San Francisco's Victory Garden Stays --

-- until November, possibly longer. Slow Food Nation cites strong support from City Hall and Mayor Gavin Newsom to keep the garden as a symbol of San Francisco's progressive position on food, farming, and social justice.

Our local Victory Garden harkens back to the Victory Gardens of World Wars I and II. The push behind the gardens then was to compensate for food shortages and high produce prices -- by encouraging citizens to grow edibles on available urban and suburban grounds.

The Civic Center garden plots strive for a new type of victory: urban sustainability and food independence through cultivating our own greens. The harvested crops will be donated (with the help of local food banks) to those with limited access to healthy, organic produce.

It's the first time since 1943 that an edible garden finds itself in the shadow of City Hall. Victory Gardens have a robust history in San Francisco . . . a city which, at one time, had more than 250 garden plots in Golden Gate Park alone.

If you missed the big food event this weekend, see an overview of Slow Food Nation (with photos).

^{Photo © Jeffrey Proske (for About.com)}