Fighting hunger can begin in your own backyard.

All those surplus zucchini? There are families that would love to have them. Those backyard peaches? They taste extra-sweet to folks who have no money for fresh fruit.

"In this economy, access to fresh food is a major issue," says Charity Kenyon of Slow Food Sacramento. "We're trying to bring different people to the table."

What is Slow Food Sacramento? No, it's not an extra-long wait at a popular restaurant. It's a grass-roots movement dedicated to bringing good, healthy food to everyone – fresh from community gardens and local backyards.

The concept has been slow in coming but is rapidly gaining momentum as more people discover that, yes, you can grow your own fruits and vegetables, even in the city. And besides eating your own delicious home-grown produce, sharing that backyard bounty feels good, too.

"This food movement is phenomenal," says Paul Schramski Towers, state director of Pesticide Watch and another Slow Food advocate. "We're helping to bring people together. There's a tremendous number of organizations in the Sacramento region.

"We're in such a special place – fertile soil under our feet but at the center of politics."

Next Saturday, Slow Food's grass-roots organizers hope to kick awareness up a notch with Sacramento's first Urban AgFest. The event will culminate with the Common Table gourmet dinner at Fremont Community Garden in midtown.

In its outdoor setting, the catered dinner and auction will raise funds for the Sacramento Hunger Coalition, which helps feed the poor; and the Sacramento Area Community Garden Coalition, dedicated to expanding urban locations for growing fruits and vegetables.

The keynote speaker will be Braham Ahmadi, founder of People's Grocery in Oakland, who has seen firsthand how growing food locally can make a huge difference for low-income families.

During Urban AgFest, potential backyard farmers can learn more about what's growing in Sacramento via a tour and workshops offered by the Sacramento Hunger Coalition. Starting at 8:30 a.m., a bicycle tour will visit local community gardens and other spots where micro-farming has squeezed into the urban environment.

The Hunger 101 workshop will cover how the poor cope with lack of access to fresh vegetables and fruit with possible solutions. Two films – "Fresh" (on the future of urban farming) and "The Garden" (on Los Angeles' South Central Farm) – will be screened, then discussed.

"So many people are dedicated to the idea that people should have access to fresh and healthy food," Towers says. "It's a basic right."

In honor of Slow Food's efforts, the city of Sacramento declared next Saturday "Urban Ag Day," and the City Council pledged its support.

During these tough economic times, more Americans are growing food than at any time since World War II. According to the National Gardening Association, an estimated 43 million households planted vegetable gardens this summer, including 7 million for the first time.

But many people, particularly in the city, lack the room and know-how to grow their own food. That's where community gardens come into play.

"There's a real need here," Towers says. "We're bringing agriculture back to the people."

A host of new gardens, particularly affiliated with local churches, have started springing up in Sacramento. And with them comes interest in "crop swaps," events where gardeners can exchange their excess with others, as well as gleaning – the harvesting of food that otherwise would go to waste. That includes picking up parkway oranges and gathering roadside berries.

"These are neighbors helping neighbors," Kenyon says. "In a community garden, you can learn from people who know. That's the beauty of community gardening and why crop-swapping is so easy."

Kenyon picked 41 pounds of beans last week in her garden and contributed them to a local food bank, River City Community Services. She urges other gardeners to do the same with their excess harvest. As an added incentive this week, donors will receive raffle tickets for prizes at the Urban AgFest events.

"We're all people who hold full-time jobs, but we're also all people who eat," she says of Slow Food. "We're all involved in agriculture at its roots.

"All over the world, urban gardens are a very important source of food," she adds. "We're very fortunate to live in a place where we can grow great food. This is an idea that starts right in your own backyard."

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