The Produce Box of Raleigh

Farm Partners 

We work with a good number of small to medium sized farms in North Carolina. Two of our primary growers are in Randolph and Johnston County, one who grows award-winning (NC State Fair 2011) peppers, eggplants and heirloom tomatoes and another who is well-known for his lettuces, melons and cabbages. John, one of our favorite partners, has an amazing field of asparagus near Pinehurst that just went crazy this year and we LOVED it!  We also work with farms in Person County, Chatham County, Rockingham Countym, etc. It's amazing how many delicious varieties of veggies and fruits we have in the state! Madison County farms bring us shitake mushrooms, and our partners in Zebulon send us greenhouse cucumbers, broccoli and cauliflower. YUM!

We want you to know that we visit with the farmers every year. This takes a LOT of time, but we feel it's important to "shake the hand that feeds us" . We buy from farms with as many as 50 acres, to as few as an acre and a half. Each and every one is just SO proud of their harvests and have great stories to share each week about  how it all was "brought in" and what they like about a particular variety, etc. And we share the stories with you. We take lots of pictures and lots of notes!

In addition to the over 75 different fruits and veggies we offer in the boxes each season, we are especially excited about some of the more unusual items we found this past year and that we’ll offer again in 2012.

We’ll be working with Becky, who provided us with her amazingly sweet Asian pears and NC persimmons. Glenn Esterson and his associates in Asheville sent over 200 lbs of shitake mushrooms to us and plan to add oyster mushrooms to the mix this year. Lou  in Orange County grows fantastic garlic for us as do Tom and Jan in Johnston County. Believe it or not, we found Kiwi (yes, grown in NC) in the western part of the state, and the same farmer harvests RICE each year, too. Pretty neat!

And we can’t forget to mention Portia and Flo at Chapel Hill Creamery, Dee and Paige at Great Harvest Bread Co, and Matt Flynt of Barton Creek Apiaries, who send delicious local cheeses, breads and honey for our members each week. Cindy makes our sweet pickles, Ginny brings us cheese straws, and Anna has the best SALSA around. Fadia's oregano crackers, and Amanda's granola are customer favorites!

These farmers’ and producers hard work is THE ONLY REASON we’re able to bring such delicious fruits and veggies to you. Many have been farming for over ten years (some over 20), and we think they’ve figured it out!  They practice “good agriculture” by using filtered or closed water systems, and cover crops and are good stewards of the land they farm.  Many use little to no pesticides, and although most are not CERTIFIED ORGANIC (very expensive to do), they are thoughtful and careful in the way that they farm.

Each year, our partners diversify more and more and grow an amazing amount of fruits and veggies for our members. This is good for the environment, and good for you. They help us all to eat healthier! 

Here are pictures from the Jackson Farm in Johnston County, who provides our local garlic, and one of our farmer's greenhouses during a recent "family farm visit" last year.

Joe, in Sylva NC (about an hour west of Asheville) brings us our veggies and fruit in the late summer and fall along with  our other partners. Joe is married with four little ones. His wife teaches agriculture at the local highschool.  He helps us provide corn into the fall…sometimes late September, believe it or not. And last year, we had field tomatoes and cucumbers late in the season as well.....what a treat!  He has a 100 year old apple orchard,  too,  with a good variety sent to us each week. Delicious!