Durham Farmers’ Market

This past weekend, I trained it down to North Carolina.

My mom recently moved to Durham, so I went to visit her for Easter weekend.

Durham is an old southern city built around tobacco production and is home to Duke University.

Now, Durham is ranked the “Foodiest Small Town in America,” and is full of trendy southern restaurants and food trucks. It also has a growing local food movement.

One of the first things we did while I was there was explore the Durham Farmers’ Market.

The Durham Farmers’ Market features all-local produce and goods from farms within 70 miles of the Durham city limits. Click here to see a few reasons why buying local is the way to go.

This weekend was the week before the main spring/summer season, so I figured there wouldn’t be too many vendors with fresh goods to sell.

Boy, was I wrong.

Even though it was a preview of the bigger farmers’ market in the weeks to come, there were tons of people there! My mom kept saying that it looked like a festival. It seems as though Durham’s foodies are an enthusiastic bunch.

67 vendors were busy selling items that they produced themselves.

There were so many vegetables for sale that I didn’t know what half of them were! See mystery vegetable number 1:

Each week, a local chef cooks in the center of the market, showing how to create dishes with ingredients that are in season.

Free range eggs for me, please!

Most farmers’ markets don’t just sell food – they sell other natural and organic items too, including soap, lip balm, clothing, etc.

I was loving the free samples!

Have you ever seen such a long line FOR KALE?

Not only is the produce at local farmers’ markets really good for you, it’s cheaper than grocery stores! (A common misconception).

Before this weekend, if you asked me what a pecan looked like still in it’s shell, I couldn’t tell you.

Pecans were everywhere in Durham. I think it’s a southern thing.

That’s not all. There was a whole second section of the farmers’ market: the food truck section.

I had to stop for some shaved ice from Sweet Water.

I sampled the pistachio flavor – look how green!

But I ended up choosing watermelon. Delish.

My mom’s bf went straight for the pretzel truck. The gouda pretzel was just about the best thing ever.

I’m really glad I got to experience the Durham Farmers’ Market because it reminded me of how good the food and produce is at farmers’ markets. It was the perfect inspiration to scope out the different ones around D.C. this spring and summer!