The Co-op Scoop: Recent Episodes
Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op
The Co-op Scoop is an audio podcast that features interviews with farmers, food artisans, co-op movers and shakers and even some bakers! Every week we intend to bring to you a large scoop of food knowledge highlighting one of the most bountiful food regions in all the land.
On this episode of the Co-op Scoop we talk to Nicole Klimek and Heather Lazickas from Seven Roots, a worker-owned agency that is dedicated to providing support to Co-ops, Natural Food Stores and independent grocers across the country. They specialize in everything from operational and organizational support to store planning and design. Nicole once served on our Board of Directors and Seven Roots helped us open the current store!
On this episode of the Co-op Scoop we talk to Sadie Scheffer, founder of Bread SRSLY Gluten-Free Sourdough, about why she was inspired to start baking gluten-free bread, the early days of gluten-free sourdough experiments in her home kitchen and how the company grew from local bike delivery in the Bay Area to shipping bread across the country.
On this episode of the Co-op Scoop we talk to Wynn Austin of Wynn's Kitchen, a San Diego mom and indomitable spirit, driven to create a healthier option for Asian food lovers. In 2016, Wynn embarked on a healing health journey and cut food with damaging ingredients out of her diet. Unfortunately, this included most of the Asian dishes she loved dearly. Her condition improved dramatically, but she desperately missed the Asian flavors she’d left behind.
This drove Wynn to scour the nutrition panels of Asian food, discovering that the Asian condiments and sauces she used contained tons of sugar, salt, gluten, and preservatives. She was amazed by the huge void in the marketplace for the flavor-rich Asian condiments she grew up with, without all the harmful stuff. And she knew she couldn’t be the only one. So in her home kitchen, she conjured up the very first batch of her Saté Sauce, made with all-natural ingredients, and most importantly, no MSG, and no added sugar. She took a leap of faith and her business was born.
On this episode of the Co-op Scoop we talk to Billal of Bolani Flatbreads and learn more about what inspired his mother to start making bolanis, how the traditional Afghani flatbread is made, the difficulties of being an entrepreneur in a food-based business and how the family business has evolved over the years.
Billal is the son of the founder of Bolani, Nazie, who started making Bolanis in America for her friends. Nazie finally had an opportunity to teach her new culture what true Afghani food was like and started selling them at the local farmers market. It was an immediate success.
Capay Mills a place-based flour mill serving farmers, bakers and chefs in Northern California and beyond. They transform sustainably grown local heirloom grains into uniquely flavorful, fresh, & nutritious flours, rich in character and history. By creating local alternatives to commodity grain, Capay Mills celebrates sustainably grown heritage grains adapted to unique climates and soils. They celebrate flavor, nutrition and education to build transparent, reciprocal connections from farm to loaf.
Canna Joint Relief began its life over 9 years ago in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California where founder and formulator Julie Dennis Fox, lived and started experimenting with cannabis-infused formulations. The Co-op is now selling Canna Joint Relief in our Wellness Department.
Blake and Stephanie Alexandre started dairying in 1988 in Southern California where Stephanie grew up, but Blake knew he wanted to get back to his beloved pastures in Northern California. When the opportunity arose in 1992 to buy an existing operation in Del Norte County, just two hours north of the original Alexandre home farm in Ferndale, they seized it. Blake and Stephanie Alexander farm with their family in Crescent City, California.
Latasha Bisbane & Lisa Elwell, founders of Sinner's Seamoss share why they are passionate about this superfood, their inspiring story of personal experience of healing with it and their commitment to providing an exceptional product for our community.
D.E. Boldt is a small family farm in California's Central Valley, growing organic peaches, plums and nectarines. Their fruit is harvested daily at peak maturity and packed at their farm.
La Familia Counseling Center’s mission is to improve the quality of life for at-risk youth and families of diverse backgrounds by offering multicultural counseling, support and outreach services and programs to help families to overcome adversity, to become empowered and to succeed in their lives.
Pamela is a native Sacramentan born at Mercy Hospital just down the road and has always lived in the Tahoe Park/Tallac Village area of the city. She is recently retired and is now 100% devoted to growing the Puzz E Gata Jamaica brand. One of her favorite past times is traveling to her beloved Mexico and to savor every nuance of her family’s motherland. In 2017, walking the city streets in search of street food and aqua fresca, she stumbled upon a jamaica tea, so fresh and delicious that it incited a memory that transported her back 50 years to her grandmother’s backyard. Her grandmother’s recipe is gone, but she has managed to create her own unique tea based upon her conversations with the women of Mexico and the memory of her grandmother.
**A lifelong resident of Yolo County in Northern California, Jim Etters has been involved in farming, ranching and outdoor activities his entire life. Land stewardship is not just a natural career for him ; he says it is a calling.
In their native Patwin language, ‘Seka’ means ‘blue,’ and in selecting Seka Hills as the name for their line of premium tribal products, they honor the blue hills that overlook their homeland in Northern California’s Capay Valley. Today their Tribe is known as the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, named for their ancestral village meaning ‘Home by the Spring Water’.**
Continuing a legacy of herbalists and natural healers, Fat and the Moon founder Rachel Budde has built her company around providing handcrafted, herbal body care products to those seeking natural and effective alternatives to chemical-filled products. Like a witch over a cauldron, Budde experiments with age-old ingredients and recipes passed down from various healing traditions to craft innovatively simple products that are good for the body and the earth.
Celine Callejon is originally from France and has been living in California for close to 20 years. Celine has been cooking professionally since she graduated from College in the Bay Area and now in the Greater Sacramento area. She has been managing kitchens for 15 years (mostly in senior facilities and corporate dining) to allow for life/work balance. She always wanted to start her own food business and although she knew how to run a kitchen, she was at a loss when it came to starting a business. This is what brought Celine to the Alchemist Program in early 2020. Épicée is her Alchemist/Covid Baby and she’s a very proud parent.
At New Alchemy Distilling, they are passionate about bringing new perspectives to classic spirits. Distiller-owned and operated, they are personally involved in every step from recipe development to distillation and bottling. Their distillery began as an idea in a research laboratory, where the two founders first met, and that idea has since evolved into a small business, engaging additional members of their families. They combine both artistic and highly technical skill sets to develop new approaches to traditional spirits.
The Viet Kieu Sauce Story: During their college years, their mother prepared elaborate meals on the weekends to bribe them to come home for a family meal together. After their mom passed it led the kids to realize that they took her cooking for granted - This is where the story begins.
On becoming Tenderly Rooted, during the summer of 2015, Jenn (Kaben’s wife) posted a picture on her Instagram of their garden produce and tagged it with #tenderlyrooted. It resonated deep within them and they felt that it captured more than just their garden, it captured their state of being as a family.
100 Black Men of Sacramento is a non-profit, 501(c) 3 organization that was formed in 1986 as an affiliate chapter of the 100 Black Men of America. 100 Black men of Sacramento utilizes its diverse talents to create an environment that enables mentees to be motivated to achieve and be empowered to become self-sufficient stakeholders in the economic and social fabric of the community they reside in. They are committed to the intellectual development of youth and the economic empowerment of the Sacramento community based on the following precepts: respect for family, spirituality, justice, and integrity. 100 Black Men of Sacramento has also been chosen for round up at the register at our Co-op for the month of February.100blackmen.org
In 2017, Birgitta and Diana founded Cult Crackers and have been sharing their organic, nutrient dense crackers that can now be found in 300 + stores.
Margaret Coons, founder and CEO of Nuts for Cheese worked as a vegan chef and used the kitchen after hours to create original 100% dairy-free cheese recipes. Margaret started selling her vegan cheeses at the local farmer’s market in London, Ontario, growing a local fan base of vegans and non-vegans alike.@nutsforcheese
Annie Woo is a chocolatier and multimedia artist. Her chocolate obsession began when she was working in a chocolate shop in Lower East Side, Manhattan. Annie then traveled through Europe to find her own chocolate expression in the fine chocolate world. She returned home to LA and started a Farmers Market stand, FKA Woohoo Sweetery.
Follow Annie Woo on Instagram @sweetduetchocolate
On hold for Santa - A Sweetduet Short
Renewal Mill is an upcycled food company that fights climate change and global food loss by upcycling byproducts from food manufacturing into superfood ingredients and premium, plant-based pantry staples. We sell their dark chocolate brownie mix, chocolate chip and sugar cookie mixes.
The Good Stuff Jam was born in 2012, creating jams and marmalades from local organic fruit in small batches by Janet Mcdonald.
Albert Katz joins us from KATZ Farm, a 30 acre farm of mature olive trees that are CCOF certified organic in the historic and agriculturally rich Suisun Valley. We are lucky to have their olive oils and vinegars for sale at the Co-op.
Founded on the steps of St. John’s Lutheran Church in 1985, Saint John’s Program for Real Change has helped more than 30,000 women and children transform their lives from poverty and dependence to confidence and self-sustainability. Dedicated to the eradication of homelessness. Their up-to-18-month comprehensive residential program provides families with the tools they need to address the root causes as well as the symptoms of homelessness.
Here are ways you can support St. John's Program for Real Change:
Red Door Desserts
First Steps Childcare
Guest Chef Dinner
Volunteers
The Alchemist Kitchen helps aspiring local food entrepreneurs with business planning and development to make their dreams a reality. The Microenterprise Academy is held twice a year and is now working with its 5th cohort. Graduates have the opportunity to participate in an incubator program to further develop their business. Our guest, Jacob Sacks manages the program.
We are also joined by Christopher Boone, whose Boone’s Red Onions are a brand new product available at the Co-op. He’s a graduate of the Alchemist program.
Alfred Melbourne is the leader of Three Sisters Gardens, which has four different urban farms in West Sacramento. Its main goal is to give back to the community by inspiring and empowering youth through gardening. Like the Three Sisters legend of companionship planting, Three Sisters Gardens believes that our communities can begin to heal and thrive when all components, the youth, adults and elders are working together as one.
Linda Easton joins us from GullyRumpus Farm, a 2.5 acre farm in Rio Linda. Farmer Linda has been raising chickens for more than two decades and now also raises Japanese quail. We are lucky to have her quail eggs for sale at the Co-op!
Desiree Lopez started Desi Milk after COVID crippled her art business. She saw the need for accessible affordable raw milk and has been working hard for the last year to provide it. The farm is located in Modesto, and we're excited to offer raw cow, sheep and goat Desi Milk to Co-op shoppers. Desiree is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.
Sara Bernal is the Program Manager for the Center for Land-Based Learning's West Sacramento Urban Farm Program, an urban farm business incubator and part of the Center’s California Farm Academy. Sara got into farming after seven years as a social worker working with homeless adults and families. She sees good food as a right, not a privilege and is working to make healthy food more accessible.
Today we welcome a couple of old friends of the Co-op who are working together on a new project to secure farmland for farmers in the Capay Valley.
Kendra Johnson has been working on farmland access and conservation for over 15 years, with California Farm Link and most recently Agrarian Trust. With our Co-op and the One Farm at a Time campaign, she helped permanently protect Good Humus Produce for food production and affordable access for future generations of farmers.
Paul Muller is one of the founding partners at Full Belly Farm, a leader in the organic farming movement and an innovator in regenerative agriculture. He is now working with the next generation at Full Belly, where three of his children are stewarding the farm into the future.
Oak Park Brewing has been crafting creative small batch beers just a hop and a skip from the Co-op. Owners Geoff and Rodg are also the brewers - and they take pride in every painstaking step of their brewing process. We offer a rotating selection of their beers at the Co-op, and each can is a work of art.
The Bay Area Ranchers Co-op was founded to provide farming and ranching communities in the greater Bay Area with USDA-inspected animal harvest in a sustainable, non-competitive environment. Adam Parks is a rancher, owner of the Victorian Farmstead Meat Company in Sonoma County, and a founding partner of BAR-C.
Today we welcome Jason Rose, the President and Co-Founder of Full Heart Hospitality. He has experience as an Executive Chef and Culinary Director for over 15 years, working with Bi-Rite in San Francisco, Dean & Deluca, and the groundbreaking food incubator La Cocina. He has been working with our food service team at the Co-op for the last several months.
Tanka protein snacks are created by Oglala Lakotas on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. This inspiring company is committed to making a big difference in its community - creating jobs on the reservation and restoring the buffalo to the land. Tanka’s Director of Sales, Phillip Gaudon, joins us today.
Sola Bee Farms is a family owned and operated solar-powered honey bee farm based in Woodland. It began as a way to offer the family beekeeping business a way to sell their pure, raw honey directly to their customers, including Co-op shoppers. Claire Tauzer has been a part of the business since its beginning and joins us today.
Javier Zamora owns JSM Organics in the Salinas area of Monterey County. If you’ve bought a strawberry from the Co-op in the last several years, it was probably from JSM! Javier started his farm on one acre in 2011 and became certified organic in 2012. Since then, his farm has grown in diversity and acreage, and Javier has been a leader in the organic farming movement in countless ways.
Spreadwing Farm is a 15 acre organic farm at the top of the Capay Valley in the town of Rumsey. Owned and operated by two families, the farm offers a wide variety of vegetables and fruit to Sacramento residents at the Co-op and the Sunday Farmers Market. Brent Levin joins us from Spreadwing Farm. Brent has been farming for five years, since he and his wife, Liz, and daughter Esther joined Cathy, Michael and their children at Spreadwing Farm in 2016. Prior to farming, they homesteaded for 12 years in Mendocino County. Brent is probably the face (masked of course) that you would see most often at the Spreadwing Farm stall at the Sunday Sacramento Farmers Market.
Kitchen Table Advisors (KTA) is a nonprofit organization that offers practical business advising and relationship building at no cost to its farmer clients. Spreadwing has been one of KTA’s clients since early 2018. Thomas Nelson is the Director of the Yolo and Solano county region.
Full Belly Farm is a beautifully diverse organic farm near the Capay Valley town of Guinda, about an hour from the Co-op. We have been working with Full Belly for over thirty years, and are proud to offer its vegetables, nuts, flowers and more—year-round in our Produce Department. Dru Rivers is one of the farm’s founding partners, and among her many roles, she is instrumental in the production of one of the farm’s most beautiful crops - its flowers.
Violet Irigo and her family operate TaTa Raw, makers of sprouted raw organic walnuts. Many of our Co-op shoppers may have met Violet during pre-Covid times when she was a regular in our store, sharing her delicious and nutrient-dense product with Co-op shoppers.
Rob Ferguson’s journey to good health led him to create Sourdough Solutions. Once the pandemic started, a lot of people were teaching themselves to make sourdough. Rob had been baking bread since 2012, and his granddaughters inspired him to bring their favorite bread to the marketplace. One of his first wholesale customers was the Sac Co-op, and his beautiful, dense and delicious loaves are already a precious commodity in the Co-op’s fresh bread aisle!
Jeff and Annie Main started Good Humus Produce in the Hungry Hollow near the Capay Valley over 40 years ago. They’ve been growing food for our Co-op for even longer than that! Long relationships with our growers is one of the things we cherish most here at our Co-op, and our relationship with Good Humus became even stronger when we partnered with them to permanently preserve their farm through the One Farm at a Time Project.
Antonella Aguilera-Ruiz is a naturopathic doctor based in Northern California. Her virtual clinic, Wild Lemon Health, is a whole-person approach to health care. She started teaching wellness workshops at the Co-op about eight years ago. Since she’s also an accomplished cook, we worked together to offer a series called The Dr & the Chef. We are pleased to re-launch the series online later this month.
Check out her website by clicking here.
Chanowk Yisrael and his wife and partner Judith started Yisrael Family Urban Farm in South Oak Park Sacramento more than ten years ago. . In that time, they have transformed their plot into an abundant urban farm and are one of the most successful urban farms in the country. Growing food is just the beginning, though - and they’re committed to creating opportunities for youth and adults to improve their health, gain self-reliance and transform the hood for GOOD!
If you’ve spent any time in Northern California, you’re probably familiar with Clover Sonoma—a much beloved local brand of dairy products for over 100 years. Famous for their billboards featuring spokes "cow” Clo, the company is also known for a commitment to family farmers and sustainable practices. Kristel Corson of Clover Sonoma joins us today.
The River City Food Bank is the Co-op’s neighbor on 28th Street in Midtown Sacramento. It is Sacramento’s oldest continuously serving food bank, and now it serves more of our neighbors than ever before. Amanda McCarthy has been their executive director since early 2019, and the Co-op is proud to call her a valued community partner.
Mark Keller is the owner of Keller Crafted Meats, makers of fine charcuterie, hot dogs, ham and bacon. He is also a champion of independent farmers and ranchers who treat the land, their animals and their communities with care and a long range vision for the future.
Community Alliance with Family Farmers has been supporting small farms and promoting sustainable agriculture since 1978. We chat with our friend Paul Towers about the past, present and future of CAFF and how they help to grow more resilient family farms, communities and ecosystems.
Who grows your bananas? Learn about what it takes to bring this fragile crop from Ecuador to your Co-op. We close out Co-op Month by chatting with Nicole Vitello from Equal Exchange, who partners with farmer co-ops to bring us a better banana!
Pachamama Coffee Cooperative is 100% farmer owned, which means that farmers are in control of the business and ensure that they are paid a fair price for their product. Although the beans are grown far away, they are roasted right here in Midtown Sacramento! CEO Thaleon Tremain was their first employee and has been building the market for farmer-owned, organically grown specialty coffee ever since.
The author of Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants joins us for an exploration into the role that grocery stores play in our food culture and how food co-ops can help us imagine a better world. Jon’s book was released in 2019, and he went on a tour of 125 food co-ops across the US and Canada, including a stop here in Sacramento.
Richards Ranch is a family operation based in Yuba County, California that has been in operation for four generations. Their cattle are grass-fed and grass-finished, certified by the American Grassfed Association, and the first beef company on the west coast to receive the Savory Institute’s Ecological Outcome Verified certificate.
Soil Born Farms is an urban farm that has provided fresh organic produce to the Sacramento region for nearly 20 years. But Soil Born is much more than a working farm, it’s an educational hub in the community, offering training and inspiration to aspiring farmers, home gardeners, teachers, cooks, herbalists, and kids of all ages. Join us as we speak with Janet and Shawn about the farm's humble beginnings, its role as a center for food, health and the environment, and the impact it has had on the farm to fork movement.