📸: Courtesy of Marteen Powers Lopez
📸: Marteen Powers Lopez
There’s a farmstand in town and while many of our readers have already discovered it, we won’t gatekeep this wonderful addition to our town! It’s called The Dancing Queen’s Garden and Farmstand. If the name sounds familiar, it should; we previously told you about Marteen Powers Lopez and The Dancing Queen’s Garden HERE. At the time, Marteen was recently retired from the Bureau of Reclamation and her garden was thriving and producing more products than she could reasonably use. So, she offered them to the community through her honor stand, which proved incredibly popular.
Now she’s expanded her honor stand to a fully licensed farmstand. What’s the difference you may ask? Well, the difference is cookies and biscotti and scones and bread and cake pops and other tasty treats that are lovingly baked by Marteen and other licensed cottage bakers in the community that she has collaborated with to stock her farmstand. Some people have asked her if it feels like a competition between her stand and the number of cottage bakers in Boulder City. “No, I don’t feel that it is a competition,” she replied. “They’ve each got their own niche and their own customer base. It’s more of a sisterhood of women entrepreneurs who are running their own businesses.”
Marteen has dedicated herself to baking most of the week. On Tuesdays, she plans her weekly menu and shops for the best ingredients. Wednesdays she takes bread orders (don’t forget to order your bread on Wednesday for the weekend!). She spends Thursday baking and packaging her goods. Fridays and Saturdays are for pickup of specific orders. The farmstand itself, with the surplus from her garden is open Friday and Saturday mornings from 9:00AM to 11:00AM (during the summer hours – regular hours resume in September) so come early for best selection. The garden products are still offered for a donation to the garden. The baked goods have set prices, depending on the item.
For the summer, due to the heat, the production changes a bit. She will accept orders the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month for pickup on Friday or Saturday. You can still get your goodies, just at a reduced schedule through the summer. These hours will continue until September.
Where does she come up with her recipes? Well, some of us long time residents will recall the Treasure Time Tea House. Marteen developed recipes for the business that are still in use today! Where does she source some of the fruit and other inclusions for her breads, cookies, and scones? Occasionally this means a trip to Cedar City, Utah or over to Gilcrease Farms in North Las Vegas. She recently received a shipment of Hatch chiles from her sister in New Mexico that she’s using to make fantastic sourdough bread. Everything is ethically sourced.
Martenn said, “One of the things I love about this is the ability to help others. If you’re just in the business to make money, and to just take as much as you can from the community without giving anything back, you will fail. That’s not sustainable. Especially not in Boulder City because we’re such a tight knit community.” That philosophy has served her well as she continues to work with others in the community to showcase their products at her farmstand. Some of the other entrepreneurs’ products you will see at the stand include Lovie Loops, Hope Anchored Cookies cake pops, fresh eggs, For My Happy Fur Baby dog treats, and Erika’s Kitchen Spices, to name a few! You might even find some fresh flower bouquets to adorn your home with!
Check out The Dancing Queen’s Garden and Farmstand new Facebook page HERE. Here she lists the weekly menu so you can order your goodies. You can place orders at the site, and also keep up to date with what’s going on at the stand. The stand is located at 700 Aztec Place (at the corner of New Mexico Street). You can email Marteen HERE. Orders may also be texted to (702) 930-4467.