Jan 28, 2021
Multicolored lights against an all-white bathroom. A painting of tiger’s eyes glaring down as you enter the study. An I-beam spanning the entryway ceiling. These were just a few of the eclectic elements you would find in Kristan Otto’s Campus Commons home.
The daughter of John Otto, Kristan and her family were well known in the community as the folks behind Otto Construction. When Kristan Otto passed away last spring, she left an unforgettable legacy—part of which was displayed throughout her home. Every feature was unique and custom created, not found in any other house.
Jan 28, 2021
Sharing gardens with our precious pets means coming to terms with diggers, chewers and poopers. Pets can be weapons of mass destruction. A dog chasing a squirrel has no regard for tulips. Cats don’t ask permission to use the vegetable garden as a restroom.
Ideally, you can mitigate destruction and keep furballs healthy and safe while the garden stays gorgeous and productive. Acceptance and forgiveness make a righteous path. But where you draw the line is a personal choice.
Dec 28, 2020
If 2020 seemed like a daily flat tire, begin the New Year with a nutritious edible garden and exercise. Gardening is Mother Nature’s Peloton. Who needs Jenny Craig when homegrown fresh produce is stuffed with healthy low-calorie options?
Growing the right foods may even save or extend your life. Fred Hoffman, Sacramento’s highest-profile gardener, confronted a life-threatening health crisis in 2012. He discovered he had Type 2 diabetes while preparing for quadruple-bypass heart surgery.
It was an abrupt life-or-death wakeup call for the producer/host of the “Garden Basics with Farmer Fred” podcast and radio programs, “The KFBK Garden Show” and “Get Growing with Farmer Fred” on Talk 650 KSTE.
Dec 28, 2020
In 2006, my husband Jim and I embarked on a dream-of-a-lifetime project. My career prior to publishing was interior design, and I always wanted to design and build a home from scratch. Before the age of 30, I had already bought, rehabbed and sold four houses. When we moved to McKinley Park in 1989, we remodeled a lovely circa 1925 Tudor home over the course of 16 years.
While my wish to design and build was brewing, Jim made it clear he loved our home, our street and our neighborhood. He’d worked for IBM and was transferred every few years. Now he wanted to put down roots. And as luck would have it, we both were able to find satisfaction.
Nov 27, 2020
With three growing boys and two big dogs, homeowners Kristen and Eric Bassett were running out of space in their 47th Street home.
“It served our family well,” Kristen says. “But as our boys got bigger, the house got smaller.”
Wanting to stay in East Sacramento, the family came across a duplex for sale on a stately street only a few blocks from their home. “We obviously were not going to move into a duplex, but we saw the potential. We could make it exactly what we wanted and needed,” Kristen says.
Nov 27, 2020
Wacky gardening tools are lurking in dark corners of garages, kitchen drawers, yard sales and local stores. The tool arsenal is more than pricey pruners, digging forks and hand trowels.
One fine morning I stopped at a yard sale in East Sacramento. I spotted two old school metal mailboxes, the type with the red flag that signifies outgoing mail. Both were purchased for a grand total of $5. They are extremely useful for tool storage in a main garden area and will save countless trips back to the house, shed or garage for a needed tool. Mount them on a post for the true postal experience. Stow gloves, hand pruners, and other small gear and accessories.
