When I looked for apartments near my work in Oakland, I wasn’t sure what I’d find. I knew I had some very simple, non-negotiable criteria: I wanted to be able to walk to and from work. I wanted a decent kitchen. I wanted something safe, and I wanted to try to avoid paying my entire annual salary in rent.

Slow Food Nation's Victory Garden sits in the shadow of City Hall.

It might come as a surprise, based on the name of this blog, that having some space to garden or plant was not on that non-negotiable list. But I had this feeling that, somehow, I’d figure out a way to get my hands in the dirt, even if that way was unconventional.

Sure enough, a way presented itself. Slow Food Nation is bringing its foodie parade to town over Labor Day Weekend, and one aspect of the conference/festival /concert/celebrity-chef-sighting-opportunity is the Victory Garden planted in front of San Francisco’s City Hall.

Patterned after the Victory Gardens that fed the nation during World War II, the main garden at Civic Center is slated to provide fresh vegetables a few weeks after the Slow Food Nation gathering to those with limited access to produce in San Francisco.

The garden’s been attracting a little bit of nay-saying, particularly over at Garden Rant and the San Francisco Bay Guardian Politics blog. It’s temporary, they say. It’s expensive and a waste of resources. It’s a photo op. It’s a pale imitation of a real urban gardening program.

Victory gardener at work

I went down to see the garden on my birthday, the day after it was planted, and I’ll admit, the temporary nature of the garden surprised me. I expected something much more permanent. But I have also noticed that I have yet to mention the project to anyone who hasn’t heard about it and who doesn’t think community gardening is a good idea.

Now, to be fair, a lot of people I talk to in my ordinary life are foodies, gardeners, or public health folks who are predisposed to applaud veggies growing just down the steps of City Hall. But this story is being told, and there are people making sure the story doesn’t end on Labor Day. Besides, Alice Waters is behind this, and I defy anyone to say she’s not vehemently committed to the principle of equal access to fresh, local produce for all. This might be a photo op, but awareness has to start being raised somehow.

Regardless, I’ll be able to get a firsthand glimpse of how the garden is growing and how people are responding to it. Starting Sunday morning, I take my first turn as a garden docent, a volunteer position that might include giving garden tours, answering questions about vegetables (Apparently the volunteer coordinator doesn’t read this blog…), and helping with garden maintenance.

I may not have my own garden right now, but I’m about to start experiencing the photo op up close, and I can’t wait to get in there and see what it’s all about.

On Wednesday, I got an email from Seed Savers Exchange—turns out, they have tomato and pepper plants left over from their spring sale, and while they’re too tall to ship anywhere, they’re perfectly healthy.

And they’re available, for free. Free. All you have to do is drive to Decorah, Iowa.

I realize this is a stretch of a drive for some folks, but I have to tell you…if I was one of those folks in a floodplain, and I needed to make sure I got my tomato fix before the end of the season, I’d be getting in my car, gas prices be damned. These are good, heirloom plants, you people of Iowa. For free.

Go and get ‘em. But call first, in case all the other people who got the email already beat you to it.

You can pick up the transplants at the Lillian Goldman Visitors Center at 3074 North Winn Road, Decorah, Iowa. Call (563) 382-5990 before you go, just to make sure the trip is still worth it.

And another reminder. Small family farms. They need your help.

Back in the 1980s, when the farm crisis was breaking America’s heartland, my Uncle Charlie got involved. He was an economics professor at Iowa State University, and he focused on Extension and public policy issues. He, along with my Dad and their four other siblings, grew up on a small dairy farm in Upstate New York, and they knew what it meant to be farmers and to be poor.

In 1988, my Uncle Charlie sat down with the good people of Ottumwa, Iowa, and started a strategic planning process to help them recover from the devastation the crisis had wreaked on the community. He stepped up. He used everything in his toolkit to do what he could for the state he had adopted as his own.

My Uncle Charlie died in December 2006, so he’s missing the mess left behind by the Flood of 2008. I’m sorry he’s gone, but I’m glad he’s not seeing the water pull back slowly—the effects of the flood are just beginning. From the towns that were underwater to formerly-submerged farmland, word from there is that now the problem is clean-up and recovery.

As I said earlier this week, the team at Edible Iowa River Valley and other organizations like Local Foods Connection are doing everything they can to help out the farmers affected by this flood. On Wednesday, they worked with Farm Aid to get a donation program off the ground. Farm Aid has done so much, starting with that farm crisis of the 1980s, to help American family farmers get on—and stay on—their feet, so it makes perfect sense that they’re involved again this time.

Farm Aid seeded the pot with $10,000, and they’ve got the venerable Willie Nelson putting his weight behind the effort. He’s playing in Tama, Iowa, on Saturday night, kicking off a several-night stretch where he performs in Iowa and Wisconsin, raising awareness as he goes.

The money will go to help the farmers who aren’t involved in ginormous agribusiness operations—although those folks are no less affected by this natural disaster. The difference? The farmers this fundraiser will help are the small and mid-size farmers who run community-supported agriculture operations and help supply the local farmers’ markets with fresh food and generally make Iowa a better, healthier place to be. But these are the farmers who don’t have flood insurance. Or crop insurance. These are the farmers who have to have their wife or husband work an office or factory job so they can get health insurance.

These are the people working on sliver-thin margins, and those margins just drowned.

If you think you can help, please visit the flood relief donation site and give what you can. I admit I’m feeling pretty helpless from here, but in the spirit of my Uncle Charlie, I’m using what I have in my toolkit. I have some money, and I have a blog. I can use those tools to help rebuild the state that let me make it home for nearly three years.

I ask for your help and your support. If you can’t give money, help raise awareness. Pass the word about this fundraiser to your friends, neighbors, and fellow bloggers. Food bloggers, I’d love it if you’d post something in support of this.

But most of all, if you’re at a farmers’ market this weekend, stop and take a look around. Be grateful for what’s there. Imagine if it was all gone. Then decide what it’s worth to you and help out these farmers. You never know when the good people of the Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri might just need to return the favor.

By now, unless you live under a rock, you’re probably aware that Iowa is suffering from some of the worst floods in memory. I’ve been watching the news from Iowa City with my mouth hanging open, and have mostly relied on reports from the Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Cedar Rapids Gazette to keep me in the loop on the latest news about what’s under water.

Both newspapers are keeping unbelievable photo galleries, both from the ground and the air, up to date. And I’ve been hearing from friends who are sending their own photos around. For example, check out my friend Kelly’s round-up of photos from inside the Alliant Energy Corporate Communications department offices—I worked for almost a year and a half in the cubicle right next to Kelly’s, and can’t even imagine how long it’s going to take before she and the rest of my former co-workers can return to the office. The Alliant Energy tower, for those of you not familiar with Cedar Rapids, is right downtown, about a block from the Cedar River.

But the story that has not been told, that I have not seen reported, is the story about the small, local farmers that provide all the food I wasn’t able to grow in my own garden. These are the farmers that rely on the summer farmers’ markets to keep them going, the ones who aren’t involved in big, commercial agribusiness, the ones who don’t get a bunch of government subsidies or crop insurance to cover their flood-damaged produce.

They are not forgotten. There is a movement afoot to raise money for these folks, and for anyone in the Iowa farming community affected by the flooding. I’ll have more information on how you can help, from wherever you may be, as soon as there’s information to share. In the meantime, though, I’d like to put out a call for photos, videos and stories about farms and farmers in Iowa and Wisconsin affected by the flood.

I’ve volunteered to be one of the collection points for this material, which will be used only for purposes of fundraising and possibly in an upcoming issue of Edible Iowa River Valley. There is no compensation available in return, but your contribution of your material will help raise awareness on behalf of these struggling farmers and those who work for them. In addition, while the details are still being worked out, any material submitted will be forwarded on to the appropriate organization for archival and historical purposes.

Please email anything you have (or links to where the material is located online) to genie (at) theinadvertentgardener (dot) com. Please include in your email a statement that notes you give your permission for the material to be republished without financial compensation.

More information will come as soon as I have it. Thanks so much, in advance, for your help with this project. And please feel free to forward this to anyone you know in the Midwest. The more stories and pictures we have to illustrate the devastation as it has affected farms, the better we can tell the story and, in turn, help the folks who have nowhere else to turn.

I know my readers come from far and come from wide. There are those of you who live in Eastern Iowa (particularly in the Cedar Rapids or Iowa City area), though, and I just know some of you were jealous of me when you read about my coolest-ever CSA farmer last year.

There’s no need to be jealous anymore, ’cause I have an opportunity for you.

A week from today, Local Foods Connection will be rocking the Robert E. Lee Community Recreation Center, at the corner of Gilbert and Burlington Streets in Iowa City, for their annual Community Supported Agricultural Fair. From noon to 4 p.m. on March 22, you can come meet local farmers and sign up for a CSA share.

What does that get you? Well, weekly fresh and local produce. Seasonal stuff. Those goodies that just aren’t the same when you buy them at your local, faceless grocery store. Plus, by purchasing a share, you’re guaranteeing income for farmers, which means they’re more likely to continue providing healthy, local produce, and continue being good stewards of the land.

If that’s not enough for you, you’ll be able to meet me! I helped organize the fair this year, and I’ll be there with some Inadvertent Gardener swag that you can take home with you.

Hope to see you out there!

‘Tis the season for giving, for celebrating with family, for passing around all manner of good feelings. And since ‘tis the season, in Iowa, for digging out from an ice storm, I’ll take any warmth I can get!

But recently, my cousin Katherine passed along a truly warm and wonderful honor in my direction: The Nice Matters Award. As she posted on her blog, “This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded, please pass on to seven others whom you feel are deserving of this award.”

I’m honored that Katherine chose me to join six other talented bloggers—she made reference in her blog to my winning this many times, but I have to correct her—this is the first time this has made its way into my piece of the blogosphere. So Katherine, thank you, and cheers to you and your blog, which is also so deserving of the award!

In the spirit of giving, here are seven bloggers I’m highlighting today for the Nice Matters award:

1. Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen. From her tireless dedication to Weekend Herb Blogging and to encouraging us all to cook food that’s both delicious AND healthy, to her support for the rest of the food blogging community, Kalyn is always thoughtful, always generous with her time and resources, and just an all around great person.
2. Same goes for Alanna of Kitchen Parade. Alanna was one of the first bloggers I ever met in person, when she stopped through Cedar Rapids on her way to northern climes. She passed along a wake-up call to me that day that stuck with me like nobody’s business…and that call had repercussions that I would have never imagined. Beyond that, her recipes are delicious, her blog is entertaining, and she is passionate about great food.
3. Trey of The Blogging Nurseryman is passionate about independent garden centers, keeping customers happy, and finding ways to use technology to bring customers to the fabulous garden center he and his wife own and run, and to get information about gardening out to the world at large. Plus, he has offered to be my personal garden consultant if I ever get stumped in a garden center here in Iowa. That definitely gets him on the list!
4. Michelle at My Grandpa’s Garden just up and sent me a praying mantis egg sac this summer. Plus, she introduced the garden blogging world to Big Pumpkin and Charlotte. She’s been such a terrific addition to my garden reading this year.
5. Kenny at Veggie Gardening Tips is another blogger who passed along a gift for my garden this year—some seeds for ice-hardy greens that I will be writing about in the fairly near future. Kenny is an incredible source of expertise, and, in my experience, thrilled to share what he knows with other bloggers.
6. Carol at May Dreams Gardens began the Garden Bloggers’ Book Club, which has exposed me to books I would have never thought to have read. Not only is she a wonderful gardener and blogger in her own right, but she has been inspiring the rest of us to expand our gardening horizons, and for that, I thank her.
7. Finally, in the continued spirit of one cousin to another, I’m going to highlight my cousin, Kären, who just launched Can’t Spare the Change, a brand new blog and Web site that examines how all of us can better effect change in the world around us and in our lives. Kären has an incredible story to share, and has inspired me in many ways. I encourage you to check out her blog and her story.

This is by no means an exhaustive list…but I wanted to highlight these bloggers, all of whom have affected my life in wonderful ways. Thanks to them, and to Katherine, for sending the award my way!

Last year, I encouraged my readers to participate in Menu for Hope, a blogging fundraiser that raises money for a worthy cause each year. Last year’s effort raised $62,925.12, which was donated to the UN World Food Programme.

Here’s how it works: Food bloggers from around the world donate prizes to the effort. Anyone around the world can buy a raffle ticket (or more than one – there’s no limit on the giving!) for $10 per ticket. You then designate which prize you’re trying to win for each ticket purchased.

This year’s effort starts today and runs through December 21. Once again, the money will go to the UN World Food Programme, but this time the donation will be targeted specifically to the school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa. The goal? To not only help feed children, but by doing so, to keep them in school so they are more likely to be able to make the money they need to feed themselves as adults.

The Lesotho program, as well, not only helps the affected children, but purchases the food for the program from local farmers. If you’ve spent any time reading my blog, you’ll know that’s a cause after my own heart. Feeding kids with local food? That’s a slam-dunk, in my opinion.

I know I’ll be heading over tonight to buy a few tickets, after I get done drooling over the variety of prizes. Last year, the hardest part of participating was choosing what I most wanted to win! I hope you’ll consider participating as well—and, if you’re a blogger who wants to help support the event, head over to Chez Pim to grab a banner or graphic to use on your blog. Together, we can make the fourth year of this event exceed our wildest expectations.

I have been known to get fairly passionate about food. When presented with the opportunity, I am positively incapable of not launching into an explanation of how to know whether or not a certain fish is sustainable and why you and you and you should care. I give the grocery store tomatoes a large berth in winter so no one has to listen to me mutter under my breath. And it’s very difficult for me to eat a good meal quietly—part of savoring the good stuff is making that mmm-mmm-mmm noise.

I just put my opinions to good use by voting for those I think are the most deserving Eastern Iowa chef, farmer, food artisan, drink artisan, and food-related non-profit. The Local Heroes Awards are open for voting right now through Edible Iowa River Valley’s web site, and from now through December 15, everyone is invited to get as mouthy as me about the local food people and organizations they love.

These awards are designed to honor people who have a vision and a commitment to building Iowa’s local and artisanal food scene. In other words, this is your opportunity to honor folks who make the world a better place to eat and drink. That’s a platform I can get behind.

Don’t live in Iowa? Don’t despair. Edible Iowa River Valley is just one of the 24 Edible magazines opening voting for the Local Heroes Awards. Whether you live in Memphis, the Twin Cities, on the Hawaiian Islands, or Cape Cod, it’s time to give some thought to the food you eat and the people who make that possible.

This year’s winners will be announced in January 2008 at the Edible Communities annual publisher’s dinner in Charleston, SC, and then will be announced to the local community in the spring 2008 issues.

As for who I voted for? Well, that’s between me and the ballot screen. But if you’re ever in Iowa City for a visit, I’d be happy to provide you some off-blog tips.

When I was in high school, I started spending one day every holiday season baking cookies. A cacophony of cookies. I baked at least five or six different kinds, then bagged them all up in sandwich bags with holiday-wrapped Hershey’s Kisses and mini candy bars, then tied the baggies with green and red ribbon, filled a huge shopping bag, and passed them out at school, spreading sugar from period to period, gifting my classmates and teachers with a little bit of home-baked love.

Sounds precious, doesn’t it? Sure it does, until I tell you the part where, when I was doing this at somewhere around age 23, when it occurred to me that I hated this little ritual. I inevitably ended the day washing baking sheets somewhere around 1 a.m., after starting the process somewhere before lunch. Although I would have planned something resembling nutritious food during the day, I ended the day sick from eating bites of raw cookie dough, with aching legs, a small burn on my arm from hitting the side of the oven, and a general Grinch-like demeanor.

So, I stopped the tradition. Here’s the thing: I liked the idea of spreading cheer via cookies, but I had lost any sense of fun that went along with it.

But this year, Lydia of The Perfect Pantry, one of my favorite food bloggers, threw out an idea. She is spreading the word about Drop In & Decorate, an effort sponsored by King Arthur Flour. The idea is simple: bake some cookies, invite friends or family or co-workers or neighbors to help decorate them, and deliver them to a local shelter or food pantry, lunch program, senior center, or any other place in your community where folks could use a little holiday cheer. Christmas cookies, Hanukkah cookies, Kwanzaa cookies, Festivus cookies…this one is non-denominational and provides the opportunity to have the cookie experience without the gritted-teeth at the end of the day.

King Arthur is selling special Drop In & Decorate kits, and they’re providing a special offer: Order a Drop In & Decorate baking kit now through November 15, and King Arthur Flour will include a free dough scraper with each order. Add the kit to your shopping cart. On the payment page, enter Promotion Code “Dropin” to the Promotion field and click the Update button. The page will refresh and the dough scraper will be added to your order. Offer valid through November 15 only (but the kit is on sale until December 26, and would make a great holiday gift).

But this doesn’t require much more than a batch or two of cookies and your own creativity. If you’re interested in participating, I encourage you to learn more over at Lydia’s Drop In & Decorate page, where she has plenty of free resources available.

It’s enough to make an Inadvertent Grinch like me send out some invitations to folks in town. This might be the year I resurrect my cookie baking skills!

Government, in many ways, makes gardening look easy. To garden, simply plant seed, water, watch grow, eat food, repeat.

To govern, there are many more steps. And so, for those of you who have been asking for an update on the march of the Farm Bill and the status of the Community Food Program (CFP), I have to tell you…there has been good news, but good news doesn’t mean it’s over.

The latest word on the street is this: The Senate Agricultural Committee has set funding for the Community Food Program funding at $10 million per year. That’s enough to keep local and fresh food programs afloat for the time being.

The process is far from over, though. The committee is scheduled to debate the entire Farm Bill October 24. That’s tomorrow, folks, so hopefully I’ll know more soon. There’s still a chance the funding could be cut, although continued voices from around the country can keep that from happening. There’s no word yet on when the bill actually may hit the Senate floor, and once it passes, there’s that whole President signature/veto thing, etc. etc. etc. Like I said…the process is weighty and takes time.

What can you do? Well, if you already called or faxed your Senators, thank you. If you didn’t get a chance to do so in the last round, there’s still time to participate. If you have a Senator on the Agriculture Committee, you can even make your voice heard before the committee starts marking up the bill tomorrow.

Calling is your best bet this time around. If you call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your Senators’ offices, you can make a difference to make sure this important piece of funding stays in the bill.

Now, here’s a little trick I bring you from my pre-Iowa life inside the Beltway…there’s no point in calling to talk to your actual Senator. It’s not that they don’t like you that way, it’s just that…well, you know…they’re rather busy. But they all have someone on their respective staffs who handles agricultural and nutrition issues. Ask to speak to that person. On this front, they’ll have the good Senator’s ear.

So that’s the latest. As I said, it’s much easier to garden. But this is a worthy cause and besides, here in the U.S., the growing season’s wrapping up. Use this call as an opportunity to take a quick break from your garden clean-up, and you’ll make a difference for Americans everywhere.