BY LISA ABELAR
Tracing the roots Sacramento museum celebrates California’s farming heritage
I N THE SACRAMENTO area, farming isn’t just a tradition or a way of life. It’s the vital backbone of the area’s history and continues to be a reliable foundation for the region moving forward. The California Agriculture Museum, just 15 miles outside of downtown Sacramento, celebrates its importance while enlightening visitors about the region’s farming heritage. Home to a robust collection of antique tractors that tells the story of crucial agricultural progress, the museum serves as an interactive history lesson that dates back to the Gold Rush era.
Cultivating connections Cecilia Gonzalez, the museum’s executive director, explained in a Visit Sacramento podcast that early settlers in the region realized that the nutrient-rich, well-irrigated soil in the area was ripe for farming. So they put the land to work to sustain the lives they were building. “The settlers who came over here for the Gold Rush, they still had to eat and survive. So they settled here and made lives and grew what is now Sacramento,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a dying breed of people who are interested in agriculture. So we try
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IN YOUR CORNER ISSUE 18 | 2024
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