Produce available at Sparks and Reno 2007 farmers markets

I'm a meal planner and for years have relied on knowing that no matter what ingredients a recipe called for I could just pop down to the supermarket and pick it up. Didn't matter where it came from or how it tasted, only that I had it. A couple of years ago we made a concerted effort to changed our approach to life from a mentality that asks “What do I want?” to one that asks “What do I have?” This question is particularly life-changing when it comes to food and meal planning so in 2007 we started purchasing all our produce through local farmers markets and CSA’s. This posed something of a dilemma when it was time to plan weekend dinners and parties. I needed to know, at least approximately, what we could buy at the farmers market throughout the season. So we spent the 2007 FM season tracking what could be had.

Last winter I started compiling a list of all the veggies that might be out there, relying heavily on Chez Panisse Vegetables (excellent resource and cookbook for FM shoppers) and online wandering. Then, beginning in June, we’d visit the farmers markets and note what was in the stalls that day. We tracked only fruits and veggies; you can find nuts and homestead cheese, even popcorn, but I was interested only in the fruits and veggies because these items are the things we most often plan to shop for. The RESULTS are in no way scientific or comprehensive (sometimes we missed a day), but they could be helpful and are certainly interesting. We learned a lot about what we can expect seasonally, what is readily available, we discovered rare treats, and met a lot of great people! We’ll be using this information to plan our 2008 food garden around herbs, fruits and veggies we can’t get at the FM. Happy perusing!

Think the farm bill doesn't impact Northern Nevada? Learn more here....

The 2007 Farm Bill is currently being discussed in the Senate and could be voted on some time this week. It’s easy to think the farm bill doesn’t really impact what goes on in Nevada because farming isn’t what puts our state on the map…but the farm bill effects everyone who lives in the US and many people who don't. First of all, little in the farm bill is about actual farming as we imagine it. The farm bill is why real farmers are going bust, a huge portion of supermarket floor space is devoted to food products and a teenie portion to actual food, and why you’ll find soda, chicken nuggets, and tater tots in your kid’s school lunch before you’ll see fresh fruits, vegetables, and real meat. The farm bill is bizarre, disastrous…and complicated. Way too complicated for the average politician, let alone the average American with a really full life-plate. Here a couple of resources that help break down the barrier to understanding.

Food Fight: the Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, by Dan Imhoff is a concise, accessible description of the farm bill and how it works. The author explains the intent of original bill and how it developed into the current program, the problems with the program, the environmental and financial impact, national and global issues, and much more. But it’s a pretty quick read…finished it in a weekend. If you’re looking to learn more about where your food comes from and what you can do to fix what isn’t working, I highly recommend this book.

Environmental Working Group hosts website and a blog designed to track the farm bill, the subsidies, and ways the we can help influence change. Interesting reading, if a bit intense. Sort of the like the actual farm bill.

American Valley Growers products now available to Northern Nevadans

Just heard from a new area grower....American Valley Growers out of Quincy, CA. Check out their website. They are seriously local (82 miles from Quincy to Sparks).

The website is currently under construction but their "passion-statement" and lots of great photos are a good start.

Slow Food Truckee olive oil tasting

Arbequina olives


Friday night we went to Slow Food Truckee's latest event -- an olive oil tasting. It was really interesting! Never thought I'd voluntarily sip oil (the tasting techniques are just like those used to taste wine) but we did and really could taste the different characteristics. The Slow Food Truckee group is growing fast so I won't try to name all the players here but they're doing a fantastic job putting together events that highlight the food and wine produced here in our region.

We met at the Truckee River Winery, where the evening started with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and with mingled with new and established Slow Food enthusiasts. Russ Jones talked to us a bit about the wines he and his wife produce at the Truckee River Winery. Then Mary Lou Banahan of California Olive Ranch spoke to us about olive oil production, tasting, local and global implications and points of interest. This is where we learned that olive oil has taste characteristics much like those of wine; apple, green banana, fresh artichoke, and others. It was fascinating! Next we moved on to a stupendous meal prepared by Betsy Taylor, a local nutritionist. From the feta with olive oil and bread, to halibut with an olive oil rich tepenade, and the finale of olive oil pound cake, it was delicious beginning to end. Some of her inspiration came from a book titled Olive Oil: From Tree to Table. Throughout the meal we drank wine paired to the dishes and marveled at the joy of learning, mingling, and food.Life is good!

As usual, I'm fixated on what we learned that night. I'll pass on a tiny bit here. Olive oil is harvested sometime in October; olio nuovo is the freshest version of olive oil is best eaten within 90 days (it is so delicious our two bottles won't last 3 weeks); new technologies can be used to produce the kind of olive oil humans have loved for thousands of years; and it is a versatile ingredient that has a place in every course. (Correction )A couple of weeks ago NPR did a report about the top money makers in the world and included on the list is the Italian mafia. One of their biggest profit makers is olive oil, which they dilute with other cheaper oils and sell as "extra virgin olive oil", so buyers beware. If you want to know that someone other than the federal government is watching out for the quality of the olive oil you eat and you want to buy as local as possible, look for the California Olive Oil Council seal of approval on the label.

Slow Food USA, Slow Food Truckee, and talented local growers/producers and restaurant owners are committed to giving us an opportunity to learn about all the marvelous locally produced foods and wines within our reach here in Northern Nevada. We've been eating locally for more than a year now and continue to be amazed at how it has enhanced our lives. It has been well worth the effort to modify our purchasing habits and seek out the exceptional food, wine and food-people we have come to know and love. I'll say it again...Life is good!

Our local, heritage Thanksgiving - Great Basin Basket and Wind Dancer Ranch

Usually, after Thanksgiving dinner is over and my thoughts turn to turkey sandwiches on white bread, I'm kind of relieved. We love to cook and have family and friends over, but it's a lot of work and requires the timing skills of a high wire acrobat. Whew! This year our dinner was more like an adventure thanks to Great Basin Basket, heritage turkeys from Wind Dancer Ranch, and our friends and family.

Check out what we received in the Thanksgiving CSA basket; easily enough for the big dinner and a few more. Look at all this!

All of it was delicious, fresh, and grown or made by people who live in our community.

The Brant family had a Royal Palm turkey ...



All the other families had Spanish Blacks...

(We took this picture the day we picked up our turkeys.)


Our 2007 Thanksgiving shopping was more like visiting friends than a chore. We met new people, all of them nice, outgoing, and committed to their land, the food they grow, and the people in their community. We spent two hours touring Wind Dancer Ranch, a working farm that had been abandoned for 17 years and after three years of hard work looks like paradise. "Shopping" doesn't get any better than this!

Links fixed - again!

Thanks Pauline, for letting me know the Great Basin Basket contents links weren't working. They've been fixed, AGAIN! If I didn’t love technology so much, I'd hate it!

Great Basin Baskets - summer and fall 2007 contents

Last night we picked up the last fall 2007 Great Basin Basket box. CSA living has given us a rewarding couple of seasons and an interesting experience, starting with our first summer basket on June 7, 2007, and ending (maybe) with the final fall basket on November 13th. For twenty three weeks we've eagerly anticipated visiting with all the wonderful people who make the CSA possible, rummaging through our box of fresh local produce, and reading the weekly installment of Down on the Farm.

Having had zero prior experience eating local Nevada produce I didn't know what to expect the first year out, which made the meal planner in me slightly uncomfortable. So, in preparation for the second year Mark and I kept track of everything that came in each 2007 box. Keep reading if you’re interested in the learning what we found.

Here are the unscientific, yet interesting Fall and Summer Great Basin Basket lists. We tracked the type of produce, the variety if we knew it, and the quantity; we included weight information only if it seemed useful to the home cook.

Now that the two seasons are over all that’s left is to enjoy the remaining fall fruits and veggies, and ponder the possibilities of the first 2008 basket. It’s been a life changing experience on many levels and we can’t wait for more. Happy reading!

LFNN madness - fixed

Whew! I spent yesterday verifying all the links and spellchecking (again!) the entries so the blog content should be in working and professional order. The bad news is....

The Home Grown Nevada web address problem doesn't have an easy fix. Tina knows about it now but it might take a while to recreate Home Grown Nevada's internet presence. In the meantime, please call 775-465-2549 or email jsbeef@earthlink.net to learn more about the Smith's grass-finished beef.

LFNN blog entrys and links gone mad

While doing a bit of blog maintenance I found that some of the entries and links have gone wonky. Some entries are displaying with spelling errors, in spite of being spell checked before publishing, and it looks like the Home Grown Nevada address, which used to take us to grass-finished beef raised by the Smith's, has been commandeered by a web address squatter. Also, my Google document links are no longer intact so readers may have been experiencing problems. It looks like activity on Google's end changed all the document addresses. I'll get everything fixed as soon as I can. Nothing worse than reading something filled with typos; I’m MORTIFIED! Sorry about that!

Suntara Farms - readily available Northern Nevada eggs are no more

We love her eggs but now she's moved on. Michelle of Suntara Farms has moved due to a transfer at her other day job. Such is the life of farmer/growers who must rely on a second job to make a living if they want to stay on the farm. People in the community have adopted her chickens but their eggs will not be available to us in the immediate future. Now where do we get eggs?

Hopefully, the local food network will be able to find someone else with local chickens so we can again eat really fresh eggs. In the meantime we'll be making due with organic eggs from the Co-op.

Great Basin Basket CSA apples

If your family participated in the Great Basin Basket CSA program this year you received some uncommon apples in your basket. Our Nevada farmers work with local California farmers to bring us the fruit they do not grow but is still grown regionally. The farmers talk a little bit about these varieties in the farm notes but I thought I'd pass on a little bit more about origin and use for those of you who are food freaks, like me.

Mutsu apples, also know as Crispin, came in our summer basket. Mutsu has a fine granular texture with a subtle anise aroma, and mildly astringent semi-tart flavor. Mustu was developed in 1948 at Aomori Experiment Station in Japan. It is an excellent eating apple, and is good for pies, and sweet or hard cider. Keep it in storage for up to five months.

Arkansas Black apples came in our fall basket. More popular today as an antique apple, it was more common in the early 1900s because it is harvested late, keeps well, and is hard, making it good for shipping. The skin is a really dark red that does make you think "black". The flesh is yellow to cream colored, and very firm. The flavor is mild and balanced, more sweet than acidic. Arkansas Black can be eaten fresh but is probably better cooked. When over-ripe they will become mealy and developed a greasy surface. Stored in an ice-house they'll keep until late winter. Those of us without an icehouse can expect a shorter storage period.

Reno Sparks local produce - how local is local?

As concern grows about the where our food comes from, how it is produced, the real cost of cheap food, many families and communities are looking for better ways to bring food to the table. The industrial food system is heavily reliant on petroleum for both fertilizer and transportation so eating locally whenever possible makes sense. I won't go into the gruesome details but I will say...Yuck! I'd rather change my lifestyle a bit and get what I can from people who live and grow in my community. One group's campaign to encourage eating locally is called the 100 Mile Diet. Their goal is to help people rediscover food produced within a 100 mile radius of their communities. This got me thinking that it would be interesting to know how many miles are between us and the farmers and ranchers that produce local food for the folks in Sparks and Reno. Here's what I found...


First, a bit about method. This list includes farms that grow produce for the CSA, attend the farmers' market, or connect with consumers directly (specifically growers like Sod Busters and Agape Organics). Mileage is calculated from my house to the producer location, so distance will differ according to where you live in the valley.

Here they are in order of miles traveled:
Nevada Naturals - 16 miles
Sod Busters - 18 miles
Suntara Farms - 24 miles
Joy's Honey Ranch - 27 miles
Sierra Valley Farms - 51 miles
Lattin Farms - 65 miles
Workman Farms - 65 miles
Carrol's Corner - 83 miles
Home Grown Nevada - 88 miles
Amber Oaks Raspberries - 112 miles
Paine Orchard - 150 miles
Matthews/Minton Farm - 151 miles
Maillison/Cooper Farm - 152 miles
Watanabe Farm - 152 miles
K & J Orchard - 173 miles
Dwelly Farms - 212 miles
Boggier Farms - 226 miles
Fruit Factory - 325 miles
Watson/Rodriguez - 550 miles

Reno Sparks farmers' market season almost over--Now what?

Saturday, October 6th is the last farmers' market day at the California Street location. It's been a bountiful season with plenty of interesting food choices and opportunities to meet the people who grow locally. What does a local shopper do now? Not to worry...we have some options!

First is the Great Basin Basket program which is offering Autumn and Thanksgiving baskets. Here's the list of items to be included in the baskets: chard, kale, stir-fry greens, 10 varieties of winter squash, 2 varieties of pumpkin pie, tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, turnips, carrots, garlic, potatoes, bell peppers, arugula, lettuce, spinach, beets, dried culinary herbs (sage, basil, oregano, thyme, chives, parsley, cilantro, tarragon), fresh baked breads, and jam. These are two baskets so I don't know which items will come in which basket: contact Pauline Hamilton for more information.

You might come across some references to a Shopper's Square winter farmers' market but, though there has been one in the past, it won't be happening this year.

The Great Basin Community Food Coop expanded their space earlier this year and will be selling local produce throughout the year. The Coop charges a membership fee but it is nominal and supports a valuable community resource. And if you're looking for a volunteer opportunity in the local-food area, this might be a place to start. The Coop is run by volunteers and they can never have too many.

Tim (of Amber Oaks Raspberries) has promised to keep coming to Reno farmers' market location until he runs out of produce, even though the market is technically closed. His stall usually includes, among other things, blackberries, habanero and jalapeno peppers, figs, raspberries, chestnuts, tortillas, and "happy cheese".

If you like dried beans try Seed Savers Exchange. This company serves various purposes but focuses primarily on preserving the diversity and history of our food system through the collection and distribution of heirloom seeds (dried beans are the only ready-to-eat food they sell through the catalog). Earlier this year I purchased Christmas Lima beans, and some Hidatsa Shield Figure beans which I used to make a savory side dish. They were so tasty...the beans plumped into really meaty, creamy morsels and tasted like no beans I've eaten before. These beans are way beyond the readily available kidney and Northern White.

These are resources I know about right now; if other options become available I'll make sure to get them on the blog. And, if you hear of anything please let me know. I'll investigate and blog!

Chestnuts - how to get to the good stuff!

Chestnuts started showing up at the farmers' market last week and I am happy! I love these rare treats and eat them whenever I can in Creamy Chestnut Risotto, or raviolis, or simply out of hand like other nuts. Today I learned a lot about how to avoid some of the challenges I've experienced with this precious foodstuff.


Before I get started though, take a look at this picture with some of the nuts still in the protective armor they wear while still on the tree. You have to wonder how hungry the first chestnut-eater must have been to even think about eating one of these. Notice the resemblance to the handful of baby porcupines? Ouch!

Last week I saw the first chestnuts at the Amber Oaks Raspberries stall, run by Timothy Boughton. Timothy and his wife, Rhonda, grow all kinds of interesting produce on their farm including berries, fruits, and nuts. You can also find "happy" cheese and handmade tortillas at their stall, with Timothy enthusiastically and professionally passing out tons of information about how his stuff is grown and used. He's been farming for twelve years but has been a farmer in his heart all his life, hybridizing his first raspberry when he was eight years old. Today it dawned on me...Ah ha! This is the guy to ask about my ongoing chestnut challenges.

Chestnuts are deliciously creamy, nutty, and slightly sweet but it can take a bit of work to get to the good stuff. Timothy tells me he can shell about a pound of nuts per minute -- here's his technique. Take a sharp knife and cut off the light-colored broad end of the shell; boil the nuts in water for two minutes then put them in the oven to roast at about 425 degrees until the shells are practically black. After they've cooled squeeze the nuts from the pointed end and the meat will pop right out, leaving that pesky papery skin behind and your fingernails intact.

Most of my experiences with eating chestnuts at home have been disappointing. I'd put significant time into getting the nuts ready to peel while daydreaming about the yummy dish we'd soon be eating, only to finally get the shells open to find the meat had gone moldy...yuck! Today I learned why this happens. Even though chestnuts seem to want to be stored like a nut they should actually be stored like a fruit, that is, kept moist and cool in the refrigerator. Chestnuts that are not kept at sufficiently cool temperatures will quickly develop mold. If you want to store them for a couple of months put them in a plastic bag along with a paper towel and put it in the refrigerator. If you want to keep them for a really long time put them in a ziplock bag, cover the nuts with water, close up the bag and put it in the freeze. When it's time just defrost them and roast as usual. The next time you see a pile of chestnuts and are tempted to buy them ask yourself how likely it is they were picked yesterday, or if it is likely they were picked a few weeks ago and stored properly. If you have doubts, move along. It's not worth it.

Applesauce, plan B

I continue to be amazed by how much I don't know about food. This time it is apples and pears.

Life's hectic right now and I've been wondering how I'd find the time to get to Apple Hill anytime in the next six weeks but managed to clear yesterday, so I took the beautiful drive to the California apple region via Highway 80 to Auburn, and 49 through Placerville. I'd never been before and was by myself (Mark had an activity planned with his Little) so I visited the first orchards I could easily get to that had a wide selection, High Hill Ranch and Boa Vista.

I took along my copy of Chez Panisse Fruit because I don't really know which apples are better for sauce, pies, or out of hand and needed something to reference. This worked out all right but a better resource is The Best Apples to Buy and Grow, fragrant, with unpolished skin and leaves mixed in with the fruit. Picked up two big boxes of apples for the astonishingly low price of $20.

The first box is filled with Gravensteins which will be transformed into applesauce sometime this week; during the drive home my car was filled their intoxicating fragrance. The second box is a mix of varieties I'm familiar with like Rome Beauty, Jonathan, and McIntosh, and others I'd not seen before like Mutsu, two varieties of Winesap, Red Gold, and Empire. I also bought two Red Delicious apples just because I wanted to know if they tasted any better than the ever-present globes you see in the supermarket. I ate one on the way home but it wasn't very tasty so I'll store the other one for a while to see if the flavor improves. Apparently some apples need some time in storage to give the flavor time to develop, and some very tasty varieties are practically inedible without it. These varieties do not meet the "money first, taste last" criteria of industrial shippers so you probably won't ever see them in supermarkets. These are the ones I want!

We'll be making a second trip in a few weeks to pick up the late harvest varieties, Arkansas Black and Pink Lady among others. Boa Orchards had some Bartlett pears but they were ready to eat. I needed slightly under ripe so we'll try for other varieties and different orchards on the next trip.

I always try to buy from Nevada growers first and Agape Organics was my first choice for apples but 2007 frost and fire forced me go with plan B. For my family's needs I define local as anything produced with 150 miles, so Apple Hill is still local because it is 144.24 from my door to the apple tree-filled parking lot, the produce is grown in a sustainable way, and the money I pay goes directly to the people who do the actual work and raise their families in their communities. Do you know that growers receive only about 6-11 cents of every dollar spent on their product when it is purchased in some far-off supermarket? The remainder goes to middlemen and corporations. Doesn't seem right.

Apple Hill is a great family day trip. I've always lived in the desert so a drive that includes trees is endlessly fascinating. It'll be fun to see how the landscape changes as fall takes over the next few weeks. Could there be a trip in your future?

Northern Nevada apples - nature happens

Like I said in the previous post apple season starts about now. Apples are delicious in many ways but I especially love them cooked...pies, tarts, and applesauce. Until last year I ate grocery store applesauce but then I discovered homemade applesauce. I naturally shared this food wonder with all my friends. To my surprise even their kids loved this slightly spicy applesauce.

Imagine my delight to learn that Al and Delane Pennington, of Agape Organics - The Apple Basket, grow organic apples in Washoe Valley. Nevada apples...cool! The orchard has been open to the public for about the last four years. Those lucky few who are in the know visit the orchard, pick their fill, pay by the pound, and go home with a treasure--truly fresh, pesticide free apples. Al and Delane grow Golden Delicious, Gala (introduced to the U.S. in the 1980s; good for cooking and exceptional applesauce), Braeburn (introduced in the 1950s; good for cooking and stores well) , and Cameo (introduced in 1987; good storage apple).

Imagine my disappointment to learn that Agape Organics apples will not be available this year because "nature happens". Two natural occurrences conspired to decimate the 2007 apple crop ...frost and fire. Early this year, just as the apple blossoms emerged it snowed, killing off the blossoms that become the fruit. Then we had fire, which drove bears out of the mountains to look for food. Some lucky bears found the orchard; the remaining apple crop was probably a savior for these bears but has resulted in fewer apples for us. If we're going to have homemade applesauce this year we'll have to go to plan B...Apple Hill.

Fire and its devastating effects on homes and businesses have been getting a lot of press lately, but the natural consequences to wildlife and those who live close to it is often less newsworthy. This season demonstrates the fine line our community growers tread; one day of abnormal weather and a harvest is lost. Community and governmental support and understanding is most critical at times like these.

Delane told me an interesting story that really brings home how closely we are connected to nature, even if we don't acknowledge it. Earlier in the season a man who is both fireman and beekeeper contacted the Penningtons about putting his bees to work in their orchard. Before they could make that happen fire struck and he was called to duty. While he fought fires his bees did what bees do...made honey. Lots of it. Bears fleeing the fire found his overflowing beehives and took them apart looking for food, while he fought the fires that displaced them.

Eating locally...it all started with a book

It all started with a book titled The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. I read this title last year; it was one of a long stream of books written by journalists and authors focused on the American food system (see My book list for other titles). This book is beautifully written in a way that makes you think "How could this be happening and why am I complicit?", but it also shows the average eater (that would be you and me) that there is something to be done. This book affected me in a way that can only be described as profound, changing my feelings about food from enjoyable to passionate. Listen to a Michael Pollan interview here.



Don't get me wrong, until last year I was a Bon Appetite Girl putting together menus and shopping to the ends of the earth to find ingredients required to create the latest new dish. My friends and family enjoyed global bounties as often as Mark and I could arrange it. We loved every minute of the cooking and eating experience. But simple foods, prepared outside their season, left something to be desired and we didn't really know why until authors and growers started writing about it. I learned that supermarket food looked good, but the producers were focused on concerns other that taste and nutrition, and that the long term consequences of the industrial food-system are devastating.

So I went looking for local resources and found there is a burgeoning movement in Reno. Our like-minded friends were willing to consider changing the way we acquired food and are drawn to the community-based nature of "shopping" together. Some are interested in taking advantage of absolutely every opportunity to buy local, others pick and choose according to their lifestyle. I still love Bon Appetite and often cook meals from it, but now I try to choose menus with ingredients that fit my new priorities: fresh, local, and seasonal. Bonus: I'm learning to cook in a more freestyle way, using what's available rather than what I "need". It's all good.

We are coming up on the one year anniversary of our first consciously local food purchase. Last year our group purchased an entire grass-fed beef, and made the activity an opportunity to get together and enjoy each others company. This weekend we'll come together, throw the two Tri-tips on the BBQ to cook slowly while we visit and talk about year two.

Next big thing...it's apple season so this week we'll be trying to contact local apple growers because it's time to can for applesauce. More soon!

A day spent canning pickles and "reading"

One of the best things about eating locally is the opportunity to eat food that is really fresh; the fruits and veggies we get from the CSA and farmers' market are on our table soon after they've been harvested. We're now in the abundant season when local is readily available, but if you want to keep eating local grown produce later in the year, preserving is one option. Local produce grown for taste rather than how it withstands shipping really improves the quality of preserved foods, whether it's frozen, canned, or dried.



I'm an inexperienced canner, this being only my second season preserving, but I'm getting more comfortable with it. Canning pickles is a good first project because the process is simple; finding a good pickle recipe is more difficult. This year I'm trying a family recipe called Spicy Basque Pickles, provided by my friend, Ann Ebner.

The pickling cucumbers and dill (the huge black bag in the picture is whole dill) were ordered in bulk from Lattin Farms on Thursday and picked up at the farmers' market on California Saturday morning; garlic came from Carrol's Truck Corner stall, also at the farmers' market; canning jars, alum (found with the jarred spices), pickling salt, vinegar, and dried whole chili peppers came from Raley's. The canning process is really pretty easy, all you need is a good resource to help you with the basics. Canning books are widely available; visit Washoe County Library for good, free resources. I use Joy of Cooking: All About Canning and Preserving, which has clear instructions and pictures (need those!), and recipes to get you started.

One of my favorite things to do is work with my hands while listening to audio books, and canning is the perfect project for this. This day I listened to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Mary Modern. Later in the afternoon one of my other favorite things happened; my husband joined me in the kitchen to talk, laugh, and join in the process.

If you've never canned before I highly recommend it. This activity gives me a chance to hang out with my best friends, talk, practice a valuable skill, feed my family and friends, and make food not available through retail outlets. What's not to love!

Local food -- coffee?

There's a new coffee place in town and we now have one more reason to live close to our home. Kats Koffee, located in the the Sparks Crossing Shopping Center, opened a couple of weeks ago serving great coffees and teas, as well as breakfast, snack, and lunch items. Mark and I have visited a couple of times and liked it so much it is now our coffee shop of choice.




Wait, you say, how can coffee be considered local food? When we started thinking about living a local food life we did some research. Other local food enthusiasts emphasized the importance of determining up front how much you'd be willing to give up to eat local. For me it was easy. Could I live without tropical fruits? Yes. Coffee? Not so much. But when defining "local" Kats Koffee fits in a very important way...community support. Kats Koffee buys their beans from Tim Curry of Fire Roasted Coffee, breakfast-friendly baked goods from Rollin' in the Dough, and the sandwiches from Mr. Pickles, another Sparks owned establishment (and one of my favorite lunch stops). We've been drinking Tim's coffee for well over a year now and love it. We used to pick it up at Tim's shop in Reno but now we can buy our beans in Sparks.

Gotta go! It's a farmers' market Saturday morning and pickling day. But first we're going to get a cup of coffee.

Local food Thanksgiving

For a couple of months we’ve been planning a Thanksgiving meal made up of as many locally grown foods as possible. Thanks to the great folks who provide the CSA this endeavor just got a lot easier.


Let's start with the Thanksgiving centerpiece....turkey. We went looking for a non-industrial turkey after having read about mass production in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle . The great thing about Barbara Kingsolver's book is that even though she speaks to the inhumane side of the industrial food process, she also talks about the alternatives and people who are creating better food options. So we went looking for someone who raises heritage turkeys that were living a good turkey life. I started my search with the Slow Food preservation project called the Ark of Taste. This developed into email discussions with heritage turkey enthusiasts from all over the country who gave me tips on how to locate someone closer to home (I love the Internet!). We found Lisa Leonard at Wind Dancer Ranch. A group of us went in on a bulk purchase and Mark and I will be going to pick up the harvested birds right before The Day. Local food is generally considered to be anything produced within a certain range of where you live, and though Wind Dancer Ranch might not be considered local by the strictest standards the ranch is still within a reasonable distance. It's a day trip! And, this shopping trip will be way more fun than going to the grocery store because Lisa is eager to give us a tour of her ranch where she raises all kinds of heritage breeds. The Wind Dancer Ranch website is beautiful and informative...the attached image is just one of many that chronicle their life with heritage animals. You can still get one of these amazing birds in time for Thanksgiving; if you want the purchase to be cost effective get some of your friends and family in on a group purchase.

Next you'll need all the other dishes that make Thanksgiving and fall meals so special. This 2007 season is the second year for the spring/summer CSA program. The program coordinators and producers are amazing and they have accomplished great things in a really short period of time. As they manage the daily duties, like harvesting and packing, and the emergencies, such the loss of a pickup-spot volunteer, they continue to look for ways to meet the food needs of a diverse and complex demographic...us! With this in mind The Great Basin Basket CSA is offering fall programs this year; a fall basket and a Thanksgiving basket. I won't go into details here because the buzz has just surfaced and there are questions that only Pauline Hamilton at Great Basin Basket can answer. Email her today because you don't want to miss out.


This will be our first ever Thanksgiving planned with an emphasis on using the increasing number of locally produced foods. Those that aren't available through local producers we'll select sticking as close to possible to our food ethic without sacrificing too much. I'm not at all concerned about sacrificing taste, though, because if the turkey and fall CSA produce are anything like the other local foods we've eaten this year it will taste better than anything we've had before.

CSA - the veggies are coming in now!

All along we've been warned that CSAs start off slow in June, with lettuces and the few other Spring-friendly vegetables, then explode in abundance around August. They weren't kidding. I'll keep this entry short because we have veggies to eat. Here are a few of the dishes we'll be making with the produce we received in the last CSA and the beef we purchased from Home Grown Nevada.

Eggplant sandwiches from the Too Many Chefs blog; warm zucchini salad, again from Too Many Chefs; Warm beef salad; Melon gelato from Chez Panisse Fruit.

Slow Food Truckee

What is Slow Food? It is the celebration and preservation of a lifestyle that is intimately tied to good food grown and prepared by people who care, eaten in a mindful and appreciative way while engaged meaningfully with those we love. The movement originated in Italy during the 80's and has spread across the globe. And now there is a local convivium centered in Truckee, CA.


Tuesday night Mark, Dave, and I drove up to Truckee to attend the first Slow Food Truckee meeting. This meeting afforded us the opportunity to meet the people who are at the heart of this movement in our area: Lisa Boudreau of Lisa's Central Market, Mark Estee of Moody's Bistro and Lounge, Billy McCullough of Dragonfly Cuisine, Gary Romano of Sierra Valley Farms, Kaili Sanchez of Project Mana, and Maria Martin of the Nutrition Coalition, to name a few. The local movement is in its infancy but if this meeting was any indicator of the level of community interest and enthusiasm look for great things to happen. To learn more about what Slow Food means go to the Slow Food website or read Slow food nation: why our food should be good, clean, and fair and/or Slow food: the case for taste, both by Carlo Petrini, the father of the Slow Food movement.

Summer squash - two standouts from Home Grown Nevada

It's squash season and time to enjoy the wonderful varieties you'll never see at the supermarket. I've said it before but I'll say it again...I've never really been a summer squash person. I've eaten it in restaurants because it was the veggie of the day which included the typical zucchini and some other yellow squash that I couldn't identify either by taste or by appearance. Though the squash was certainly edible it wasn't anything I'd take the effort to cook at home. Then we started getting summer squash in our CSA baskets. OMG!

We've been eating or freezing all the squash that comes in our basket. However two of the varieties are so good we've been picking up extra from the Home Grown Nevada stall at the California Street farmers' market (Saturdays from 8:00-1:00):

Tromboccino Rampacante zucchini and Starship.

Not only are they wildly different in appearance they each have their own distinct taste. Summer squash is surprisingly versatile so the meal possibilities are endless. We ate our last batch in Summer Squash and Corn Pasta (from Chez Panisse Vegetables) while we watched The Fellowship of the Ring with our dogs (they love that movie).

Now that we can get a huge, delicious variety at the farmers' markets summer squash is back on the menu! Woo hoo!

Rediscovered flavors - cauliflower and Sod-Busters' chicken

I stopped eating chicken years ago. Not due to ethical or nutritional concerns but because it was so bland it wasn't worth eating. I found that dishes that included chicken could be tasty but it was primarily due to the numerous other ingredients in the recipe. I figured if I couldn't taste chicken why eat chicken. Sod-Busters chickens changed my mind.


Last Saturday we picked up the first couple of chickens from Deborah and Cliff Shirk's Sod-Busters Farm. I drove up to find them in the yard processing the chickens getting ready for all the people who'd ordered in June. They were friendly and professional, and seemed happy with their first effort with the new chicken breed. I was thrilled to find that these whole birds are nothing like what you'll find in the supermarkets. Huge chickens -- plump, fresh, immaculate, and having lived a "happy chicken life". Deborah and Cliff even helped me pack my family's order into my car as I had neglected to bring my cooler, in spite of Deborah's specific instructions to do so.

Since I'd rarely eaten chicken I didn't really know what to do with a whole one. I'd been on the lookout for recipes when I stumbled across a cocorico roaster in a NapaStyle catalog. It promised to do exactly what I needed. It arrived within a couple of days so we had it in time to cook dinner for our friends that Saturday. The NapaStyle website includes a recipe and instructions for using the cocorico, which we adapted to use with Hearts of Gold cantaloupe glaze from Lattin Farms. The Sod-Busters' chicken was larger than the one called for in the recipe so we added the fresh potatoes and cauliflower about 30 minutes after the chicken went into the oven. These chickens are so juicy it was necessary to remove some of the juice from the cocorico before we put the veggies in to cook.

Peaches and Arugula!

As usual, I went to the Saturday farmers' market to pick up a couple of things. Specifically, any tasty fruit to make a crostata for a friend's baby shower, and anything else that looked good. As it turned out blueberries were available and luscious...so blueberry crostata was on the menu. I conducted my usual produce inventory then stopped by the Home Grown Nevada stall to say good morning to Tina and Ann. Tina's garden has taken off and the stall was full of Nevada grown beef, vegetables, and melons. And she had arugula....I love arugula! This made me remember a recipe I'd seen in the Aug 07 Bon Appetit--Peach and Arugula Salad with Creamy Chive Dressing. I didn't remember all the other ingredients that were necessary to make this dish but figured if I had the best parts, how bad could it be? So I picked up some of Tina's arugula and wandered across the pathway to K & J Orchards to take a look at peaches. They had a small yellow cling-free variety, firm but wonderfully fragrant and, I later discovered, bursting with peach flavor. Nummy! As it turned out the recipe required only a few more ingredients: I had most of them at home and improvised with the others. It was stupendous! Easy and impressive if you're having company. Easy and decadent if it's just you, a loved one, and dinner on the patio in your pajamas.

Chinese green beans

I was wandering around the Tuesday market even though my basket was already full because I love to watch people interact the way it happens at farmers markets, between producers and the people who love their food. There is one particular stand (if there was an identifying sign I didn't see it) that is there every week, operated by an Asian family, typically an older gentleman and two younger boys. I love this stand in particular because the boys are the ones we get to interact with. There's something about a ten year old boy who knows about vegetables that I find heartening. There were the beans: super-long, plump, dark green, and frankly...different. Had to have them! Long ago Mark got used to unpacking the groceries to find some unfamiliar fruit or veggie. To his often asked question "What is it?" I'd reply "I have no idea but how bad could it be." I've rarely been disappointed and was not this time.

Mark cooked dinner that night, Gorgonzola raviolis and the Chinese green beans. He prepared them simply: just cut them into manageable pieces, then sautéed them in olive oil, butter, and garlic just until they'd lost that fibrous texture. Though Mark will eat green beans he is not a fan, but he really liked these. They still had that green bean taste and texture I love, but were a little nutty and a bit sweeter, which Mark enjoyed.

Next time you're at the market and are so inclined, try them and see how wonderful they can be.

Dinner at the Cheese Board

Yes! Dinner at the previously-solely-lunch-and-catering Cheese Board! Last Wednesday night Mark and I went to the first in a series of monthly dinners at The Cheese Board. The food and service was so good we made reservations for the August dinner before we even got to dessert.

The first great thing! When we walked in we were greeted by the usual friendly people...they always seem happy to see us and make us feel welcome. Gigi Werbeckes and the dedicated Cheese Board staff did a wonderful job creating an atmosphere that was comfortingly familiar but altered in a way that made the room feel like a restaurant ready to serve a casual, but nice, dinner...large flower arrangements strategically placed, tiny candles on the table, and subtle lighting.

We started our dinner with the signature cocktail, a cucumber, basil, ginger, gin martini. We really like martinis and are endlessly fascinated by the flavors mimicked in the hands of a talented and creative mixologist. And really, you can't eat (drink?) too many vegetables. I was delightfully surprised before the martini even hit the table...by the cocktail napkin! Katlin dropped the bright-yellow napkin on the black and white restaurant background and I was instantly tickled by the effect. Don't know why...I just loved that napkin. And the martini was superb...just a little sweet, tasting of all the ingredients but none overpowering the others. Delish!

Next we moved on to the food. I won't go into tremendous detail because I'm not a food critic, I just love to eat tasty, inventive, whole foods, and when I can get it at a restaurant that buys local produce I want to spread the word. Suffice it to say that every course was delicious and we would have eaten seconds if we'd had any room left. We started with fresh summer corn soup and a mesclun salad with watermelon, shaved red onion, and a balsamic reduction. Then moved on to spicy baby back ribs so tender you wonder why they put knives on the table; Yukon mashed potatoes with cilantro and fresh corn; polenta cake with summer berries and peaches topped with mascarpone cream and honeyed almonds. All yummy!

Kaimi Coonrad, the Executive Chef, uses fresh ingredients to create dishes with clear yet complex flavors that entice with waves of depth in each taste experience. We had a wonderful time and meal, and look forward to the next experience in August. Only one thing would make it better...a Cheese Board in Sparks!

Home Grown Nevada - Grass finished beef and our first venture into local food

The other day I was sitting here, wondering what great northern Nevada food thing I could write about next. Now that I might be called a "blogger" I was feeling the pressure to write about some newly discovered source. I've been really busy with other things (weddings, Artown, eating) and haven't had time to personally pursue and vouch for new (to me) local food leads. And then it occurred to me that I hadn't written a thing about our first foray into eating locally...grass-finished beef.

Last year, in reaction to what Mark and I had recently learned about how mass food production really happens, we went looking for a better way to buy our food. It was winter 2006 so we knew veggies were out of the question so we turned to the Internet to research other alternatives. We found Tina and Jim Smith of Home Grown Nevada. Though I was pretty proud of myself for "thinking" of buying beef locally they had already had a client base, a delivery system, and a website. Many of my friends, with and without children, are concerned about the way beef is produced on CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feed Operations). So when it was time to find families interested in trying grass-finished beef many were ready to sign on. So many, in fact, that we purchased an entire beef the first time out. Buying locally has changed the way we think about eating all meat and how I cook it.

When I was little we often ate cuts other than New York, Tri-tip, and Filet Mignon, but as I started cooking for myself and fell in love with the Bon Appetit style of cooking, I was drawn away from the cuts that were actually tastier but required longer cooking times, or cooking methods that were more complex than simply "start up the coals". As it turns out my family used to eat grass-finished beef all the time. Though it was no longer available in the supermarket, our rancher/farmer uncles kept our family supplied, so going back to GF beef held for me the unexpected pleasure of a lost family connection. GF beef does taste and look a bit different than corn-fed/finished beef and some of us were concerned we might not think it tasted like beef. Just one taste and we set those fears aside: it had the beefy taste and satisfying mouth feel we all love, and another quality that can only be attained when cattle are raised eating their natural diet, grass. For lack of a better description, terroir, the flavor imparted to food as a result of the regional environment.

It's been a few months since our first purchase and we are still excited about purchasing beef locally. We've eaten everything from hamburgers to filets and it's all been delicious. In September all the families will gather together to share a meal and an afternoon while we cook up the two Tri-tips (one on the grill, the other in the oven for hours at 200 degrees). We'll talk, share, laugh, and enjoy our time together. And talk about our next community-based beef purchase and which of our other friends and acquaintances might want to come along in 2008.

Suntara Farms - beautiful eggs from box to dessert

Michelle at Suntara Farms in Cold Springs raises hens that produce beautiful eggs, and now the average person can have some for their very own. We received our first dozen eggs a couple of weeks ago and, eager to experience the taste of fresh eggs, immediately made scrambled eggs. They were delicious! The rich egg taste brought back memories of the eggs we ate as children on grandma's Yerington farm. We could hardly wait for the next delivery! Based on our scrambled egg experience I had already decided that the next batch would go to the next-best egg-based food on the planet...double-vanilla ice cream.


The second dozen eggs created an even better sensory experience. The eggs came to us in our Great Basin Basket CSA delivery, held in a beautiful purple box labeled Suntara Farms. I opened the jewel-colored box to find perfect mid-sized eggs in colors ranging from familiar, comfortable brown to luminous ivory in hues of blue and green. I cracked the sturdy shells you'd expect to find in healthy eggs to find plump, deep golden yolks that separated easily from the whites. Ten minutes later the pre-ice cream was ready for the refrigerator. I knew immediately that if the color of the mixture was any indication of the taste, we were in for a wonderful treat. This batch of ice cream was intended for a casual dinner at the home of our best friends and their two boys, so we we're hoping for something special. And we were not disappointed! I've made this double-vanilla ice cream a couple of times, always with tasty results but this batch was stupendous. It was rich, creamy, with a decadent golden color that is indicative of the texture only great eggs can produce. We got what we'd hoped for, the best vanilla-ice cream we've ever tasted! You can get these eggs directly from Michelle at Suntara Farms. Her contact information is included in the producer list.

We were there but the market was gone!

Looks like the Saturday Sparks farmers' market is no more. Admittedly, the selection and the patronage were minimal so we were not surprised to find the parking lot empty when we pulled in to do our Saturday shopping. The good news is that fresh, locally grow produce can still be had at the Tuesday and Thursday markets.

Life (and lunch) is good! The Cheese Board and local food.

A couple of weeks ago while shopping at the Sparks farmers' market I was wandering around, checking out what was available that week, when I noticed one particular stall. All the produce was nicely displayed in baskets, the signage said "organic", and the farm name, Watanabe Farms, rang a bell. Where had I heard that name before? It took a few days but then I remembered. I'd seen the name on the lunch menu at The Cheese Board.

Last summer The Cheese Board served a delicious salad that included tomatoes grown by Watanabe Farms. Great tomatoes are unforgettable, as are really good meals, so the connection stuck with me. It seemed reasonable to assume that the Watanabe Farms selling produce at the farmers' market is the same one the Cheese Board purchased from, but I wanted to make sure the connection was real before saying so here.

So, yesterday I stopped by The Cheese Board for lunch hoping for an opportunity to speak with someone who could talk to me about the bistro's philosophy regarding local farms and producers, the restaurant's purchasing practices, and whether or not my assumption about the Watanabe connection was correct. I know a guy who knows a guy who said the person to talk to was Dave. And, Dave Kidder was the guy. He very generously took some time to visit with me, even though the lunch crowd would be coming in soon. And he told me what I'd hoped to hear: the Cheese Board is dedicated to the local food ethic and purchases whatever they can from local producers. The Watanabe Farms on the menu and at the farmers' market is one and the same. The Cheese Board and Heidi at Watanabe Farms have developed a very successful partnership and anyone who's had one of Cheese Board dishes made with Watanabe produce knows how that success tastes....Delicious!

Dave returned to the back of the house and I stayed in the dining room to eat my lunch. As usual the meal was stupendous. Baby greens with Heidi's Watanabe beets, roasted, served with a balsamic reduction and little toasts slathered with tangy, creamy goat cheese. And, even though I knew it would be too much for me to eat I couldn't pass up the artichoke Parmesan soup...yummy! If you're a soup lover, Dave's soups are heaven, year round.

Stop by for lunch and bring your friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find something to love. We always do!

Sparks' farmers' market - get there early!

I usually shop a the farmers' market located near Prater and Oddie in Sparks, which is open 8:00-1:00 each Tuesday. Yesterday I was on my way to lunch and thought I'd pop by the market to pick up some fruit for the week. I got there about 11:30 to find the parking lot filled with vehicles (though there were still parking spaces available), as usual.

To my surprise and delight (OK, I admit it, and disappointment) much of the produce had already been sold. I was still able to find the fruit I came for, but was unable to find the veggies I usually buy on impulse. Our family participates in the CSA so we get Nevada grown veggies each week but we also often buy from the farmers' markets.

It must be a sign that the demand for local produce has increased and we've shown there is a market in Sparks for good food produced off the grid. Woo hoo! But it also means you might need to get to the market early if you want to get everything you came for, and some things you didn't.

Where can you get eggs?

This year it is possible to get eggs through few different providers/producers.

If your family is participating in the Great Basin Basket CSA you will be able to order eggs through Pauline and pick them up with your weekly produce basket. If you're interested in the CSA program contact Pauline Hamilton at 843-6402.

The second option is to contact Michelle at Suntara Farms in Cold Springs. Order your eggs for pickup at the farm or arrange for pickup elsewhere. Better yet, if you have friends who are also interested in local, farm fresh eggs, order as a group and have one family pick-up and arrange for distribution. Contact Michelle at 972-5176 or 223-0258.

And finally, I've been told eggs are available at the Great Basin Food Co-op on Wonder Street. I have not yet had an opportunity to verify this but plan to stop by the co-op tonight to check it out. The co-op is a membership based operation so you'll need to pay a small fee to shop there.

More info to come.

About this blog

Finding, eating, buying, growing, and cooking local food.