Four City Council members discussed ways of increasing community gardens in Sacramento on private and public property during the Law and Legislation Committee meeting Tuesday. According to Joy Patterson, the principle planner for the city, the proposed ordinance will lay out how community members can use vacant properties for the development of community gardens where people can come together for the purpose of growing food and personal use. “Several city departments have looked at the issues surrounding community gardens on public property and private property and have prepared a draft ordinance for community gardens on private property for the review and discussion by the Law and Legis

  Local chefs Kurt Spataro, Michael Tuohy and others joined forces to create an 1850s-inspired four-course meal for “A Taste of History” at Sutter’s Fort. The fundraiser will benefit Friends of Sutter’s Fort, a group that continues to keep the historic monument open to the public. The menu, taken from John Sutter’s era, has been adapted using local ingredients. Honey and olive oil samples will be served as well as beverages from local wineries and breweries. Lisa Mealoy, event coordinator with Friends of Sutter’s Fort, said the dinner is meant to “emulate the community-oriented” traits of Sutter, who established Sutter’s Fort in 1839. She said he was a hospitable, generous man who trea

Sunday, approximately 75 hungry guests took over Grange Restaurant for Slow Food Sacramento's Celebration of Summer event. The luncheon was organized around a fruit whose flavors reach a peak in the summer season: the tomato. Event organizer and member of Slow Food Sacramento chapter member Jim Mills told the group that "a tomato is not always a tomato," and that the fruit should really only be enjoyed fresh during its season, which ranges from about June 15 through the end of October. Grange Restaurant's head chef Michael Tuohy reinforced that tomatoes are best consumed during those four and a half months. "You'll see tomatoes in the stores in January," Tuohy said, "and it's like 'Why

In a celebration of Urban Agriculture Day, Slow Food Sacramento hosted a series of workshops and tours throughout the day Saturday to benefit Sacramento Hunger Coalition and Sacramento Area Community Garden Coalition (SACGC). For $25, ticket holders were able to choose from an itinerary of workshops, tours and movie screenings after either touring Soil Born Farm or cycling around town on the "What's 'Growing' On" Bike Tour. The morning cycling tour led roughly 25 cyclists on a 10-mile guided trek around local community gardens, starting at Southside Community Garden and making stops at McClatchy Park Farm Stand, David Lubin School Garden and the Sacramento Food Bank's garden along with