creating a variety of types of kitchen gardens for a slew of reasons. They are simple and can produce for a various set of needs. There are plenty of individuals online sharing their information and experience in creating and maintaining a kitchen garden. People are creating gardening clubs and kitchen garden networks, from New York to San Francisco. People are transforming whatever available space they might have and some are doing it with others in their community, especially in an urban setting.

Kitchen gardens represent a willingness to live right in the day and age of living fast convenience. It is amazing the type of effort people are playing in their lives, becoming self-sufficient and living a healthier lifestyle. People are reviving the ways of community and self reliance and they are eating well.