Tag: carsonvalley

The Record Courier reminds us that tonight we have a concert in Minden Park, starting at 6:30, followed by a movie in Gardnerville's Heritage Park at dusk. Think you can make it to both?

Finally we now have curbside recycling pickup in the Carson Valley. We're probably the last place to get it in Nevada. I think Belmont and Manhattan had curbside recycling before we did. Which is strange, because Douglas County has the highest per capita income in the whole state. I guess rich people don't recycle. I don't know. I only know that Douglas Disposal, our local trash pickup outfit, has never offered recycling.

So it was left to a start-up company, Carson Valley Recycling, to fill that need. Right now it's just a husband and wife team, with one truck, serving the whole valley (or at least Douglas Disposal's entire service area). Which is fine, because they only have 50 customers. But as their client base grows they'll probably get stretched thin, and hopefully will be able to get more employees and more equipment. This is a service that I'd like to see succeed, and at $10 per month I'll probably be signing up soon. Right now you have to take all your recyclables to a drop-off point yourself. The main one is at the old landfill out Pinenut road, and there are also drop-offs at many of the area schools. But usually doing that is such a pain that I don't recycle glass and plastic, just paper and cardboard. Signing up for this service will definitely help out, and I urge all of you to sign up too. Both because recycling is the way to go, and also because we want to support this new company and make sure they don't have to shut down.

Here's a list of the items they'll accept:

aluminum
plastics #1 & 2 (these can be combined)
#2’s are usually colored plastics ( Tide&Downy and milk containers)
glass~(rinsed)
tin cans (canned soups, pet food, veggies, etc.) ~ not tin foil
cardboard (must be dry) (broken down if possible)
paperboard( cereal boxes, non-wax items, egg & milk cartons) (must be dry)
plastic grocery bags
dry newspaper (ads are accepted too)
magazines&catalogs (kept dry)

You can contact them by phone, at 775-267-6524, by e-mail at cvrecycling@mac.com, or sign up on their website.

Record Courier: Historic Dangberg Ranch in Minden expands public tours:

Nevada State Parks has expanded visiting hours for the public to tour the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, located just west of Minden.

Two-hour tours are now available beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, with a second Sunday tour at 2 p.m.

Several historic buildings constructed between 1857 and 1916 will be open to the public, including the main residence, which was one of the most prominent in the region.

The Carson Valley Days parade is tomorrow. The Record Courier calls it their favorite time of year. The parade starts around 9am at Minden Park, and runs to Lampe Park, taking three hours or so to run all the way. The parade travels down Hwy 395, so really anywhere along the parade route is good for viewing. I've always been partial to locations near where the road curves, so it's easier to see the floats coming and going.

I won't be making it to the parade this year, but hopefully I'll get some photos from you loyal readers!

The Record Courier has information about this year's Carson Valley Days celebration. The big event is the Carson Valley Days Parade, taking place Saturday morning, June 14th, with a carnival at Lampe Park being put on June 12, 13, 14 and 15.

Greater Nevada Credit Union has opened their striking new branch in Minden. The ribbon cutting will be held on June 18, and a grand opening on June 21.

The coming of summer means the return of the Summer Family Concert Series in Minden Park. Every year they put on five concerts at the park in downtown Minden, and the turnout keeps getting bigger. Here's this year's lineup.

May 30 - Alice Stuart and the Formerlys.

June 27 - Batdorf and Rodney Reunion.

July 11 - The Comstock Cowboys.

July 25 - The Surf All-Stars.

August 29 - The Michael Powers Band.

All concerts are on a Friday night at 6:30pm, except for the final one on August 24th, which starts at 6:00. Get your picnic baskets ready!

The Carson Valley farmer's markets are coming back this summer. Dates have been announced.

Minden Farmers Market opening day May 20

The Minden Farmers Market opens May 20 and will be open every Tuesday from 4-8 p.m. through summer on Esmeralda Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets. Information, Roxanne Stangle, 782-2444.

Farmers Market at Lampe Park opens May 21

The Lampe Park Farmers Market offers an abundance of seriously fresh produce and a variety of food, farm, and dirt-oriented items. The market features flowers, perennial plants, fresh bakery items, outdoor décor and gifts. The farmers’ market will be open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays at Lampe Park in Gardnerville. Information at the Douglas County Recreation Division, 782-9828.

These two markets open two full weeks before the Carson City Farmers Market, which this year begins on June 4th.

With all the issues going on in the world with rising food prices and rising oil prices, the "local foods" movement is starting to gather a lot more steam and attention.There have been special articles about it in the Nevada Appeal and Record Courier lately, and even celebrity chefs are starting to speak out. And we're lucky because here in the Carson area we're firmly located in the breadbasket of Nevada. Most of the rest of the state is miles and miles of unforgiving desert, but here were have rivers that bring some life to the land, the Carson River, Walker River, and Truckee River. A lot of agriculture is focused around these rivers, in Fallon, in Fernley, in the Mason and Smith Valleys. In the Carson Valley much of the green land is given over to grazing cattle, but there are scattered plots that are dedicated to growing crops. And the best place to go to get all of this local produce is to the farmer's markets.

There is another option, though, if you're not in the mood to hunt through the market to find the best produce. It's called Community Supported Agriculture, and here in Northern Nevada we've had it for a couple of years at least. In essence, by signing up with a CSA you get a "subscription" to a produce delivery service. You pay one flat fee up front at the beginning of each season - spring, summer, and fall, and then each week a basket full of produce is delivered with your name on it. This produce is all grown on local farms, and the contents of the basket change throughout the year as different fruits and vegetables fall in and out of season. So in May you'd start getting a variety of spinach and lettuce, then in June peas and carrots start coming into season so those start showing up in your basket. And it continues all the way through December when you're getting potatoes and squash. And because it's all locally grown, your money is staying in Northern Nevada and helping out our farmers here.

The big CSA in our area is Great Basin Basket, which can be found at www.greatbasinbasket.com. There you can sign up for your shipments (the spring subscriptions are already sold out, so the earliest you can sign up for is Summer). I also found an article in the RGJ about Great Basin Basket, as well as the option to start a garden of your own. And, I just discovered a new-to-me blog, Local Food Northern Nevada, which is all about seeking out local food in our area. And of course they're subscribers to Great Basin Basket.

So if you're looking to have a summer full of real food, check out some of these options for eating food that's been grown in Nevada.

It's been quite a while since I made it down to Minden to drive around and see some of the progress on a couple of projects going on down there. I went last week, and I was super surprised to see this.

This is the new Greater Nevada Credit Union building, being constructed right at the border between Gardnerville and Minden. GNCU has had a branch on this site for nearly 20 years, in an old office building that used to be there. They tore it down last year so they could build something new. I wasn't expecting it to look quite this striking. I like it now, but check back in 30 years and see if it's become outdated.

I also cruised by the location of the new Minden Gateway Center, to find that they're well into the job of moving dirt around, getting ready to start construction. This land at the corner of Hwy 395 and Hwy 88 will soon be home to a retail development and a hotel.

This project is still controversial, mostly because of how close the proposed hotel is to the condos that are right next door. In this last picture, you can see the condos, and how the construction site is right there.

The hotel is going to be located right about where that black fence is. You can see why the residents there would be upset. The matter, as far as I know, is still in court, but it hasn't stopped the developers from starting preliminary work on the center.

This seems like something that should have been an April Fools joke, but it looks like it's not. The Record Courier has been reporting this week on a wild emu, running loose around the Carson Valley. It kept popping up in various places around the valley, in Johnson Lane and in town. A group went out to capture it near Minden Elementary School, but the bird was too quick for them and got away. The paper put footage of the emu on YouTube, seen here eluding escape.

Tags: carsonvalley

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