Mother's Day is almost upon us and, while some people think it ends after giving mom breakfast in bed, the fun doesn't have to end there. Treat mom to the whole day by taking advantage of the many activities Sacramento has to offer. Scribner Bend Vineyards Mother's Day Brunch Location: 9051 River Road Event hours: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Scribner Vineyards is opening its doors for a brunch catered by Rayna's Gourmet Catering. There will be three brunch times available: 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Located about 15 minutes from downtown Sacramento, guests get to sit and eat outside, surrounded by grape vines. "It's 15 minutes from downtown, but you feel like you're in a different world. It's got

Despite uncooperative weather that pushed the growing season to a late start, local farmers markets are getting ready to open throughout the city once again. “We’re starting the (growing) season a little late this year, but the weather is warming up, and we’re going to have a lot of wonderful produce to offer,” said Renae Best, assistant market coordinator for Sacramento Certified Farmers Markets. Of the 12 farmers markets in Sacramento, three are open year-round. Six are slated to open the first week in May and the others will open in June, Best said Thursday. Joany Titherington, operator of the Oak Park Farmers’ Market in McClatchy Park, said there are a lot of “new and exciting thing

WayFresh, one of five programs in City Councilman Jay Schenirer's WayUp Sacramento initiative, is accepting applications through March 30 for free community and backyard gardens in the Oak Park area. Created last year, the WayUp Sacramento initiative strives to create healthier and happier neighborhoods with the use of five programs: WaySmart, WayFit, WayHome, WaytoWork and WayFresh. The focus of WayFresh is to build gardens throughout disadvantaged neighborhoods in the Sacramento area with the help of garden experts. These experts provide technical guidance and lead the garden development. Last May, the WayFresh program built 10 backyard gardens as a test run to see how sustainable and

There are six times more fast food restaurants and convenience stores than supermarkets and produce venders in Sacramento. Among all of California’s counties, Sacramento ranks third in the prevalence of obesity among children ages 6 to 11. The availability of fresh food is very low and this is an issue we are trying to address. We would also like to foster unity in the community by getting them to take part in resolving this issue. We are the project garden team (P.G.T.) of Rosemont’s Summer of Service Program. The team is doing a summer project involving Rosemont High School’s community garden. We are choosing to focus on community gardens because people need to invest in their communit

Sacramento locavore Amber Stott is documenting her life as a conscious consumer and her journey to eat as locally as she can with a food blog, Awake at the Whisk. She said she likes to start each day, camera in hand, with a walk through the garden. On a recent June morning, she snapped photos of plants in her backyard next to the American River.  Planter boxes were filled with watermelon, tomatillos, corn, squash, cucumbers, melons and peppers growing in various stages. She pushed aside leaves, peered under plants and squealed with joy when she found the first jalapeno of the season.  "With the garden, every single day there's something new. That's – for me – my favorite part of the da

Wooden boxes of chard, kale and collard greens on Charles Mason’s front yard in Oak Park are likely to be installed at dozens of spots in Sacramento next year and into 2012. Mason, the founder of environmental nonprofit group Ubuntu Green, is organizing a project to place up to 60 small gardens in an area that includes the neighborhoods of Oak Park, Tahoe Park, Lemon Hill and Fruitridge Manor. The home gardens project, funded by the California Endowment, is one of three programs Ubuntu Green will focus on in 2011. Ubuntu Green will work next year on a land-use environmental project with eight neighborhoods as well as host an annual event in September on environmentally friendly living.

SACRAMENTO – More than 10,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their friends will descend on parks throughout the Sacramento region Saturday, May 8, to perform necessary work from clean-up and general maintenance to painting, planting trees and even construction jobs. Under the banner of Mormon Helping Hands, an international program of the Church that has provided manpower in distressed communities and organized relief efforts after natural disasters, the volunteers have chosen parks in their own communities to perform work in state, regional and city parks that have been hit hard by the recent downturn in the economy. The Sacramento effort is part of a stat