Fall was definitely in the air Saturday as the Davis Farmers Market held its annual festival to celebrate the season. In addition to the typical market fare of garden-fresh fruits and vegetables, the festival, which is held on the last Saturday in October, brought a fall theme including Halloween decorations, a scarecrow display, additional vendors and more activities for families. Overcast skies and cool air accompanied the dozens of Mylar balloons, cornstalks and hay bales that made up the many decorations in the market area. Joy Wills, the assistant manager who has worked at the market for 18 years, described the festival as a “celebration of the fall harvest.” Wills also mentioned

 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

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

This is the second growing season that Sacramento residents have been able to grow vegetables, fruit trees and other food plants in their front yard thanks to a revised city ordinance. After a three-year effort by food activists, the city's Front Yard Ordinance was reworded in 2007 to specifically allow veggie gardens in that soil near the sidewalk. That change has enabled more and more Sacramento homeowners to grow their own food in an edible landscape, mingling [with] or replacing decorative foliage. Blueberries with your zinnias, perhaps, or tomatoes with your chrysanthemums, or lettuce where that brown scrubgrass used to be. The original FYO was written into zoning code in 1941 and ac

The following is a schedule of farmers markets in the grid. While Sacramento Central Farmers Market is open year round, Roosevelt Park, Fremont Park, Cesar Chavez Plaza, and Downtown Plaza Farmers Markets will be open starting May 1, 2009. The next article in this storyline will interview the owners of the farmers markets. Sacramento Central (Southside Park) Farmers Market Located in the State Parking Lot 8th and W Streets, the farmers market is open from 8 a.m. until 12 noon on Sunday mornings all year long. Roosevelt Park Farmers Market Roosevelt Park is among two farmers markets along P Street held weekly on Tuesdays. "Along the perimeter of the park, shoppers can buy vegetables, fr

Spring is making its presence felt.  Flowers are blooming, leaves are returning to the trees, allergies are flaring up, and colorful foods are finding their way back to the market. Today, Sunday March 22, the Southside Farmers Market (across W St. from Southside park under the freeway) was displaying foods and flowers that have been absent during the winter months. Asparagus, beets, sweet peppers of all colors, artichokes, strawberries, beans, and kiwi among other foods were splayed out in tall mounds of edible art. Multiple vendors sold flowers of all kinds to market goers eager to tout the signs of spring. Southside Farmers Market was a hub of activity with people meandering through t