Linda Marrone: Farmers markets offer a great chance to eat local food

Boy, one day it seems like spring is here and summer is on its way. I’ve been picking tulips, daffodils and lilacs. Then before you can say hurray, hurray the first of May, it’s cold weather and I feel like I need to make some soup. Well, they say, “If you don’t like the weather in Nevada, wait five minutes and it will change.”

Change in seasons, change in weather, lots of changes in the air in Carson.

The early Spring Farmers Market is going to start this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the south parking lot of the Greenhouse Garden Center on Curry Street. We should have farm-fresh strawberries from Chuck Vue Farm, and cherries and apricots from Minton Farm. I talked to Rick Lattin from Lattin Farms in Fallon and he should have asparagus, kale, chard, lettuce and his jams, jellies and breads just in time for Mother’s Day. Mary MacDonald from Beautiful Food Farm will have her house and nursery plants for sale along with some fresh herbs and green onions. We will also have farm-fresh eggs. Hyde’s Herbs from Dayton will have summer annuals along with tomato, cucumber and squash starts. Rounding out our Nevada farmers will be Campie’s Lavender. One of its lavender plants would make a great Mother’s Day gift.

There are lots of changes downtown. Tony’s Taco Truck has left the Westside Pour House (the old Mo & Sluggo’s) and partners Rowan Colgan and Dan Shaheen have opened the grill and are doing burgers, wings, a great signature pork sand and salads, sort of bar food with a fresh twist. Taco Tuesday is still going strong. The Luckyhorse Grill at the Horseshoe Club is soon to become the Downtown Pub and Grill. Mia’s Grill is serving food at the Globe and the Cactus Jack’s snack bar is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can even get your hair cut downtown now at Top Notch, the new barbershop that opened just north of the Globe on Curry Street. Stop in and see what your Telegraph Square neighbors have to offer.

I know we all have a choice where we spend our hard-earned dollars on food, but I would like everyone to make a conscious choice to spend it with a farmer they know. I guarantee once you take the time to talk and get to know them as the hardworking people they are, it will be easier and easier to do so.

My recipe for this week is easy. Buy something fresh and make a salad, spinach or baby greens with a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of vinegar.

If you buy asparagus, chard or kale steam it. Grill something (see Dave at Butler Meats for a suggestion) and try marinating it. Buy some fresh strawberries, slice them and put them over a piece of Lattin’s pound cake with lemon. Go wild and whip some cream to put on top. It’s time to start eating lighter and healthier, and that all starts with a trip to the farmers market. And if all of the above fail to motivate you, by all means, make a reservation somewhere.

Linda Marrone is a longtime Carson resident, manages the 3rd & Curry Street Farmers Market and is the director of Nevada Certified Farmers Market Association.