Editor's Note:  Edits have been made to this article after publication.    The crisp morning air fills with the aroma of California grown fruits and vegetables as farmers unload trucks filled with their freshly picked bounty. Locally produced meat, egg and cheese vendors join the seasonal varieties of colorful produce. Alongside local farmers, the Alchemist Community Development Corporation (CDC), sets up shop to bridge two communities—an EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer)/CalFresh (formerly known as Food Stamps) project for qualifying low-income individuals. Since early autumn, the Alchemist CDC’s EBT/CalFresh project has enabled recipients of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance

The Sacramento Antique Faire is always a popular event for the people of Sacramento, especially the stalwart crew of the Sacramento Parking Enforcement Division. These people gladly give up their Sundays so that they can spread cheer to the good folks who accidentally or knowingly park improperly while trying to find an antique or collectable bargain from among the many stallholders who come to these events. While walking back to my car, which I had correctly parked, I noticed a long line of cars all with a parking ticket attached to their windows. Most of them had parked in the cross street under the underpass which is, of course, a bicycle lane. Tut tut, serves them right etc. Imagine

Now in its second season, the Oak Park Farmers Market provides neighborhood residents with fresh produce, live music and a sense of community, Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m at McClatchy Park. The market was started by NeighborWorks Sacramento, an organization whose mission it is to strengthen communities and create opportunities for affordable housing. NeighborWorks has made it possible for vendors at the market to accept EBT payments, and, thanks to funding from the Sacramento Hunger Coalition, EBT recipients receive an extra market dollar for every dollar they spend there.  The Sacramento Press staff paid the Oak Park Farmer’s Market a visit on Saturday and was not disappointed. W

 Enjoy Free Swim, Children’s Activities and Del Paso Heights Farmers’ Market Sacramento City Councilmember Sandy Sheedy, Gateway Community Charters, and the Sacramento Neighborhood Center invite members of the public to Robertson Park Summer Celebration on Saturday, July 30 at the Robertson Community Center (3525 Norwood Avenue). Details: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free Swim at Robertson Park Play Pool, Children’s activities, bounce house, face painting, etc. 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Del Paso Heights Certified Farmers’ Market “This is a great opportunity for families and community members to come together, have some food and fun, and share the joy of a summer day,” said Councilmember Sandy Sheedy.

Denio’s Roseville Farmers Market & Swap Meet announced that it is now authorized to participate in the federally funded food-assistance program for low-income families, known in California as the CalFresh Program. The program, formerly known as Food Stamps and federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, helps to improve the health and well-being of qualified households and individuals by providing them a means to meet their nutritional needs by using an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card. The state-issued EBT cards will now be accepted to purchase items at Denio’s, which includes over 70 vendors and 130 spaces in the produce area, selling a wide array of afforda

New Farmers’ Market to Open Every Saturday from 7 a.m. to Noon. The Del Paso Heights Certified Farmers’ Market will open this coming Saturday, July 2nd. The market is sponsored jointly by Councilmember Sandy Sheedy and the Sacramento Neighborhood Center, and will be open every Saturday from 7 a.m. to Noon. Details are below: Robertson Community Center Parking Lot 3525 Norwood Avenue 7AM to Noon There are approximately a half a dozen certified Farmers participating so far. The farmers are all local  and will mainly be selling reasonably priced fruits and vegetables. The Del Paso Heights Certified  Farmers’ market will serve the local community with fresh produce in an area that has been

Two East Sacramento restaurants with Mediterranean roots – Gönül's J Street Cafe and Formoli's Bistro – are trading places this month. Gönül's will be the first to open in its new location. After eight years near the corner of 39th and J streets, owner Gönül Blum will open just six blocks away at 3260 J St. on Wednesday. In about two weeks, chef Aimal Formoli and wife Suzanne Ricci will reopen their restaurant in Blum's former space at 3839 J St. Blum first made an offer to switch locations with the couple two years ago because she wanted to downsize her restaurant. "I have way too much room that I don't use," Blum said. "I just wanted something cozy." With the move, Blum's restaurant

On Sunday, author of “Sacramento’s Southside Park” and board member of the Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) William Burg led a walking tour of Southside Park and the surrounding area. “The tours stemmed from Jane’s Walk USA, a national organization that began in 2007 using neighborhood walking tours as a way to help people get in touch with their environment,” said Kay Knepprath, event coordinator and fellow board member of SOCA. This is the event’s second year in Sacramento. The tour of Southside Park was one in a series of five tours that occurred throughout Sacramento on Saturday and Sunday. While the morning was a bit gray and chilly, a group of about 20 gathered together just

Fremont and Roosevelt Parks Farmers Markets had good crowds and good food on hand for opening day. Here's some snapshots:   For more info, go HERE.

Sacramento chef Jason Lockard is drawing up plans to entice customers to his new restaurant and bar, Blue Prynt, expected to open this month. The 30-year-old will use social media marketing, drink specials and tie-ins to popular community events to attract clientele to a somewhat hidden spot where several restaurants have failed. Lockard, who has been the chef at Brew It Up! for seven years, is opening his first business inside the Best Western Sutter House at 11th and H streets. After Sofia restaurant closed in that location last September, Lockard is developing plans for events and specials to coincide with the Second Saturday Art Walk and Friday Night Concerts in the Park at nearby C

Joanne Neft is known as the “farmers market lady” in Placer County, and for good reason. Neft has been involved with farmers markets since childhood, when her father sold produce in the St. Paul, Minn., farmers market. Joanne learned that a lot of people did not know how to make use of the bounty of fresh and sometimes unfamiliar food items they would find in the farmers markets. In conversations with a friend, Neft hit on an idea that would come to the aid of those who wanted to make use of the wonderful resource of farmers markets. She teamed up with Placer County chef Laura Kenny. Every Saturday for one year, they would shop the Auburn farmers market. On the following Monday evening,

It’s like Christmas every weekend for each bargain-hunting, fresh fruit- and veggie-loving passerby who ambles through the opening in the shiny chain-link fence at the corner of Church Street and Atkinson in Roseville. Since 1947, the gaps in the never-rusty metal fence have been letting folks enter into a world of constants and a world of the unexpected all the while wandering through a well-planned maze of wooden tables that is Denio’s Farmers Market and Swap Meet. Denio’s, located at 1551 Vineyard Rd., is an iconic part of greater Sacramento’s history. People have been coming out to the boonies of Roseville for years to peddle their no-longer-used “items” out of a ’57 pickup or load u

Ever wonder if its possible to shop exclusively at farmers’ markets and eat nutritiously? Deliciously? The answer is yes, and Joanne Neft and Laura Kenny are making it easy for you. The duo spent every Monday night in 2009 hosting dinner parties where they treated guests to dishes prepared with local, seasonal ingredients purchased at farmers’ markets in Placer County. They recorded the menus they created and compiled them into a book with 360 recipes. "Placer County Real Food: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year” is the finished product and Neft and Kenny were at Grange Restaurant and Bar Wednesday night signing copies, meeting readers and foodies, and eating. The $45, four-

Hungry? How about a slow-roasted pork roast with peppers, pink-eyed peas with Italian sausage and tomatoes, and then some roasted figs, peaches and raspberries with creme fraiche for dessert? Still not hungry? Grange Restaurant & Bar will host a dinner/book signing Aug. 18 with Joanne Neft and chef Laura Kenny, authors of "Placer County Real Food: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year," where they will serve the above dishes and others, all prepared with ingredients from Placer County’s farmers’ markets. Neft and Kenny spent 2009 hosting dinner parties every Monday evening where they treated guests to dishes prepared with local, seasonal ingredients. Neft has been involved in Pl

 Late risers were disappointed when they showed up for Soil Born’s newest farm stand in McKinley Park on Saturday. By 10:30, the stand had sold out of beets, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, apricots and blackberries. Only potatoes and okra were left by noon, so Randy Stannard, Soil Born Farm’s food access coordinator, turned shoppers away, promising to triple the amount of fruits and vegetables next week. “We’ll have to make it bigger,” Stannard said. “We had an amazing response. People are just really excited to be able to have something down here in the park.” Soil Born chose McKinley Park for its stand because of its popularity. “Many people, a diverse amount of people, use the park

Starting this coming Saturday, Soil Born Farms will operate a farm stand in front of the library at McKinley Park in East Sacramento. The stand will sell fruit and vegetables grown by farmers in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, El Dorado, Yuba, Sutter, Solano and San Joaquin counties. Randy Stannard, Soil Born's food access coordinator, is heading up the stand. It is one of many food-delivery models that the farm is using to bring healthy, locally grown food to the community. "Instead of bringing ten to 20 farmers to one spot, we go to the farms and we basically buy and resell produce as well as our own," Stannard said, comparing the stand to a farmers market. The stand is one component of sev

A marketplace of colorful stalls will take over one of Sacramento's busiest corners Saturday. Like an oasis in a concrete desert, a new public market called the Midtown Bazaar will spring up on a parking lot at 16th and J streets — across from the Memorial Auditorium and P.F. Chang's China Bistro — and flow through an alley into a cavernous old building for a few hours each week. At least 75 local vendors offering art and other goods have already signed up for the grand opening, to be held from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. With an indoor location measuring 25,600 feet, the market will be held year-round. The old garage at 1630 I St. sports old timber trusses, a mezzanine and roll-up doors in back th

Article by Denise Coleman   Oak Park's Farmers' Market will continue throughout the summer every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 34th and Broadway across from Old Soul Coffeehouse . During yesterday's inaugural market there was aribbon cutting ceremony and live music as well as all the wonderful fresh produce of the season. The residents of the Oak Park community have been working for years to bring a farmers' market to this, at times, troubled neighborhood. The Oak Park Farmers' Market is a project of NeighborWorks Sacramento, in partnership with community residents, community garden advocates, backyard growers, and fresh produce sellers. Together they have loosely formed the Oa

  The Sacramento Press will be live streaming video at the launch of the first Oak Park Farmers' Market Saturday, May 15. This new farmers' market will continue throughout the summer every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 34th and Broadway across from Old Soul Coffeehouse . Join us for the ribbon cutting ceremony and live music as well as all the wonderful fresh produce of the season. The residents of the Oak Park community have been working for years to bring a farmers' market to this, at times, troubled neighborhood. The Oak Park Farmers' Market is a project of NeighborWorks Sacramento, in partnership with community residents, community garden advocates, backyard growers, and fresh

With more than 10 local farmer's markets open weekly starting this month, it's difficult to navigate all the options and choose something you can easily prepare. Enter Michael Tuohy, Grange Restaurant's executive chef and leading proponent of the Slow Food Movement, whose mission is to "understand the importance of caring where their food comes from, who makes it and how it’s made," according to its website. Tuohy holds a weekly "Follow the Chef" lunch at the Grange, located on the corner of 10th and J streets inside the Citizen Hotel. At 11 a.m. every Wednesday between May and October, he meets with a group of 15 people or less at the Grange and leads them through a tour of the farmer's