Three Sisters Gardens Lease Must be Renewed

(WEST SACRAMENTO) – Andrea Montano and Sandra Lee know what matters most and are willing to fight for it.

So much so that the two are the only residents who responded to an OpGov.ai interview request regarding the Three Sisters Gardens lease extension discussion at the Dec. 3 regular council meeting.

While OpGov.ai covered the public discussion, the heated comments made at the time inspired us to reach out to other community members and ensure the conversation didn’t get lost and that local voices continue to be heard.

“The overwhelming public support for Three Sisters Gardens tells you something powerful– people see themselves in this work,” Montano told OpGov.ai. “Nearly 1,000 signatures on that petition aren't just numbers.”

Three Sisters Gardens, an urban agriculture non-profit with three lots in West Sacramento and two in Sacramento, seeks a long-term lease for their farm at 317 Fifth Street, which brought dozens of residents to the podium Dec. 3.

(Photo: Louise Skeirik) 

The local group has lifted local youth up since 2018 through various programs, projects, events, and internships.

Montano knows from personal experience.

“I was that invisible AP kid... the one who looked fine on paper with her 4.25 GPA, but who was sleeping on light rail trains until the last stop forced me into the shadows,” she said, adding she hid her backpack in dumpsters and slept in abandoned, broken down cars. “I lied about my age on work permits to pull double shifts in restaurant work just to afford a bus pass.”

Fruit trees along Montano’s route were not just decoration - they were survival.

“When I couldn't afford a lunch ticket, those trees kept me fed,” she said.

Montano was made stronger, becoming a certified permaculturist and a recent graduate from the CA College of Ayurveda. The wife and mother of two grown children, Montano said “my whole life, I fought to cultivate something different.”

“That's exactly what I see in the work that they do,” Montano said. “Three Sisters Gardens is where I have planted that fourteen-year-old version of myself in other kids' eyes.”

Photo Credit: Lousie Skeirik

Now Montano fights for other families, noting there are “neighbors who understand what it means to stretch a grocery budget too thin, especially in low-income neighborhoods with corner stores that sell processed snacks.”

“Young people who need to see a future beyond what their zip code predicts for them,” Montano said.

Speaking of zip-codes, Lee said Three Sisters Gardens has been instrumental in helping our new co-housing community, Washington Commons, 4th & G Street, become an integral part of the West Sacramento community.

Photo Credit: Louise Skeirik

“They encouraged us in many ways, including taking drone shots of our building as it was being built,” Lee said. “Recently,

Three Sisters Gardens provided awesome produce for our first community-wide meeting of the West Sacramento Action Circle.”

Lee said members of both groups turned “vegetable offerings into delicious salsas, dips, crudités … creating an experience of joy and laughter while bonding over Three Sister Garden’s veggies - gift beyond measure during these difficult times.”

Photo Credit: Louise Skeirik 

Showing up matters, according to Montano.

“When people show up repeatedly, when they tell their own stories about how Three Sisters has touched their lives, it becomes impossible to ignore,” Montano said. “Officials need to know that supporting urban agriculture isn't politically risky - it's what people are demanding.”

Public attention creates accountability, according to the resident, noting “it says, ‘we're watching, we care about this, and we'll remember how you responded when our community needed you to act,’” she said.

Photo Credit: Louise Skeirik

Montano noted that one in three Yolo County families doesn’t have enough, depending on the federal support, to feed their children.

“People aren't responding to statistics - they're responding because they know this story. They've lived some version of it,”

Montano said, adding that Three Sisters isn't charity. “It's community taking care of its own, teaching kids to grow food instead of waiting for someone else to save them.”

Opgov.ai will continue following their fight for stability, access to fresh produce, and a vital connection to Mother Earth.  If you have anything to add or correct in this report, please reach out to me at sarahlouise.s@lead4earth.org.