Cary Farmers Market

06/05/2026

Ask A Farmer - Flower Edition

Thanks to and .p.abraham for the tips!

06/03/2026

This week's farm inspection takes us to Bull City Farm.

Scott and Sam met while working together at a roadside zoo in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. They were both students at Virginia Tech at the time. Sam had plans on continuing that work and focusing on education and animal welfare, but when she learned more about the horrendous conditions animals were facing in the industrial meat industry, she decided to pivot to farming animals in a way where people could know the animals they were eating had been given loving, humane treatment during their time on the farm.

They moved back to North Carolina and started Bull City Farm in 1992. At first, they focused primarily on raising cows and hosting summer camps on the farm. Scott worked full-time at a nearby nursery while Sam focused on building the farm. They expanded to chickens, pigs, sheep, turkeys, and geese - some for meat, some as pets, and some as protectors from predators.

Scott eventually left the nursery and Sam began working for the Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), where she is now the Humane Farming Program Director and works with farmers all over the country focusing on humane animal agriculture and the policies that influence their care.

Bull City and its 38 acres serve as a working example of what that looks like. Large chicken coops are built directly onto trailers, allowing the chickens to be constantly moved and rotated to new pasture while also giving them refuge from heat or predators. Pigs happily rotate between the shady hay beds of their pen and big mud baths in the summer sun. A flock of sheep wander in one field, while cattle slowly graze another. They even found a safe and natural way to protect their animals against insects by bringing in a colony of Purple Martin birds that continually fly around and pick off pesky flies mid air.

There is no way of getting around the fact that eating meat means an animal has given its life. But for Sam and Scott, making sure that animal has had a caring, enjoyable, humane environment is their ultimate goal. It'd be a lot cheaper and easier if they did it the conventional way, but for them, no amount of money is worth giving up their values.

05/31/2026

LAST CALL FOR VENDOR APPLICATIONS!

The application deadline for our Farmers Fall Festival is Monday, June 1st at 11:59pm, so don’t procrastinate and miss it!

The event will take place on 9/19/26 at the Downtown Cary Park and have 100+ booths, live music, kids activities, food trucks, and our famous pie eating contest!

Get in your app before it’s too late!

The festival will take place along West Chatham Street and Ivey-Ellington grounds in Downtown Cary. The event celebrates the harvest season when our farmers are bringing in their fall bounty during the first crisp days of fall.

05/29/2026

We’ve got a packed lineup for this Saturday, May 30th. This will be Carter Farms last week of the strawberry season, so make sure you grab some of those before they’re gone!

See you Saturday from 8am-12pm next to the

05/29/2026

05/29/2026

In this week’s Ask A Farmer segment, we’re talking about Lettuce!

What’s your favorite way to use your farm fresh lettuce?

05/27/2026

This week’s inspection takes us to LB’s Farm. 

Lee & Linda have been with us for years now and each time we go back for an inspection, their garden seems to get bigger and bigger. For two people who chose this as their post-military retirement, it’s clear they don’t know what to do without hard work in their life.

The physical labor of farming is challenging enough, but add in the variables of weather, pests, and plant disease, and the work can feel endless. Especially if you choose to farm focused entirely on sustainability. 

LB’s Farm is Certified Naturally Grown. They use crop rotation and cover crops to allow the soil to recover and stay healthy. And they don’t use ANY sprays or chemical fertilizers. This means when they have bugs, they have to find solutions that aren’t spraying…like walking through the rows using a hand vacuum to suck up potato beetles. 

It takes a lot more time and effort. It also means a lower crop yield. Only about 60% of what they grow makes it to market at sellable produce. It’s not ideal, which is why the majority of farms in America don’t grow this way. But for Lee & Linda, knowing their food is free of any chemicals and their soil is full of life is worth the trade off. 

Here’s the uncomfortable truth though. Losing 40% of your crops means most of the time you aren’t going to be able to charge the same price as conventional farms losing 10-20%. It costs more to grow sustainably, and if we want farms that do it, we have to be willing to pay for it and support them.

Just like independent restaurants or local coffee shops, the items they sell aren’t overpriced; they’re a reflection of the real cost of running a business without subsidies or mass wholesale buying power. What we get in exchange is the chance to know the people behind our food, a quality product grown with care, and to keep the dollars we spend in our local economy. 

Whether it was the time they spent serving their country, the days they dedicate to educating aspiring farmers, or the food they grow for our market, Lee & Linda rarely choose the easy path. But they always choose the one that aligns with who they are - genuine, intentional, kind people.

05/26/2026

What a truly special night we had at our first ever Gather dinner on Sunday evening. The food was delicious and the setting was magical, but it was a reminder that it’s the people of our community that are what make this place so darn special!

This event has literally been years in the making, so thank you to the and its team for helping us realize this dream and co-hosting it in the stunning Gathering House.

We also could not have done any of this without the masterful planning skills of Mitch Samples, our Board Vice President and the ever-present leadership of Dan Pike, our Board President.

And of course, the biggest of shoutouts to our chefs at , , , and for creating such a inspired and tasty menu!

We are so grateful to everyone who bought a ticket and came to celebrate a night of community with us. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

05/23/2026