What’s been going on! 

We have never seen anything quite like the surge of new interest in the market and our produce and flowers.  After 9/11 with all of the uncertainty that event provided around the safety of the food supply we did see a ground swell of people who found the market to be a place of community support as well as good, clean food.  When other businesses were taking some hits, the market stayed strong.

Now nearly two decades later we have another destabilizing event that is even more crazy and widespread.  With the internet now in full bloom, people are even more able to find better and alternative food sources as the grocery stores can’t get or stock enough food especially produce and meat.  With our new online ordering we have had a large number of folks both ordering and signing up for the newsletter, some of whom we have never met before, welcome to all of you!

While the Carrboro Farmers’ Market is the town square and community building place the difference during this shakeup is we cannot take the time or the proximity to form the relationships and soak in the good will and security the market provides.  It will be through online sources like this newsletter and our website that we will have to use to get to know each other.  Dive in look/read around.

This is what local food is all about, good food, produced nearby by people you know and trust.  Minimal transport and handling before it gets to you.  I have been in the grocery stores and their produce departments are bare and I have had customers tell me they have tried to order lettuce from a store and twice they were either sold out or it just didn’t show up in their order.

That is not to say that we and the other local farmers, will not have supply problems as none of us planned or planted to be able to replace what the grocery stores usually have but you can be assured we will bring everything we have to market and do our best to keep you informed of what is available.

Good week on the farm, we got the peas trellised, slid the last of the tunnels over the beds that will soon be planted to cucumbers and basil, planted yet more lettuce and cultivated most of the spring vegetables.  The trees are greening up, the dogwoods and redbuds are putting on a great show, we hope that you can get out and enjoy the spring beauty, just stay 6 feet away from your fellow man!

Picture of the week

Trellised peas and lots of other good things to come

What’s going to be at Market?

We will not be at the Wednesday market for the foreseeable future until the outbreak subsides but we do plan to be at Saturdays as long as we can be.

To facilitate less contact and faster exchanges we are encouraging people to pre-order so that it is ready to go when you get to market this page has all of the details on how to do that.  We need your orders by noon on Friday for us to be able to put them together on Friday afternoon.

Red and Green Little Gem lettuce.  A few more tender Green Boston Lettuces.  A good supply of Romaine and Red Summer Crisp Lettuce (a combination of Romaine and Red leaf).  Plenty of Escarole for soups, salads or sautéing.  Tons of crunchy Red Radishes and tender and sweet Japanese Salad Turnips.

The flood of Ranunculus continues, like miniature peonies, orange, red and maroon. We all need some brilliance in our lives right now!

Stay safe and well and we hope to see you all at the market!

Alex and Betsy

If you know folks who you think would be interested in news of the farm then please feel free to forward this to them and encourage them to sign up at the website.