Outdoor Markets

I can smell the basil from a block away and I’m pretty sure the strawberries will join in within the next ten yards. These are the smaller berries with the “outie” stems and they have so much intensified flavor that they are proof positive the universe is good. And the basil I think of as the antithesis of poison oak, the two plants at the opposite ends of my feelings-about-plants spectrum. Can you tell I like to go to outdoor markets and buy food straight from the farmers? It’s all right there in the homemade pesto. By the way, the herbed goat cheese is amazing and these tomatoes make store-bought ones taste like soggy tennis balls. Of course they taste ready for tennis no matter what you compare them to but this side-by-side is no contest. So where can you find these markets in Nevada County? Well, there’s Penn Valley and Grass Valley and Nevada City and Truckee and even one at the Historic North Star House, 12075 Old Auburn Road. See you there!

GRASS VALLEY GROWERS MARKET
April 30 - October 29. Saturdays, 8 am - 1 pm
Historic North Star House,
12075 Old Auburn Road
(530) 265-5551; www.thegrowersmarket.com

MILL STREET FARMERS MARKET Thursday Nights, June - September, 6 - 9 pm
Mill Street, Historic Downtown Grass Valley
(530) 272-8315; www.grassvalleyevents.com

NEVADA CITY FARMER'S MARKET
June 18 - November 12, Saturdays, 8:30 am - 12:30 pm
Union Street, between Broad and Commercial. www.ncfarmersmarket.org

NEVADA CITY 7-HILLS MARKET
June - October, Tuesdays, 3 - 6 pm,
Sierra Presbyterian Church, Ridge Road & Nevada City Highway
(530) 265-5551; www.thegrowersmarket.com

PENN VALLEY MARKET
June - October , Thursdays, 2 - 5:30 pm
7th Day Adventist Church 17645 Penn Valley Drive
(530) 265-5551; www.thegrowersmarket.com

TRUCKEE FARMER'S MARKET
Truckee River Regional Park, Tuesdays late May/early June through October.
(530) 823-6183; www.foothillfarmersmarket.com