"Locally Owned” is a regular column highlighting local business owners — the backbone of our community and economy. The column explores the personal stories of the owners and the businesses they built. With feet rooted in contrasting cultures, Monica Hall’s life pattern has been to tread different paths and seek to find a balance between them. In her newest endeavor, the Monica Hall Spa Collection of organic skin care products, Monica has found the perfect synthesis. Born in Canada, and half-Native American Cree, Monica was uprooted from her family in the “scoop” of the 1950s and ‘60s, when Native American children were taken from their homes and placed with non-Native American families

The Sacramento Historic Cemetery on Broadway hosted an informational flower tour on Saturday. The 10-person tour group, led by guide Sharon Patrician, made its way around the cemetery, enjoying the multitude of plant life that the site has to offer. Members of the tour group were free to ask Patrician questions, explore plots and take photos. Patrician pointed out noteworthy plants and flowers along the way. Tour favorites were the fragrant historic rose bushes, vibrant red poppies and the rice flower, named for its pearl-like formation. Patrician passed around a primrose flower from a plant that has been in the ground for 10 years, encouraging attendees to feel its “silken quality.”