Category: Events

The Main Season Market kicks off on Saturday, April 6 from 8:00 am-noon!

Tomorrow’s the big day! We’re excited to kick-off the Main Season Market and return to our regular hours of 8:00 am-noon. We’ve been working hard all winter to plan events and look forward to sharing our weekends together! Don’t forget that vendors return to their Main Season Market spots tomorrow. If you have trouble finding your favorite vendor, swing by the Info Table and we’re happy to tell you where they’re located.

You may have noticed the Compost Now bins at the market. These waste stations will be permanent fixtures starting this weekend! Waste recovery will be provided by Gather Green and Compost Now. If you enjoy a tasty treat at the market, be sure to compost any items you can in these containers. Let’s continue making progress toward becoming a zero-waste market!

Did you know that it’s Durham Farmers’ Market Week? And that tomorrow marks the kickoff of our 20th Anniversary Season? Thanks to Mayor Steve Schewel and the entire Durham City Council for issuing this proclamation on Monday, April 1. Show your support for local farmers by completing your grocery shopping at the market tomorrow!

We’re excited to welcome new vendors to our market community! You’ll find the following folks tomorrow – be sure to give them a warm welcome and pick up some of their incredible products:

  • Botanist & Barrel – Farmhouse ciders and wines made with native yeasts, spontaneous fermentation or mixed cultures all made with locally sourced produce.
  • East Durham Bake Shop – Handmade baked goods, pastries and pies highlighting ingredients from hyper-local producers (including many Durham Farmers’ Market vendors!). They make use of local eggs and dairy and their menu changes with the season to match what is available from local producers.
  • Haw River Mushrooms – Fresh hardwood mushrooms including oyster, lions mane, cinnamon cap, shiitake. They’ll also sell mushroom tinctures, mushroom growing supplies, seasonal foraged mushrooms, and Oyster Mushroom Jerky.
  • Strong Arm Baking – Pastries, sourdough breads, cookies, sandwich loaves, pies, coffee cakes, etc.

Finally, we hope you’ll join us at the CROP Walk this Sunday, April 7! Part of the funds raised through the walk support our Double Bucks program, which can match SNAP/EBT transactions dollar for dollar up to $10. Since we started accepting SNAP/EBT in 2014 and launched the Double Bucks program, more than $72,000 has been spent on local, fresh produce, meat, eggs, cheese, bread and more at the market. We are incredibly grateful for the CROP Walk’s generous support and look forward to this community event. Check out their website for more information and don’t forget to join the Durham Farmers’ Market’s team!

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, April 17

  • The opening day of the Wednesday Market from 3:00-6:00 pm. Hooray for re-stocking your favorite local food at the mid-week market!

Saturday, April 20

  • Join us as we kickoff our 20th anniversary celebration with a family field day hosted by Chan Little of The 360 Approach.
  • Celebrate Earth Day and join our efforts to become a zero-waste market! Pick-up a free reusable canvas tote bag on the market lawn to use all season. If you have extra canvas totes at home, please bring those to share with others in our community.

Saturday, April 27-28

Saturday, May 4

  • Celebrate local, pasture-raised meat at our chef cook-off hosted with Got to Be NC from 9:00-11:00 am.

Want to learn more?

Read the rest of the April 5, 2019 newsletter or sign up to receive the next newsletter in your inbox.

Join us for the Durham CROP Hunger Walk on Sunday, April 7!

This year the Durham Farmers’ Market is walking in the 2019 CROP Hunger Walk!

Every year, 25% of the money raised by the event is distributed between 12 local hunger fighting agencies, including the Durham Farmers’ Market’s Double Bucks program. The CROP Hunger Walk started in collaboration with Church World Services, who receives the remainder of the money raised to help fight hunger worldwide. Church World Services helps communities that are battling hunger by assisting with the planting of fruit trees and constructing of reservoirs and irrigation systems. Locally, Church World Services helps immigrants and refugees access food in their new communities.

The Durham Farmers’ Market is committed to increasing access to fresh, local food to all members of our community. With the help of our generous partners, including the Durham CROP Hunger Walk, we match SNAP/EBT transactions dollar-for-dollar up to $10. This means that if a SNAP customer spends $10, they will receive $20 to spend on fresh produce at the market. The Durham Farmers’ Market also participates in the Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP), which provides Seniors and WIC participants with vouchers to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. Through the Double Bucks program, the Durham Farmers’ Market is also able to match FMNP vouchers, dollar for dollar.

In 2018, the Durham Farmers’ Market expanded the Double Bucks program offering a cash match incentive. The market now matches up to $10 in cash for SNAP recipients who are out of benefits for the month, WIC recipients, and community members who live in Section 8 housing or a housing authority site. In 2019, the market’s goal is to eliminate the $10 matching cap and offer dollar-for-dollar matching to all food program participants.

Please support the Durham CROP Walk by making a donation! And don’t forget to join our team. We cannot wait to walk alongside you!

Pick-up snacks for Super Bowl Sunday at the market on Saturday, February 2!

Are you planning to watch the Super Bowl this weekend? Whether or not you’re a football fan, we hope your weekend is filled with quality time with family and friends. Below are simple suggestions for a game-day meal or a family potluck:

  • Cheese and crackers. Need we say more? We have several delicious cheese vendors ready to share their savory treats with you on Saturday.
  • Salsa. Did we mention how much we love our farmers and admire their dedication? Because of their hard work, you can enjoy greenhouse-grown tomatoes in the dead of winter, which you can easily turn into the perfect salsa! Or check out prepared jars of salsa from our vendors.
  • Looking for something a little more interesting? Whip up some beet hummus and serve your favorite seasonal veggies, such as carrots, on the side.
  • It’s easy to quickly prepare deviled eggs using pasture-raised eggs. Yum!
  • Want something a little more filling? Pick up any type of meat from our vendors for a hearty meal. It’s a great time to break out your crock pot and brew a delicious chili.
  • Don’t forget your drinks! We have you covered with kombucha, mead, beer and more.

Our list can go on and on. Support your local food producers and our Durham community through your Super Bowl food choices this weekend and enjoy the delicious flavors of winter.

Want to learn more?

Read the rest of the February 1, 2019 newsletter or sign up to receive the next newsletter in your inbox.

Stock up for your Thanksgiving feast at the market on Saturday, November 17!

As we reflect on another season at the market, our staff, volunteers and vendors are so grateful to the dedicated customers who make time for the market in their busy schedules and eat local year-round. We cannot thank you enough for your support this season and for making our Saturday mornings so much fun! We hope you find everything you need to cook your family and friends a perfect Thanksgiving meal at the market tomorrow.

As a reminder, we’ll host our annual Pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Market on Tuesday, November 20 from 3:00-5:00 pm. We’ll be closed on Saturday, November 24 so that our vendors can enjoy time with their loved ones. Then we’ll be back to kickoff the Saturday Winter Market on December 1 from 10:00 am-12:00 pm.

Finally, we want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our Silent Auction & Raffle fundraiser last weekend. In particular, we’re grateful to the wonderful local businesses who donated prizes to the event. We couldn’t have done it without you! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Want to learn more?

Read the rest of the November 16, 2018 newsletter or sign up to receive the next newsletter in your inbox.

Make it an all-local Thanksgiving this year!

Join us on Saturday, November 17 from 8 am-12 pm and Tuesday, November 20 from 3-5 pm to pick up everything you need for Thanksgiving!

Our farmers will have sweet potatoes, salad greens, broccoli, turnips, radishes, winter squashes, beets and much more. Several vendors are taking pre-orders for locally raised turkeys and ducks, and there is also a wide selection of chicken, pork, beef and lamb. Do not forget homemade artisan breads, pies, cakes, goat and cow cheeses and homemade granola, jams, jellies, pickles and hot sauces. Shopping at the Durham Farmers’ Market guarantees that you will have the freshest, locally and sustainably grown foods available in the Triangle area!

Also, the Durham Farmers’ Market is proud to accept SNAP/EBT and offer Double Bucks, which matches SNAP/EBT transactions up to $10 and cash transactions for WIC customers, SNAP customers who are out of benefits for the month, and community members who live in Section 8 housing. The market wants to ensure that fresh, sustainably grown food is available to all community members and that everyone has the opportunity to eat local this holiday season.

We can’t wait to see you at the market with full bags of seasonal food for your Thanksgiving feasts!

Join us for our Silent Auction on Saturday, November 10

We’re excited to host our first Silent Auction and raffle on November 10! We have AMAZING items from the best local businesses that would make perfect holiday gifts (or just something special for you!).

For the raffle portion of our event, we have gift certificates from some of our favorite local restaurants, including Motorco, Pompieri Pizza, Bull City Burger & Brewery, Heirloom Restaurant (Roxboro) and more. The chefs at those restaurants shop at the market and use as many local products on their menus as possible. Our raffle will also include gifts from our very own farmers’ market vendors! There will be beautiful crafts and gift certificates for cheese, chips and salsa, and even a jar of strawberry jam that won first place at the 2018 State Fair! Raffle tickets will be $1 each or 7 tickets for $5.

The Silent Auction portion of our fundraiser will be held on Saturday, November 10 and begins at 8:00 am on the lawn. There are some incredible items to bid on that will make thoughtful holiday gifts for your loved ones! Below is a list of the items available and the closing times for bidding.

Table Closing at 9:00 am

Table Closing at 10:00 am

Table Closing at 11:00 am

You’ll also be able to pickup your favorite DFM merch at the event, in addition to gift certificates to the market. And don’t forget to ask us about our Friend of the Market Program. We’d love to chat with you about it!

Why are we having a silent auction? You may not know that the market operates primarily off of the weekly stall fees from our farmers and artisans. Despite this modest budget, we are constantly working to make fresh and healthy food accessible to our entire Durham community. We want to continue expanding the offerings of our market and need your help to make this happen. All of the money raised from this event will go toward market programs you love, such as the Sprouts Kid’s Club, the Double Bucks Program, cooking demos, and much, much more!

We hope you’ll join us on November 10 and complete your holiday shopping at the market! Until then, check out photos of a few of the auction items below.

 

 

Join us for a Hurricane Florence service project on Saturday, October 13 at 10 am

This has been a whirlwind of a week and our thoughts are with all of the families affected by Hurricane Michael across the southeast. Mother Nature sure has given us a crazy Fall season so far. The transition to cooler days is welcomed by everyone, especially our farmers. You’ll start seeing new produce appear on their tables, including a variety of greens, root veggies and much more. Be sure to enjoy peppers and eggplant before they’re gone for the season (although we hope the first frost is still a ways off).

Tomorrow we’re excited to join Durham County 4-H and NC WARN as we come together to assemble flood buckets and hygiene kits for our NC family affected by Hurricane Florence. The supplies will be taken to Wilmington, Lumberton and other areas in the Eastern part of our state. Cooperative Extension centers in those areas will distribute the supplies to families who are recovering from the storm. We will provide the 5 gallon buckets and Ziploc bags. We need YOU to provide the following NEW items in their original packaging to help fill our buckets:

  • Travel sized toiletries, including toothbrush/toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, shaving cream/razors, combs and washcloths
  • Scouring pads, scrub brushes and all-purpose sponges
  • Dish detergent
  • Household cleaners
  • 33 galloon trash bags
  • Heavy-duty gloves
  • Dust masks
  • Eyeglass protectors
  • Terry towels

Please bring your donations to the Info Table and join the teenagers from NC Warn and 4-H in assembling the buckets. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

If you’re looking for a fun family event next Tuesday, October 16, join us for Neighbors Feeding Neighbors 2018! This annual event is sponsored by the Durham CROP Hunger Walk and Durham Congregations in Action. The event raises money to help people in poverty through local and global relief programs by having the Durham community come together for an enjoyable meal on World Hunger Day. The Durham Farmers’ Market receives support for our Double Bucks program through this event so be sure to join us. Double Bucks matches SNAP/EBT transactions at the market up to $10, ensuring that community members have increased access to fresh, local food. For more information, check out this link.

Also, please mark your calendars for two exciting events! On October 27, we’ll host our annual Vendor Halloween Costume Contest. And on November 10, we’re hosting our first annual Silent Auction to raise funds for some of your favorite market programs, including the Sprouts Kid’s Club, Double Bucks, and more. Save the date and come prepared to complete your holiday shopping while also supporting the market that you love.

Finally, as a reminder, below is our market schedule:

  • The Wednesday Market is closed for the season. Thank you for your support!
  • Saturday Main Season Market runs through November 17 from 8:00 am-12:00 pm.
  • Pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Market will be held on Tuesday, November 20 from 3:00-5:00 pm. The Saturday Market will be closed on November 24.
  • Saturday Winter Market begins on December 1 from 10:00 am-12:00 pm.

Want to learn more?

Read the rest of the October 12, 2018 newsletter or sign up to receive the next newsletter in your inbox.

Hurricane Florence Donation Drive with NC WARN and Durham County 4-H

On October 13, join Durham County 4-H, NC WARN and the Durham Farmers’ Market as we come together to assemble flood buckets and hygiene kits for our NC family affected by Hurricane Florence. The supplies will be taken to Wilmington, Lumberton and other areas in the Eastern part of our state. Cooperative Extension centers in those areas will distribute the supplies to families who are recovering from the storm. We will provide the 5 gallon buckets and Ziploc bags. We need YOU to provide the following NEW items in their original packaging to help fill our buckets:

  • Travel sized toiletries, including toothbrush/toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, shaving cream/razors, combs, and washcloths
  • Scouring pads, scrub brushes and all-purpose sponges
  • Dish detergent
  • Household cleaners
  • 33 galloon trash bags
  • Heavy-duty gloves
  • Dust masks
  • Eyeglass protectors
  • Terry towels

Donations can be dropped off prior to October 13 at the Durham County Co-operative Extension Office, which is located at 721 Foster Street in downtown Durham. Or you can bring your donations to the Info Table at the Durham Farmers’ Market.  For more information, checkout our Facebook event.

Thank you for your generosity!