What’s Brewin’ Sacramento Concert Benefit
Beer, coffee and live music? Sounds like our kind of charity event! Head to Pachamama tonight for the What’s Brewin’ Sacramento Concert benefiting Concerts 4 Charity and Pachamama Coffee Cooperative farmers. Local bands White Elephant and The Golden Cadillacs will be playing and food/drinks will be available for purchase from Ruhstaller Beer, Pachamama and the Cali Love Food Truck. The event (open to those 21 and over) kicks off at 6:30pm.
Tickets are $5 and can be purchased here, or at the door.
Pachamama
919 20th Street
Sacramento
Beer and Ballet from the Sacramento Ballet
If you love beer and ballet, then you cannot miss the Sacramento Ballet’s new performance series held at Sacramento City College Art Court Theatre. Where else can you enjoy the artistry of the Sacramento Ballet while enjoying the delicious brews of Ruhstaller Beer. Tonight’s performance is sold out, but we hear there are still tickets for Saturday night’s show at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s matinee at 1 p.m. for $35 each.
For tickets, please visit the Sacramento Ballet website for more information.
Art Court Theatre – Sacramento City College
3835 Freeport Blvd
Sacramento
Preparing Your Spring Garden Workshop
As spring approaches, it’s time to start thinking about planting your edible garden and who better than our friends at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op to help get you started. This Saturday, Chanowk Yisrael from Yisrael Farmily Urban Farm will teach you how to plan your garden space and prepare, plant, and care for an abundant, thriving spring garden. They will cover soil preparation, starting seeds, crop selection and more. This class is perfect for new gardeners or for gardeners who are new to the Sacramento growing region. Cost is $25 per person, $20 for Co-op owners. Tickets available on the Co-op website.
Saturday, February 20
9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op
1900 Alhambra Blvd.
Sacramento
How Green Does Your Garden Grow, Sacramento?
One of my strongest memories involving food is from the vegetable garden my parents used to grow every summer in our backyard. The tomato plants would grow to tree-like proportions, the green beans were practically small shrubs, and the strawberries would peek like ruby gems from underneath their leaves. It was a veritable jungle with edible treasures – at least in my mind’s eye as a kid!
This is my first year planting a vegetable garden in my own backyard. While it is mostly hard work, a lot of experimentation and some mighty big “FAILS,” there is still a feeling of magic and appreciation as you watch the seeds sprout into plants and, ultimately, edibles.
Our first “harvest” – radishes straight from the ground (so good served raw with some butter and sea salt) and some miniature strawberries, eaten as is.
I have made some pretty big mistakes – I over planted the tomatoes (no one really needs eight plants), and I forgot to harvest the micro greens, so they were terribly bitter and the entire garden is going to be over crowded as I was a little ambitious. I am not sure if all of my plants will make it, but thank goodness for the good people at the Green Acres Nursery and the local Sacramento Vegetable Gardening Blog who have been invaluable resources for my little plot of land.
Overwhelmingly, I am gaining a deeper appreciation of where my food is coming from and the hard work it takes to produce it – whether it is from the farmers’ market or from my backyard. I am re-learning that food that comes straight out of the dirt and into your kitchen is incredibly tasty. I am excited to see that vegetable gardening is becoming rather chic, where anyone with a window and a pot can make something grow for their kitchen.
As the growing season continues, I will write frequently on how the garden is growing and what new ways I discover to incorporate my fresh produce into my meals and into summer entertaining. I will also write about individuals here in Sacramento who are growing and incorporating local and seasonal produce in their kitchens – big and small.
I want to know from you – are you backyard gardener? What are you harvesting right now and how are you preparing it? Do you know of Sacramento restaurants or individuals who are doing cool things with local grown food? Drop me a line – I might blog about you too!
Harvest Sacramento for a Great Cause
If you read our recent garden post, you know that we take great pride in our backyard gardens. One of the best parts about growing your own fruits and veggies is not only tasting the results, but sharing them with others. So, it’s no surprise that we were excited to hear about a Sacramento organization that uses backyard harvests to eliminate hunger.
Harvest Sacramento is a volunteer organization that harvests extra fruit from backyard trees, and then passes it along to local food agencies to feed the hungry. This year, they harvested more than 8,200 pounds of fruit from Sacramento backyards!
Want to get involved? Harvest Sacramento’s upcoming Garden Highway Harvests are the perfect way to start!
On Saturday, October 10th and 17th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Harvest Sacramento will harvest more than 10,000 pounds of Asian pears, plums, apples and more from an old orchard that hasn’t been maintained for several years. All you need to do to help out is RSVP and arrive at your designated harvest location ready to pick fruit and help a great cause!
For more details and to RSVP, visit Harvest Sacramento’s Web site.
How does your garden grow?
With summer coming to a close, we thought it was about time we showed off how our hard work on our gardens all summer long has paid off! A few of us snapped photos of our gardens – here’s a peek at what we were growing this year:
Liz Conant – “As you can see, our tomato and cucumber plants took over almost the entire garden! But I love having fresh from the vine tomatoes available to incorporate into meals – and never worrying that I’ll run out! My favorite way to eat tomatoes is on a good old fashioned caprese with fresh mozzarella and lots of basil.”
Jenna Kirkwood – “My fiancé Jordan is obsessed with our garden and takes great care of it. At the beginning of the summer we (okay, he) planted tarragon, zucchini, Japanese eggplant, basil, and three kinds of tomatoes… and we’ve had the pleasure of enjoying our garden’s bounty all summer long in pestos, caprese salads, pizzas and grilled and stuffed zucchini and eggplant.”
Vanessa Smith – “After a not-so-hot garden last year, this year we opted to go with tried and true plantings, which did very well – from zucchini and tomatoes, to garlic chives and fresh basil. We are still enjoying the fruits of our labor; well, I should say the fruits of my husband’s labor! My favorite garden-inspired meal is a caprese salad to start, followed by a meatloaf stuffed zucchini using all our fresh herbs. Yum!”
Maria Chacon – “The kids and I plotted a square foot garden this year and grew our seedlings in a soil combination that we mixed ourselves – vermiculite, peat moss and three different sources of compost. We planted five varieties of tomatoes – which did the best of any of our plants – and literally took over the small space. We also had great luck with herbs, especially basil and thyme. We’re enjoying keeping track of how many dishes we can make using tomatoes. Our current favorite: On the grill with a little EVOO, salt and pepper – delish!”
A Little Piece of Heaven in Des Moines
I was in Des Moines for business a few weeks back and had the pleasure of visiting the test gardens for Better Homes and Gardens magazine. It was incredible! The head gardener has broken the garden into separate sections from evergreens to heirloom tomatoes and peppers. We even stumbled upon them doing a photo shoot for strawberry festival recipes that will run in ’08. If you ever happen to be in Des Moines for business or pleasure, take a stroll through this free public garden located at Locust and 17th. Here are a couple of my favorite pics.