This gorgeous cover design of the March/April Issue of Edible Sacramento is illustrated by the very talented Jonathan Buck. I’m proud to report that this is my first story for this wonderful magazine and so it’s an honor to land the cover! The woman on the cover is Judith Yisrael of the Yisrael Family Urban Farm in South Oak Park.

The Yisrael’s operate a half-acre, do-it-yourself urban farm on the family’s property where they grow everything from leafy greens to fresh fruits and vegetables. I interviewed the family and wrote about the impact they continue to have on their community in regards to improving access to fresh fruits and vegetables, planting new gardens in areas considered food deserts, and the policy work Chanowk Yisrael, Judith’s husband and co-owner of the family business, spearheaded with the help of local farmers, activists and city officials.

It’s because of the Yisrael’s and all their hard work from seed to soil that it is now legal for urban farmers, within city limits, to sell their harvest right out of their backyards. Now, the Yisrael’s look forward to improving farm ordinances on a county-wide level, educating youth in the benefits of healthy eating, and also continue to teach cooking classes at the Sacramento Food Bank in order to help the community grow healthier, together.

Edible Sacramento is available at Track 7 Brewery, Corti Bros, the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op and beyond. Pick up your free copy today and learn all about the latest in Sacramento food culture!

Hello, my name is Steph and I’m a freelance journalist living in Sacramento, Calif. and this is my first post to my new and improved website. This year is off to a busy start for me as I add three more publications to my journalism roster: Edible Sacramento, Sacramento Lifestyle magazine, and Sacramento Magazine.

I enjoy writing about every topic imaginable: hard-hitting news, fun profiles on eccentric artists, music features about the loudest band in town, food-related content that tickles the appetite, in-depth audio interviews with award-winning authors, and additional book-related content.

Just yesterday, I received a very exciting email from the senior content manager of The Examiner and I’m proud to say that I will now be a food writer! I love food. And, I love writing about food. The pieces I write will be syndicated to the CBS Local network of websites! This year is definitely off to a wonderful start and these new accomplishments only fuel my desire to keep writing and exploring new opportunities.

For the past 14 years, I’ve worked very hard to land internships, lead a staff of brilliant and creative minds as editor-in-chief of my college newspaper and magazine, and I was truly glad to take on every assignment tossed my way. Whether it was the man on the street-style task, book reviews, exploring the truth about food deserts in Sacramento, uncovering a scandal within my community college’s associate student body, or even a simple 100-word blurb about a must-see concert, I wanted it all and wrote it all.

At the moment, I’m the associate editor of City Book Review, which has three companies under its belt: San Francisco Book Review, Manhattan Book Review, and Kids’ BookBuzz. Here, I hold a lot of exciting responsibilities. I work with publicists, literary agents, authors, book reviewers, writers and more all within the book industry.

On top of all these exciting endeavours, I’m also a proud mommy! My son, Elliot, celebrates his first Birthday today. So, I’m very happy to not only celebrate his life today, but also to publish this first blog post. Happy Birthday, mijo!

I aim to update this blog weekly with exciting news and entertaining updates about my life and what I’ve been up to as a writer and editor. I have this idea to post what I like to call “flashbacks” where I’ll publish old articles that I enjoyed writing, or simply write about an experience I had interviewing a source. My friends seems to enjoy those stories, so perhaps you will too.

Until next time,

Steph