pip pip, cheerio, and all that rot

[Guest guest]

and they had to go ruin it with cheese

 

 

Royals have a garden party

Camilla and Charles, who's interested in organics, visit Berkeley's Edible

Schoolyard

Karola Saekel, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Monday, November 7, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

(11-07) 15:19 PST BERKELEY -- Prince Charles wore a blue and gold UC Berkeley

tie when he crossed a gray bay Monday morning to inspect the Edible Schoolyard,

the groundbreaking program at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley that

integrates organic gardening and cooking into the academic curriculum.

 

The future king of England was escorted through the 1-acre teaching garden and

adjacent kitchen by the reigning queen of California cuisine, Alice Waters,

whose Chez Panisse Foundation guides and finances the venture in what Waters

calls eco gastronomy.

 

The prince and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were met at the

school entrance by a gaggle of celebrities, including California's first lady,

Maria Shriver; Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates; Berkeley school Superintendent Michele

Lawrence; school board President Nancy Riddle; and San Francisco and California

Chief of Protocol Charlotte Mailliard Shultz.

 

November may not be the best time to visit a garden, but the prince, himself an

avid organic gardener at his Highgate estate in southwestern England,

appreciated what he saw in this informal garden, which was still verdant with

all manner of herbs and enough flowers to yield a small bouquet for the duchess.

 

The royal couple started their hourlong visit with a stop at the garden's

outdoor wood-burning oven, where King students offered a freshly baked pizza of

cheese, potato, onion and rosemary. All the toppings except the cheese had been

planted and harvested by the students.

 

The same was true of the harvest soup ladled from a big red terrine on the high,

farm-style table in the kitchen: squash, chard, carrots and garlic, picked from

braids hanging on a wall. The garlic -- many kinds, including Nootka Rose and

Breath Buster -- had been picked in the summer, braided and dried for a winter's

worth of soups and stews.

 

The prince and duchess chatted with the youngsters and asked questions that

reflected their familiarity with sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

Said tour guide Waters, " They totally get it. "

 

From the school, the prince and duchess headed to San Francisco's Ferry

Building, where the prince was scheduled to give a speech.

 

You can e-mail Karola Saekel at kcraib.

 

 

 

Visit by bluebloods has a green theme

Prince Charles, wife plan stops in Marin, Berkeley and S.F.

Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Friday, November 4, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

England's Prince Charles and his new wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall,

will arrive in San Francisco Friday night for a meticulously choreographed

four-day visit that combines the earthy with the glitzy -- organic farmers with

power brokers.

 

It will be the first British royal visit to the Bay Area since Prince Andrew was

here for several days in 1997.

 

Amid gawking and gossip and layer upon layer of security, the royal couple will

take in a small country church in Marin County, a zany musical revue, San

Francisco's Ferry Building and a model homeless center in the heart of the

Tenderloin.

 

The trip to the United States is the first visit overseas by Charles and Camilla

as a married couple. It is being billed as a testament to the ties that bind the

two countries: political, cultural, economic and environmental.

 

It is also an effort to showcase the substantive side of Charles, whose

environmentalism, organic farming and philanthropy get obscured by snippy

reports on his handsome sons, Harry and William; his glamorous first wife, the

late Princess Diana; and his less glamorous second wife, his longtime friend and

former mistress.

 

Martin Uden, the British consul general in San Francisco, understands the

curiosity but believes Charles is misunderstood.

 

" He is a businessman farmer and does an enormous amount of charitable work, "

said Uden, who met Charles when he was working at the British Embassy in Bonn,

Germany. " He is not just lending his name, either. He really gets in there. "

 

The Prince of Wales, who turns 57 on Nov. 14 and whose full name is Charles

Philip Arthur George Windsor, runs a nonprofit organization called the Prince's

Charities that raises more than $200 million a year for 16 programs ranging from

education to holistic health. He created an organic farm on his estate at

Highgrove in 1985, when the movement was in its infancy. And he launched a

high-end line of organic products called Duchy Originals that now brings in $71

million a year.

 

Uden does not agree with the contention by some royal watchers that the hop

across the pond is part of a royal plan to boost the couple's popularity and

gain acceptance for Camilla as the future queen.

 

" That certainly wasn't in my planning, " said Uden. " My job is to make sure the

visit goes well and the objectives are met. If it helps create a good positive

image, that's great. "

 

Uden said that once it was decided the couple would visit the United States,

there was a desire for " geographical balance. " Planning for the trip began

immediately after the couple's wedding in early April, Uden said.

 

Charles and Camilla arrived in New York on Tuesday. They toured ground zero, met

with Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations, partied with the

musician Sting and dined with celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker. On

Wednesday they traveled to Washington, D.C., where they attended a seminar on

osteoporosis -- one of Camilla's causes -- and attended a formal state dinner at

the White House with the president and first lady.

 

They are expected to travel Friday from Washington to New Orleans to meet with

victims of Hurricane Katrina before arriving in San Francisco.

 

For the last leg of the royal highnesses' visit, Uden looked at " what is

important to the prince. What matters to him are issues of sustainability and

the environment. So we naturally wanted him to see local organic farming. "

 

Uden said that it also was important to highlight other strengths of the Bay

Area, including innovations in technology and in turning around homelessness.

 

The largest part of the visit will be devoted to Charles' passion: organic

farming. He and Camilla will spend Saturday morning at the farmers' market in

Point Reyes Station in Marin County and then have lunch in the coastal hamlet of

Bolinas with local farmers and producers.

 

Helge Hellberg, executive director of Marin Organic, an association of organic

producers, will lead the prince on the Saturday tour. Hellberg said he wants to

share with Charles the " efforts going back 30-plus years of people who have

poured their hearts into forging a new relationship with the land. "

 

Hellberg attended an environmental conference called Terre Madre in Turin,

Italy, in October 2004. Charles was the keynote speaker.

 

In the speech, Charles told the gathering, " I have always believed that

agriculture is not only the oldest, but also the most important of humanity's

productive activities. "

 

Hellberg said that people at the conference immediately began to say, " Gee,

wouldn't it be great if he came to our area? "

 

The royal couple will travel from the farmers' market to a small luncheon with

Warren Weber, a leader in the Bay Area organic movement. Weber's Star Route

Farms is the oldest certified organic farm in California.

 

Weber said that much of what he learned about organic farming came from soil

experts in England.

 

" Most organic farmers here followed organic farming ideas developed in Britain

by the Soil Association, " Weber said of the United Kingdom's largest organic

certification body. " Certainly in the '70s, when we were starting, we looked to

the Soil Association for literature and ideas. We were students. Now they're

coming here. It's full circle. "

 

Patrick Holden, the Soil Association's director, has been traveling with Charles

and Camilla and will be in the Bay Area over the weekend. A private concert

given by Sting on Wednesday night was attended by Charles and Camilla and

benefited the Soil Association, which was founded nearly 60 years ago. Charles

is the patron of the association and has pledged to raise about $35 million to

expand the program.

 

" He is actually an approachable man, " Holden said of Charles. " Of course, it's

quite difficult to make his close acquaintance because there are layers of

protection around him. "

 

On Sunday, Charles and Camilla are scheduled to attend church in Marin County,

although the location was not disclosed. They will take in an evening

performance of " Beach Blanket Babylon, " the hat-centric revue started by Steve

Silver in 1974.

 

Producer Jo Schuman Silver said minor modifications have been made for Sunday's

show.

 

" The Queen of England has been in the show since the beginning, " Schuman Silver

said. " She will not be a character. We will not parody the royal family. Of

course, what we do is a gentle parody. "

 

Charles follows in his mother's footsteps in attending a performance of " Beach

Blanket. " Queen Elizabeth II visited the Bay Area in 1983 and saw the show at

Symphony Hall.

 

On Monday morning, Charles and Camilla will head to the East Bay to visit the

Edible Schoolyard, an educational program founded in 1994 by renowned chef Alice

Waters. They will then head back to the city, where the prince will give a

speech to environmentalists at the Ferry Building.

 

On Monday night, Charles and Camilla will attend a black-tie dinner at the new

M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park. The dinner will be hosted by

the mayor's office and the British consulate.

 

The event will be held in the Piazzoni murals room and will be attended by about

60 people. The guests include a mix of high society and high technology, from

Ann and Gordon Getty to Steve Jobs.

 

Alice Waters, who will have spent the morning with the royals at the Edible

Schoolyard at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley, also will oversee

the dinner at the de Young.

 

Waters said she has been closely connected to the organic food movement in

England for several years. She dined with Charles at the 2004 Terra Madre

conference.

 

" This movement is not a small thing that's happening in Northern California, "

Waters said. " It's a global picture we need to clarify for people. Prince

Charles brings a kind of legitimacy to our work. "

 

For the dinner, she plans to do what she has always done: emphasize local,

organically produced food.

 

" We want to give him a sense of being here in Northern California at the

beginning of November, " Waters said.

 

She said the fare will include a Sonoma goat cheese souffle, a heritage turkey

and grass-fed beef. For dessert, Waters will serve a Sierra beauty apple tart.

 

Finally, before heading back on Tuesday, Charles and Camilla will have a true

San Francisco experience: They will visit a heralded program at the Empress

Hotel in the Tenderloin that provides permanent supportive housing to more than

500 formerly homeless people.

 

The best chances for the public to catch a glimpse of the royals are likely to

be at the Point Reyes Station Farmers' Market on Saturday and the Ferry Building

in San Francisco on Monday.

 

 

External control are you gonna let them get you?

Do you wanna be a prisoner in the boundaries they set you?

[Guest guest]

How do you braid garlic, anybody know?fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

and they had to go ruin it with cheeseRoyals have a garden party Camilla and Charles, who's interested in organics, visit Berkeley's Edible SchoolyardKarola Saekel, Chronicle Staff Writer

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