Despite uncooperative weather that pushed the growing season to a late start, local farmers markets are getting ready to open throughout the city once again. “We’re starting the (growing) season a little late this year, but the weather is warming up, and we’re going to have a lot of wonderful produce to offer,” said Renae Best, assistant market coordinator for Sacramento Certified Farmers Markets. Of the 12 farmers markets in Sacramento, three are open year-round. Six are slated to open the first week in May and the others will open in June, Best said Thursday. Joany Titherington, operator of the Oak Park Farmers’ Market in McClatchy Park, said there are a lot of “new and exciting thing

Being on the go before sunup to spend four hours sniffing boxes and running on treadmills might not sound like an ideal job to many, but for Dozer, a 3- or 4-year-old Labrador retriever, work is a dream. “It’s clear that he loves his job,” said Jennifer Berger, who has been Sacramento County’s agricultural dog handler since the program came to the county in 2008. Dozer has been on the job since January, and he is one of about 13 agricultural inspection dogs in the state – all tasked with sniffing out organic materials being shipped into the area that could carry pests damaging California’s lucrative agriculture industry. Materials include flowers, fruits and anything else the dog is trai

Despite the intermittent rain and chilly winds of the past weeks, summer is ahead, and cold beverages and fresh foods are at their best.  The Sacramento Press asked locals what favorite drink or food they turn to to cool off in the summer heat. Zuleyma Hercules is a law student who recently moved from Modesto to Rancho Cordova. Hercules said she loves ice-cold Pepsi with three cubes of ice. “I’m very specific,” she said. Hercules also enjoys cherry Icees from Chevron and Haagen Dazs chocolate ice cream. Wincie Pierce, a construction worker from the Fair Oaks area, said, “I always drink water.” Pierce added that he enjoys eating fresh melons and barbecues in the summer.   “We barbecu

The California Dream, as portrayed by vintage fruit crate art, inspires visions of a healthy horizon of gleaming sunshine, warm, temperate climate and an endless spread of sweet, colorful fruit. In the early 1900s, California was depicted as a land of promise where eastern city folk migrated west in hopes of farming the widespread and fertile land. This prized picture of California, in part, grew out of the railroads that helped deliver bountiful harvest coast to coast and spread the message of the new frontier through fruit labels. A collection of these artistic fruit crate labels can now be seen by visiting, “Pick Me! Fruit Crate Art & the California Dream,” an exhibit  shipped and pre

Sacramento is nicknamed the "City of Trees" for a reason. Even in its most urban core, the city is filled with fruit trees. So what happens when those trees produce more fruit than the owners can harvest, let alone eat? One option is to let Harvest Sacramento take care of it. This year alone, the group has collected more than 13,000 pounds of fruit from the Sacramento area, all of which goes to the Sacramento Food Bank. Harvest Sacramento organized a Midtown Fruit Harvest on Saturday in which 25 community volunteers helped pick more than 1,300 pounds of citrus for the food bank. In just three hours, the group collected grapefruit, oranges, lemons and kumquats from nine houses in the grid