Slow Food South Bay

Slow Food South Bay members typically work with schools who request occasional help with setting up or restoring gardens on their school sites.  We have also helped with several field trips taken by children all all levels from two elementary schools within walking distance of the Veggielution Community Farm in San José.

Another project in Palo Alto has entailed cooperative projects between Common Ground Demonstration Garden and Gunn High School across the street.  SFSB member and ESY Academy alum, Judee Humberg, gives this account of her work in our December 2012 news bulletin: 

As a Slow Food volunteer, I am working with Zuzanna Drozdz, the Manager of the Common Ground Garden on Arastradero Road in Palo Alto -- a project of Ecology Action (EA).  My goal is to integrate and express our slow values of good, clean and fair food for all with Zuzanna’s emphasis on teaching people how to grow their own healthy food and nurture healthy soil using the GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming method that EA has been refining and researching since 1972.  There are 6 public and private schools, ranging from pre-school through high school, within walking distance of the garden and our hope is to eventually engage selected classes at each school according to their needs and interests.   Currently, students from 2 Gunn High classes are learning about how to grow and prepare Spanish heritage foods in healthy and sustainable ways. The Spanish Civilization and Spanish Native Speakers classes are led by teacher Liz Matchett.  Students walk over to the garden about every two weeks.  Throughout the Fall, they harvested amaranth, corn and quinoa grown in the garden, processed each crop according to methods likely to have been practiced by the ancients, and then prepared a snack with that crop as the main ingredient.   These visits will continue through the end of this school year and culminate in a custom-designed book of student-created pages, sharing recipes and family food traditions along with what was meaningful for them about their soil to table experiences with Spanish-heritage foods.  Students will learn about slow food values firsthand as they select crops to plant based on their families’ recipes, with the hope that several of the dishes can be served at the end of year celebration when students will present copies of the book to their families.