Tag: mindenfarmersmarket

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.

This afternoon we found ourselves down in the Carson Valley in the late afternoon, and we remembered that Tuesdays are when the new Minden Farmer's Market is taking place. So we made the detour onto Esmeralda Street to check it out.

And you know, it's not a huge affair. The street is roped off for one block, between 4th and 5th Streets, and there are several tents and booths set up. Since it's a farmer's market, you'd expect to see a lot of fruit and vegetables being sold, but in reality there were only about three or four kiosks offering those goods. And all of those were freshly trucked in from California, not locally grown. The quality still beat what you get in the supermarket, though. These strawberries, in particular, were like nectar from the gods.

Another booth was selling apricots, peaches, and pluots. And while they were still certainly miles beyond the produce you can normally buy around here, they still fell short compared to the strawberries. Oh well. Not everyone can be number one.

The rest of the booths were selling various arts and crafts, baked goods, flowers, and prepared foods like bratwurst and taquitos. It's not a huge farmer's market by any means, and I'm pretty sure I could count the number of actual farmers in attendance on one hand. But it's a good showing for a small town like Minden, and even though it was a windy and chilly afternoon, there was still a good turnout. So if you ever find yourself in Minden on a Tuesday, like we did, it might be worth your time to set aside twenty minutes and stop by.

And be sure to grab the strawberries.

Also, remember that this coming Friday is the first Concert in Minden Park for the 2007 season. This first performance is by Hotel California, an Eagles tribute band, but even if you're not into the classic sounds of Don Henley and the boys the concerts are still a great place to have a picnic, kick back under the trees, and do some people-watching. See you there?

I think downtown Minden is probably one of the nicest downtowns in the area, because it's just about the only one that doesn't have a highway running down the middle of it. The fact that Hwy 395 runs one block to the north means that a lot of people can drive right by Esmeralda Street without even noticing it, but it also means that the few people who do make they way down there get a nice, quiet street with little traffic.

They also get a street that's able to be closed off for special events, and having Minden Park right there helps a lot too. The newest event that has been announced is the Minden Farmer's Market, which will be taking over downtown Minden every Tuesday night from May 22 through September 25. Unlike the farmer's market that already takes place at Lampe Park on Wednesdays, which closes right after lunch, Minden's market will be open in the evening, from 4-8pm, so a lot more people will be able to head down after work.

The Concerts in the Park should be starting up in Minden soon too, bringing even more people to the best downtown in Northern Nevada - oops, sorry, Greater Reno-Tahoe.