Your guide to what’s blooming at local farmers’ markets this season.
This year, farmers’ markets, CSAs, and farm stands are thriving.
After a wild ride in 2020, sorting through new pandemic-driven regulations and wondering whether or not some markets would even happen, local farmers and ranchers are once again selling their burgeoning bounty at a multitude of regional locales this summer.
Cynthia Ferris-Bennett, founder and owner of Sierra Chef LLC who heads the Sierra Chef Farmers Market in Gardnerville on Wednesdays, says that after a trying 2020 market season in which customers were required to book shopping times to better adhere to safety protocols, “It’s so nice to just say, ‘We’re open!’”
What can local-food lovers look forward to this year?
Ferris-Bennett is thrilled to see the return of cottage-industry vendors who were prohibited from selling their wares last year. Jams, cookies, and other baked goods as well as knife sharpeners are back for 2021.
Thursdays’ Riverside Farmers Market is offering an expansive array of locally sourced goods as well.
“Shoppers can expect a charming collection of sustainable farms and ranches from our very own Great Basin terrain, alongside the bakers and artisans who make our community so talented. Heirloom tomatoes, freshly picked herbs, gourmet mushrooms, and pasture-raised meat and eggs all taste much brighter when they come from a few miles away instead of a few hundred,” says market director Kasey Crispin. “We’re excited about welcoming a new and sustainable Reno-based farm, Rocket Farm, to our lineup this summer, and we’re also excited about a few new gourmet food vendors: Uncle Buddy’s, Vacancy Pastry, and Olivier’s Organic French Crêpes. It will be a delicious summer!”
At the Truckee Certified Farmers Market taking place Tuesdays this summer and fall, 25 vendors will showcase succulent berries, mouthwatering melons, honey, flowers, butter, cheese, beef, fish, olive oils, artisan works, and more.
Reveling in the outdoors while perusing tasty goods at the local farmers’ markets and farm stands is sure to brighten up the summertime. If delivery or pickup of area produce or proteins is preferred, check out the available CSAs this year and skip the shopping.
Have a scrumptious season!
