Frank Sinatra is singing “The Way You Look Tonight.” At least I think it’s Sinatra. The music has a decidedly Italian vibe, which makes sense because I’m here this evening to learn how to make an Italian dinner. What makes this meal Italian? It could be the dried oregano or fresh parsley in the veggie burgers. It could be the homemade basil buns, herb-and-rice-stuffed tomatoes or raspberry Italian sodas.
Very few of their neighbors know what Randy Stannard and Sarah McCamman are growing in the backyard of a house on 64th Street. Behind the unassuming and slightly worn Tallac Village neighborhood home, on a 1-acre piece of land stretching all the way back to 65th Street, Stannard and McCamman have transformed a once-neglected yard into a burgeoning urban farm known as Root 64.
Andrea Seppinni loves dessert. About two years ago, she founded Conscious Creamery with her husband, Kevin. Their company makes artisanal gelato without dairy, eggs, mixes, artificial fillers, emulsifiers or stabilizers. Rotating crops of flavors are crafted from cashew cream, sugar and fresh, usually local fruit.
When Vincent Sterne opened Two Rivers Cider Co. in 1996, it was one of the first craft cider companies in California to make its product from fresh fruit instead of concentrate. A David fighting many Goliaths, Two Rivers needed to stand out to compete with the industrial ciders imported from England and Canada. Following the lead of the always-innovating craft beer industry, Sterne decided to buck convention by adding pressed juice from locally sourced fruit into his dry apple ciders.
I’m inside a shipping container located in a residential neighborhood. On both sides of the aisle, rows and rows of tender plants—heads of lettuce, herbs and microgreens—grow in trays. They bask under energy-efficient LED lights, which bathe everything in a red-tinged glow. A thin film of water flows past the plants’ roots, providing nutrients, while fans circulate the air. Jason Levens, 36, the founder of Aldon’s Leafy Greens, spends a lot of time in this engineered environment, tending his hydroponically grown charges, but he loves the work. “Every single plant in here I’ve seeded,” he says.