The Carrboro Farmers' Market team is thrilled to launch our new blog! Stay up-to-date with bi-weekly posts featuring seasonal recipes, market events, updates, and more. We'll be posting all year, so you'll never miss out! Check out what we have in store for 2025:
1. CFM participates in the Southern Piedmont climate-smart project
In 2024, CFM is one of many farmers’ markets to join the Southern Piedmont Climate Smart Project led by the Rodale Institute, and we are excited to continue participating in the five-year-long study! The project aims to sustainably increase productivity, reduce greenhouse gases, and enhance the achievement of national food security and development goals by integrating climate-smart agricultural practices on farms throughout Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.
We’ll be conducting customer surveys throughout the season as part of the study to measure the economic and social impact of the market. CFM is also recruiting farmers to report data on a variety of sustainable practices on their farms.
Wanna learn more? Visit https://farmingclimatesmart.org/
2. CFM leads UNC Masters of Public Health Capstone
CFM is currently leading a UNC Chapel Hill Master of Public Health (MPH) Capstone project with 4 graduate students to create a strategic plan for sustainable growth and impact. The Capstone team will analyze past development, assess current needs, and plan for future growth. This will enable CFM to prepare for its 50th anniversary in 2029 and continue to support farmers, small businesses, and food access efforts as the Market’s impact grows.
2022 Practicum Student - Nandini Singh
This project is part of a long-standing relationship with UNC-Chapel Hill that we maintain today. CFM was initially organized in the late 1970s as an effort between the Agricultural Marketing Project with a UNC Public Health graduate student to provide an outlet for local farmers to sell their produce regularly while providing townspeople greater access to high-quality fresh produce (for more information about the market’s history, visit our Mission & History webpage). Since then, CFM has also been a site for multiple UNC Chapel Hill MPH Practicum projects.
3. Expanding Double Bucks
Double Bucks is a nutrition incentive program at Triangle area farmers markets that provides a dollar-for-dollar match for SNAP/EBT and NC Farmers Market Nutrition Program (both WIC FMNP and Seniors FMNP) benefits. They can buy not just fresh produce, but also local meats and seasonal items, making nutritious food accessible to everyone.
Since 2019, Triangle farmers markets in Orange and Durham counties have been working together to fund and administer their programs as Triangle Double Bucks. The Double Bucks programs in Orange County are in particular need right now: the Durham County Board of Commissioners allocated almost half a million dollars in ARPA funds towards Double Bucks in Durham County, but this funding does not apply to the Orange County markets. Currently, we’ve raised about $17,500 toward our $30,000 goal with our GoFundMe.
We are still working hard to secure long-term grant funding to ensure continued support for our community. We are grateful to our partners Durham County Public Health, Farmer Foodshare, and other local organizations for their support of Triangle Double Bucks!
Check out our SNAP/EBT & Double Bucks webpage to learn more about CFM’s program.
4. Market Bunch kids activities resume Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025
Touch-a-Tractor on September 18th, 2024 with the Carrboro Cybrary
We’re planning for Market Bunch and we can’t wait for the Wednesday Market to start once more! Last year, CFM hosted 34 unique activities with over 20 community partners, like local non-profits, the Town of Carrboro, and more. Stay tuned for the activity schedule as we get closer to the start of the season!
Check out our Market Bunch webpage to learn more about the program.
5. looking forward to our first 3 events this spring!
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Longer days mean longer hours at the market! We’re looking forward to warm, sunny mornings and new spring items, like asparagus, peas, and fresh flowers.
CFM will be open from 7 am to noon every Saturday from April through October and we’ll have our mid-week market every Wednesday through November. On Saturday, April 5th, the new 2025 season t-shirts (designed by the Splinter Group) will roll out and be available all season long. Keep your eyes out for the 2025 design reveal!
In the meantime, our 45th-anniversary t-shirts and long sleeves are still 30% off. Show your Carrboro pride and grab yours before they run out!
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Our first event of the Spring is our annual Kids Seedling Day! Join us with Fifth Season Gardening to plant tomato seedlings (from the diverse variety of heirloom seeds from our farmers!) to take home and grow. It’s also the perfect time of the year to get some plant starts to build your garden as summer heat approaches.
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Only 10 more weeks until strawberry season!
Last year, CFM celebrated strawberry season with strawberry smoothies made with the Back Alley Bikes blender bike, make + take strawberry art and live screen-printing of limited edition Strawberry Jamboree posters with Peel Gallery and Super G Print Lab, a strawberry trivia raffle, and strawberry specials from our vendors.
Learn more about our events on our website.
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