SF veg gardens promote healthier eating

[Guest guest]

Mayor's agriculture plan soon to bear fruit

Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

 

Vegetable gardens will soon be sprouting in unlikely places throughout San

Francisco including a building that produces steam to heat the Civic Center,

Department of Public Works land in the Bayview, outside McLaren Lodge in Golden

Gate Park and at the San Francisco Police Academy in Diamond Heights.

 

The public library has installed gardens outside its Mission and Noe Valley

branches with plans for more and is leading classes for teens on how to

cultivate them.

 

And the city may soon adopt proposals from private groups to install

easy-to-assemble chicken coops in its gardens and send mobile vegetable markets

to school pick-up zones and other busy destinations.

 

It's all the result of Mayor Gavin Newsom's executive directive eight months ago

to reshape how San Franciscans think about food and choose what to eat.

 

" Urban agriculture is about far more than growing vegetables on an empty lot, "

Newsom told The Chronicle. " It's about revitalizing and transforming unused

public spaces, connecting city residents with their neighborhoods in a new way

and promoting healthier eating and living for everyone. "

 

Newsom unveiled the unusual plan in July. His directive required that all city

departments conduct an audit of unused land - including empty lots, windowsills,

median strips and rooftops - that could be converted into gardens.

 

He also demanded that food vendors that contract with the city offer healthful

food and that vending machines on city property do the same. He required that

farmers' markets accept food stamps, though some already did. He also put a stop

to doughnuts and other junk food at city meetings and conferences.

 

The plan was deemed silly by some who said it shouldn't be a priority for the

cash-strapped city, but Newsom remains adamant there are long-term benefits to

urban agriculture.

 

" There's no better preventative medicine and no easier way to reduce health care

costs for the long term than teaching our residents and our children to eat

healthier, " he said, pointing to First Lady Michelle Obama's White House garden

as proof it's a matter of national concern.

 

Newsom today will break ground on a new garden at a steam powerhouse owned by

the Department of Public Works at McAllister and Larkin streets, and the food

grown at the farm will go to volunteers who help care for it. Several other

gardens have recently gone up or soon will. The library is eyeing gardens at

seven more branches.

 

The city is partnering with a variety of private groups and nonprofits to build

individual gardens, and it's mostly those groups that are picking up the tab for

seeds and other supplies.

 

The Department of the Environment has started an Urban Gleaning Program to teach

people how to plant fruit trees, supply local food pantries with fresh food and

manage a listserv for those interested in urban agriculture.

 

Sales at San Francisco farmers' markets to those using food stamps increased 85

percent last year. The public health department this summer will begin hosting

cooking classes at the Alemany and Fillmore farmers' markets.

 

A project is under way to ensure the food served at the San Francisco Juvenile

Probation Department is locally grown and nutritious.

 

The city also helped launch a competition last fall seeking innovative designs

related to urban agriculture and is likely to begin using some of the favorites.

They include Chicken Cribs - billed as " the quick and easy, self-assembly urban

chicken coop " - and Mobile Markets, carts stocked with produce that can easily

be taken to any busy locale.

 

Astrid Haryati, the mayor's greening director, said the food grown on city

property will either be given at low or no cost to neighbors or distributed to

local farmers' markets. But she noted there's a benefit beyond healthful food: a

more beautiful landscape.

 

" It's not only about feeding mouths, " she said. " It's about feeding the soul and

feeding the pride of San Francisco urban dwellers. "

 

E-mail Heather Knight at hknight.

 

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This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle