West Sacramento Urban Farm Brings Fresh Produce to Every Plate

Three Sisters Garden is transforming the fresh produce landscape in West Sacramento on a small lot-transformed-garden space through youth oppurtunity and close community care; helping close the fresh food gap one harvest at a time

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Mural displayed at a Three Sisters Garden location reads, “Free the land, Free the people,” referring to the nonprofit's mission of reclaiming land for public use. (Photo by Adiva Mittal)

“The high school that I graduated from is on a main street, and the nearest grocery store was a Food4Less…but you don't see any of the fruit that you see in the other grocery stores,” Fatima Arriaga Preciado, the Urban Farm Youth Leader at Three Sisters Garden, said. 

Sacramento has 360 licensed liquor stores as of May 2025, according to Rentech Digital. Meanwhile, one Northern California-focused survey found that nearly one in four convenience-style food stores carried no fresh fruit or vegetables at all, and only about three in five carried even a small selection, according to the National Institutes of Health. This imbalanced ratio of fresh produce to recreational beverages is part of what defines sections of Sacramento as food deserts; failing to provide sufficient access to the very foods that form the foundation of a healthy lifestyle in low-income areas of the city.

Devices such as compost bins aiding in poor soil quality and reduced waste reflect the ways urban farmers mitigate challenges often faced by farming in urbanized environments. (Photo by Adiva Mittal)

Despite this, every weekday morning at 7 a.m., tucked in the corner of 5th and C streets, you can find volunteers harvesting everything from kumquats to beans of all sorts of hues. While Three Sisters Garden in West Sacramento may be both modest in size and unconventional in location, its impact extends to hundreds; providing not only fresh produce to those in need, but hands-on education, employment opportunities for at-risk youth, and transforms the once empty lot into an inviting space that cultivates growth (both metaphorically, and literally).

Unlike traditional farms spread across multiple acres of rural land, Three Sisters Garden is a perfect example of how urban farming takes over small, often overlooked, spaces within a large city to provide fresh produce to the traditionally neglected space. By transforming a once empty lot at 5th and C Street into a thriving urban garden, it proves that even limited urban plots can yield abundant and diverse produce. The garden utilizes vertical farming and composting to counteract the common urban farming challenges such as poor soil quality and space limitations.

Members of the nonprofit's Urban Farm Youth Leadership Development Program harvest ripe vegetables to be distributed through external organizations, direct community donations, and subscription boxes. (Photo by Adiva Mittal)

Alfred Melbourne, founder and director of the community garden, is a formerly incarcerated person who has found his healing through giving back to the community. After nearly 20 years behind bars, Melbourne came back to a city where he saw needs not being met in the same marginalized communities he grew up in. He now both employs and empowers at risk-youth through the nonprofit’s internship and leadership programs, introducing them to the power of sustainably grown produce. 

“What I like about [Three Sisters Garden] is the community and the work environment…this is just a great environment. It's more than a job,” a youth intern at Three Sisters Garden and student at River City High School, said.

Not only is the garden empowering youth through education, it also farms the produce to donate to those in need. Three Sisters partners with other organizations, such as church services and Planting Justice, as outlets to reach the communities lacking such produce.

“When it comes down to what we do with our actual plants and vegetables, we grow everything to give it away. It's either given out to our bags and vegetables that we have for the people that have our little subscriptions,” Carl Richardson, Farm Hand at Three Sisters, said.

Alternatively to directly giving to the needy, Three Sisters provides recurring subscription boxes. These subscriptions, or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes, are low-priced grocery boxes which deliver the produce grown and harvested at one of Three Sisters four farms in West Sacramento.

Garden volunteers and employees sprinkle sea salt over tomatoes grown and harvested by Three Sisters Garden in preparation for sun-drying on the roof of their storage shed. (Photo by Adiva Mittal)

Future-wise, the nonprofit is looking forward to expansion all over Sacramento. From increasing community partnerships to opening up new farms, Three Sisters hopes to bring sustainable agriculture, and all of its benefits, to more pockets of the community in need in the Sacramento Region.

“One of [Alfred’s] main sayings is, we have four farms, but he wants 50," Richardson said. "He wants more farms. So, if there's an ability to get more, he's going to.”

Three Sisters Garden is actively seeking new volunteers, eager youth, and community members to get involved. From going to their locations to harvest and weed early mornings, to becoming a partner organization; there are many ways to support this nonprofit's mission. If you are interested in making a difference in urban farming or community building, or are even available to stop by the farm to recognize Three Sisters' locally-driven work, visit https://www.3sistersgardens.com.