Susie Sutphin, the community food program manager at the Center for Land Based Learning, handles produce at the farm stand in West Sacramento, from 9 a.m. to noon Fridays. The farm stand will be open until the season ends on Nov. 20.

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and herbs are some of the locally-grown items available at the Center for Land Based Learning’s Riverfront Farm, across from Franquette in West Sacramento. It is open from 9 a.m. to noon every Friday until the season ends on Nov. 20.

Khristine Pintor, community food program coordinator and lead farmer at Riverfront Farm, said that the farm is about one-third of an acre, divided into five blocks with 10 beds each, growing spring and summer crops. She said certain skills such as seed saving and transplanting are practiced on the farm as well as organic weed or pest management. 

“We do a lot of succession planting here at the farm, too,” Pintor said. “So that way, we always have a continuous harvest of things. We’ll do radishes and beets, even cucumbers.”

Riverfront Farm Intern Myleta Powell, 20, pulls weeds in the garden on Aug 22. The Riverfront Farm produce stand is open from 9 a.m, to noon Fridays.

Pintor said that produce such as radishes grow quickly in about 22 days and the farm seeds them every three weeks, so they “always have a supply of food.”

Growing more than two crops in one row, such as tomatoes and cilantro, is a method known as intercropping and one that the farm practices regularly, Pintor said. Doing so can have multiple benefits, such as maximizing space or providing shade, but Pintor said, weeding around intercropped plantings can be more difficult, highlighting a drawback of intercropping. 

“Once these root seedlings are germinating, you have to work around them, making sure you’re not weeding out the main crop,” Pintor said. “So you have to be extra careful.”

Two customers inspect and browse the available produce at Riverfront Farm on Aug. 22 in West Sacramento. Riverfront Farm is open from 9 a.m. to noon Fridays, located across the street from Franquette and next to Drake’s Barn. 

The farm grows multiple varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Some peppers grown on the farm ranged from a Scoville level of 30,000 to 100,000 units. Pintor said the peppers can provide shade for beets, radishes or carrots and they’re a non-competing crop, which means the plants don’t wrestle for nutrients between root systems. 

The farm was previously covered in bird netting, Pintor said, but she and her supervisor, Susie Sutphin, the community food program manager at the Center for Land Based Learning, removed the netting to open and beautify the space. In doing so, they planted native plants all along the farm, acting as a natural fence as well as attracting pollinators.

California natives store carbon in the soil and provide food habitat for the surrounding wildlife, which Pintor said will support the vegetable production as well. Pintor said the Center for Land Based Learning’s Youth Program for high schoolers, Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship (SLEWS), installed the native patch.

Lead farmer and community food program coordinator Khristine Pintor uses a hose to water some plants encased under a small shade cloth at Riverfront Farms in West Sacramento.

By growing their own crops and sourcing from other local or urban farms, Sutphin said, the Center for Land Based Learning can keep the costs low while supporting other farms. She said they also “crop plan,” meaning that the farms grow culturally relevant produce such as gandana or okra. 

Pintor started volunteering at Riverfront Farm in 2020 when she was a junior in college, needing a place to complete her community service. She volunteered at three farms, pursuing her interests in gardening for reasons related to her family’s health. Pintor said she grew up watching her parents take medication and pills to maintain their health but took up farming to inspire her family to instead take care of their body through food. 

“It’s really rewarding, I feel,” Pintor said. “Working with younger people, training them how to grow food and also, I feel it’s good for myself, too, you know?”