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.

There are myriad ways to show respect or admiration for someone on their birthday or anniversary or any number of other celebratory events. You can throw extravagant parties, buy expensive baubles and exchange heartfelt words. Then again, you could just throw a bunch of garish pink flamingoes on that special someone’s front lawn under cover of darkness and save yourself a whole lot of effort and money.

That is (sort of) the idea behind a Sacramento-based company that runs on the Internet at www.getflamingoed.com. For lack of a better explanation, getflamingoed.com is a way to both honor and prank someone at the same time.

Stephanie Allen and Stuart Campbell, the couple who co-founded the idea, put their idea into action in a rather indirect fashion.

“We were having dinner, chatting with family and someone mentioned that they had heard of something like this back east where someone had something done to their yard,” Allen said. “Then we talked about how hilarious it would be for someone to do something like that here.”

Time went by and the idea remained only an idea. Before long, however, the two realized that it might as well be they who blaze the trail.

“Soon after that we ordered 100 flamingoes and away we went,” she said.

For an installation and removal fee (flamingoes are removed after 24 hours) of $25 with an additional one dollar per flamingo, you too can show your love and admiration for someone in this most peculiar of ways. You can also add a personalized sign to be placed among the plastic birds.

But, why flamingoes?

“Flamingoes are just so gaudy and classic,” Allen said. “It just made sense.”

In October, they did their first job. The first few were all neighborhood folks around McKinley Park. They knew they were on to something when everyone who fell victim to a “flamingoing” found it absurd to the point of hilarity.

“People had great reactions,” Allen said. “We tried it out on some friends first.”

Since those initial reactions, nothing has changed.

“Not a single person we’ve done it to has had a negative reaction,” she said. “How can you not laugh at that?”

Allen explained that the time they decide to “flamingo” someone’s yard is based on that person’s schedule and that no one has caught them strategically placing the pink fowl.

The service is available to those outside the downtown area, but a $25 charge is added depending on how far they have to travel. This is not the couple’s main source of income after all. Allen and Campbell own a vegetarian food cart on I and 8th streets called Happy Go Lucky that takes up the majority of their time.

But one such occasion when the duo did travel outside of downtown Sacramento happened to be on Carmichael’s Susan Way.

Most people remember landmark birthdays like 21, 30, 40, 50, etc. But Carmichael’s Laura Lyon will most assuredly remember her 47th for a good long while.

“My mom called me and asked if I was going to be around on (my birthday),” Lyon said. “I told her that I wouldn’t be home until the afternoon and she said that something would be happening in the morning.”

When Lyon returned home from a birthday outing she arrived to the sight of 57 pink flamingoes dominating the scenery of the peaceful street. Lyon said she doesn’t know why there were 57 flamingoes to commemorate her 47th birthday, but she wasn’t going to ask questions. Her house was king of the block for the rest of the day.

“Everybody thought it was so funny,” Lyon said. “Neighbors stopped by all day and everyone enjoyed it.”

She said that it helped that everyone on her street has a good sense of humor, but like Allen she wonders who wouldn’t find it funny.

Lyon’s mother found out about the service through one of her close friends. That friend happens to be Stuart’s father. He mentioned it to her at some point and the idea to flamingo her daughter was set in motion.

“My mom is pretty funny, but this was totally out of character for her,” she said. “Had she not known (Stuart’s) father I don’t think it would have occurred to her to do this.”

But as the victim of the prank/present, did she find it funny enough to do to someone else?

“I definitely think I could do it to someone,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to do it to someone who lives in a place that has strict rules and regulations, but I can think of some people I would consider doing it to.”

While the act of flamingoing someone is pretty funny and indeed innovative, Lyon’s daughter summed up what she thought when she first saw the pink flock adorning her yard.

“Whoa, that’s pretty weird,” 7-year-old Gracie said.

Most people would probably agree with that sentiment. It is pretty weird. Luckily for most of us, we have some pretty weird friends who could do with an inundation of flamingoes.

Visit www.getflamingoed.com or call 916-628-3993 for more information regarding a possible flamingoing. Or you can e-mail your questions to getflamingoed@gmail.com.

 

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