How many times have you walked past a home garden overflowing with ripe fruits, luscious berries and leafy vegetables, wishing you could sink your teeth into just about everything?
Soroptimist International of Sacramento, Inc. (SIS) is giving you the chance with the 2nd annual Edible Gardens Tour. The tour will take visitors through six different edible gardens in East Sacramento.

Get growing
Susann Hadler, who has lived in East Sacramento for more than 30 years and chairs the Fund Development Committee and Edible Gardens Tour for SIS, said an edible garden is balanced landscape that combines edible plants, such as fruits and vegetables, with purely ornamental plants.
“You’re incorporating plants that you can actually eat into your landscaping,” she said.
For example, one of the gardens on this year’s tour is the home garden of interior designer Amanda Fossum.
Fossum was inspired by the Edible Gardens Tour last year to not only do more with her garden, but also become part of the tour this year.
“I thought if we could show what we’ve done in just two years of owning our house, it would encourage other people to start their own gardens or even be on the tour themselves next year,” Fossum said.
Fossum’s garden includes a covered patio, fire pit and raised beds made from recycled cedar and redwood. It also extends from the backyard to the front.
For the second year of their garden, Fossum said she and her husband decided to “double down” and plant as much as they can. The garden’s bounty includes four different fruit trees, zucchini squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, two different varieties of tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, peppers and cucumbers.
Another garden on the tour this year will feature what Hadler called a “sustainable English cottage garden.”
Hadler said the home itself looks like an English cottage with gardens in both the front and backyards featuring sunflowers, artichokes, tomatoes, beans, strawberries and blueberries. And then there’s a more whimsical garden that features a two-story chicken coop and raised beds for growing vegetables and herbs.
Also on the tour for 2012 is the Science Alive garden at Theodore Judah Elementary School, which features edible gardens, native plant gardens and a butterfly pavilion.
“What they have done is amazing – they’ve really taken science out of the classroom and put it in what you could call a living laboratory,” Hadler said. “They’re excited about being one of the featured (gardens).”

Coming up green
Although edible gardens are the focus of this event, the main purpose is for SIS to raise money for its philanthropic endeavors. SIS is a service club for professional business women whose mission is to improve the lives of women and children.
Last year, Hadler said their first-ever Edible Gardens Tour saw about 600 attendees and raised almost $10,000 for the Guardian Scholars Program at California State University Sacramento.
The program provides a campus-based program to support current and former foster youth successfully complete a college degree. The funds raised also went toward scholarships SIS gives out each year to high school and college students.
This year, funds raised through the Edible Gardens Tour will again go toward scholarships, as well as two main charities, Hadler said.
The first is the Children’s Receiving Home Independent Living Program for Foster Youth, which Hadler said focuses on helping foster youth become independent members of the community once they become young adults.
“There are programs that they go through that guide them on such things as renting an apartment, how to go to the DMV to get your driver’s license, and how to make sure you’re getting the right cell phone contract,” Hadler said.
The second charity is the Lilliput Children’s Services Emergency Kinnect Program.
Hadler said this program provides clothing, toys, formula and diapers to children to have been removed from a home due to an emergency situation until they can be placed in a stable environment.
Fossum said she is proud to be a part of this year’s Edible Gardens Tour to help support SIS in its fundraising efforts for others, and she benefits as well.
“I’m considering opening my own small business right now, so in terms of having other women in the community as a support network, I think it’s a great organization,” she said.

corrie@valcomnews.com

There are several reasons people choose to go vegan. Some are driven to it due to food allergies; others do it to stay away from processed foods; and some just think it’s wrong to use animals as a food source. Thanks to a new vegan cafe in midtown near East Sacramento, there might be many more vegans in our neighborhood.

The Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe opened as a rousing success on March 14 during Second Saturday festivities. Co-owner Khyem Amri said that the line was out the door with folks ready to try all manner of baked goods and other vegan delicacies.

During the nearly two weeks since it opened at 2315 K St. in midtown, business has been good for Amri and his wife Melissa Wilhelm. Together, they hope to bring a taste of something of which Sacramento just doesn’t have much.

The idea, however, did not materialize overnight.

Khyem and Melissa met in a farmer’s market in Brentwood three and a half years ago. Melissa, who is the head chef and baker at the Sugar Plum, was there selling some of her vegan delights. Khyem remembers his initial reaction to seeing Melissa that day.

“I had just gotten out of a relationship, so I tried to ignore what I was feeling when I saw her,” Amri said. “But I couldn’t ignore the fireworks.”

He helped Melissa develop her business, which was a vegan food company called Jivana Vegan. They were a natural fit as far as business went, as Melissa did all the food preparation while Khyem drove the attention-getting portion that got people to stop at their booth. Eventually they went on to sell their products in a much more lucrative Los Angeles farmers’ market where they soon quadrupled their profits.

 

Sugar Plum in Sacramento 

One of the early signs that they might have a chance at starting a restaurant was when one of Melissa’s gluten-free carrot cakes took a silver medal in a culinary competition. Impressive considering it was the only vegan entry. While still in Los Angeles, Melissa became pregnant with the couple’s first child. The business went on hiatus and the two thought about where they wanted to raise their son. Amri, who grew up in Sacramento and graduated from El Camino High School in 1999, suggested moving back up north.

Both have held a number of jobs since the birth of their child, but a fortuitous meeting set in motion what would one day become the Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe.

Melissa spoke at a meeting for the Sacramento Vegetarian Society and was immediately approached by an investor. They found a place in midtown that could accommodate all they needed and six months later, they were moving in.

The two-story Victorian house-turned-business was formerly a restaurant that featured Mediterranean cuisine. A temporary sign hangs above the entrance, making it difficult to know the café is there unless you knew beforehand.

“I think people are finding us pretty well,” Wilhelm said. “We’re working on a permanent sign to put out front.”

Since the opening, there has been little rest for either of them, but both are quick to acknowledge that being too busy is better than not being busy enough.

Moving back up to Sacramento allowed the couple to be close to Amri’s family and they saw it as an ideal place to raise a child. But they also saw it as an opportunity to open up a place in an area brimming with vegans, vegetarians and quality-conscious foodies. In fact, the Sugar Plum is the first vegan bakery in Sacramento.

So far, it looks like the cafe might have found a permanent home.

“There are a lot of excited vegans around Sacramento,” Wilhelm said. “There have been a lot of curious people coming in because they want to try a healthier way to eat.”

Unlike vegetarians, vegans choose not to eat any animal products in food preparation – no milk, cheese or the like. It is a lifestyle choice for a growing number of people who are worried about what they are putting into their bodies.

Wilhelm went over a number of things having to do with veganism and why it may be a good idea for people to consider it as an alternative.

“Everything is fresh and organic,” she said. “There are no preservatives or pesticides, so obviously that is good for your health.”

 

The Menu

While you may notice that everything on display in the front of the store is of the dessert variety, the cafe does have a lunch and dinner menu featuring panini sandwiches, salads and nachos. They also recently featured a Portobello mushroom meatloaf.

The most popular lunch/dinner item is the nachos, according to Wilhelm. It consists of corn chips topped with black beans, olives, vegan meat alternatives, vegan cheese, avocados, salsa and vegan sour cream. A plate of them will cost you $11, but will comfortably serve three.

As far as the dessert menu is concerned, the Sugar Plum has your sweet tooth covered. The cafe features 12 different types of dessert items ranging from cinnamon rolls to cookies, cupcakes and muffins, all made fresh daily.

Also on the menu are a number of gluten-free products for people who have problems digesting it.

The cafe also features a catering service for all kinds of private functions.

 

Visiting the Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe

The Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe is located at 2315 K St. Business hours for the café are Mondays, closed; Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, call (916) 706-3302 or visit sugarplumvegan.com. Free wifi Internet access is available.

 

E-mail Benn Hodapp at benn@valcomnews.com.

With all the squawking about urban chicken ownership and whether it should be allowed, one local organization has stepped up to try to overturn the current city and county laws barring neighborhood chicken raising.

The Environment and Agriculture Taskforce (EAT) Sacramento, calls itself “a network of residents and organizations dedicated to increasing food access and food security” according to its Web site. The first order of business for the EAT Sacramento team has been to tackle the subject of urban chicken keeping. The organization’s position is that government should not be able to tell people where they can and cannot get their eggs.

Borne of this stance was the Campaign to Legalize Urban Chicken Keeping (CLUCK), which was put in charge of the chicken issue by EAT Sacramento.

But why is urban chicken keeping even against the law in the first place?

“I have a suspicion that owning chickens was seen as unfashionable when the law was passed,” said Abi Crouch, coordinator of CLUCK. For a city that might have been trying to kick the “cow town” label, Crouch thinks that getting rid of backyard chickens was seen as a good first step by lawmakers.

It seems chickens have been sitting ducks for local lawmakers for at least 20 years: A 1989 city law added chickens to a ban preventing livestock from being kept as pets, and a Sacramento County law made it illegal for urban homeowners to have chickens on their property unless they had more than 10,000 square feet of property.

“A lot of people who own chickens don’t even know that it’s against the law,” Crouch said. “I think it’s pretty ridiculous that people are allowed to have dogs and cats but not chickens. Dogs and cats don’t put food on the table.”

Opponents of the plan argue that keeping chickens could lead to outbreaks of bird flu and other diseases. Crouch addressed these concerns.

“Bird flu happens in large flocks in factory farms,” she said. She added that she is not aware of any cases of bird flu originating from a small group of chickens kept outdoors.

In order to keep the worries about bird-borne illnesses to a minimum, CLUCK plans to ask for a cap on how many chickens someone can own, likely limiting the number to eight.

Crouch worries that because of the law, some people will bring their chickens indoors to guard against being caught. This could exacerbate the likelihood of bird flu cases. Crouch spoke of cases of bird flu being traced back to families who shared a home with their chickens.

As far as CLUCK is concerned, overturning the various laws preventing chicken ownership would allow people to keep their birds outside to prevent sickness. And while the group advocates chicken ownership on a small scale, they also stand firmly behind mandatory chicken coops for those who own chickens.

Other less serious concerns about keeping the birds include noise complaints.

“There is a stigma about chickens that they make noise all day, every day,” Crouch said. “Hens are generally pretty quiet. They tend to make some noise when they lay an egg, but they usually calm down after a few minutes. Roosters crow all day long; they’re the real noisy ones.”

Roosters are not part of the campaign and CLUCK does not advocate the keeping of roosters. They don’t aid in the egg-producing process and are often extremely loud and sometimes aggressive.

The goal of the organization is to reach out to Sacramento City Council members and other political leaders to try to state their case for those who want to own chickens not just for egg production, but also as pets. And while this issue may not seem like a big deal on the surface to most people, Crouch warns that the law affects more people than one might think.

If all goes as planned, Crouch hopes to have the issue resolved by the beginning of the summer.

EAT Sacramento is an organization meant to aid in bringing healthier local food on a government level to those in the area. It has more than 100 members, some of which have been designated to serve as members of CLUCK. CLUCK meets on the third Tuesday of each month at Coffee Garden at 2904 Franklin Blvd. at 6 p.m. The organization welcomes help from anyone interested.

For more information about EAT Sacramento or CLUCK, they can be reached at 916-551-1883 or by e-mail at info@EATSacramento.org.

 

E-mail Benn Hodapp at benn@valcomnews.com.