Raleigh City Farm

04/22/2024

Happy Earth Day! 🌎🌱💚

Our 13th Bearthday celebration on Saturday was one for the books! We welcomed so many old and new Farm Friends, and thanked so many generous folks, including presenting sponsors Murphy's Naturals and North Hills Innovation District and others, and talented artists and musicians. We enjoyed family-friendly activities and demos and ate incredible food from Figulīna downed with beverages from Standard Beer + Food Wine Authorities and Tribucha Kombucha and admired our beautiful, bountiful one-acre site. 🥬🌸😎

But today, we’re talking trash. Specifically, how little we accumulated during an event for over 150 people. We collected less than 1/2 a bin, the rest will be composted and recycled with cans heading to The Great Raleigh Cleanup. We thank CompostNow, Lynda Chambers, Carly Demler and every else for doing their part to honor this year’s Earth Day theme: Planet vs Plastics. 🌎🚮♻️

04/03/2024

Spring has sprung at Raleigh City Farm and we're in the final planning stages for our annual Bearthday fundraiser and need more hands on deck! If you can help out, please fill out our Google form. https://ow.ly/trh350R7HlG

There are still tickets available if you wish to attend as a guest. https://raleighcityfarm.org/bearthday-tickets/bearthday-meal-2024

Either way, we'd love to see you on April 20th. Thanks in advance for your continued support! 💚🌎🥳

03/29/2024

Here's a natural solution for managing pest pressure on our beautiful spring veggies: plant a trap crop!

A trap crop attracts certain pests away from the target crop. We're using mustard greens in our food forest to attract harlequin bugs and protect our plants inside the high tunnel.

See if you can spot them the next time you visit! 🥬💚

03/21/2024

Have you seen our Bearthday menu from Chef David Ellis Figulīna? You can purchase meal packages on our website that also include a beverage from Standard Beer + Food, Wine Authorities, and Tribucha Kombucha, and a tea towel from Spoonflower! Join us on April 20th to celebrate our birthday, Earth Day and support our future growth! 🌎👩‍🌾💚https://ow.ly/hCA250QYAt2

03/01/2024

Bearthday tickets are now on sale! Join us for our annual fundraiser to celebrate our birthday and honor Earth Day. We’re excited to partner with Figulina and give you a taste of one of Raleigh’s hottest new eateries with produce sourced from the Farm. Enjoy beverages from Wine Authorities, Standard, and Tribucha Kombucha and toast to another year of growth! 🌎🍽️🍺🍷 https://raleighcityfarm.org/events/bearthday2024

Gather with family and friends, tour the site, participate in hands-on art and children’s activities, enjoy live music and plein air artists, learn from sustainable vendors, sing Happy Birthday and eat FREE cupcakes! 🎵🎨🧁💚

Pre-order your meal today on the events page of our website. A limited supply of meals and an endless supply of coffee, beverages and friendly faces will be waiting for you! Much gratitude to presenting sponsors Murphy's Naturals and North Hills Innovation District and a host of other Fabulous Farm Friends. 👏👏👏

Art: ZenLapseStudio | Design: Carly Gelfond | Website: Goodness | Tea towels: Spoonflower

We’re excited to gather on the Farm to celebrate our birthday and honor Earth Day. Free to attend, Open to the public! Join us for delicious food and beverages available for purchase; tours of newly developed areas of the site; children’s activities and educational demonstrations; plein air arti...

12/21/2023

We're still recruiting interns for the spring season! If you're interested, head to the link on our website for more information. https://raleighcityfarm.org/internships

This message is brought to you by fall intern Mia McDowell. 👩‍🌾

12/01/2023

Did you know that December is a great time to sow poppy seeds? They like cool soil in a sunny location. You can direct sow them into your garden and resist the urge to cover them with soil or mulch since they need light to germinate. You'll be rewarded with beautiful blooms in early spring! 🌸💚

10/27/2023

This year, we had a bumper crop of the striped green kershaw/ cushaw squash aka cucurbita argyosperma. This heirloom has a strong connection with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, NC and is prized for its slightly sweet, rich buttery flavor with notes of nuttiness and spice. Come get yours at our Pay-What-You-Can Farmstand in November on Wednesdays 11/1, 11/8 and 11/15 from 10am-1pm or Saturdays, 11/4 and 11/18 from 9am-Noon.

09/22/2023

We're excited for the arrival of fall and the continued growth of our leafy greens. So are the harlequin bugs who are eager to eat their fill. This season, we're using small vacuums to extract them from the plants and interrupt their life cycle; this is known as "mechanical pest control" and is an excellent alternative to pesticides. Controlling the population before plants are stressed will ensure a healthier brassica crop and a more extended harvesting period. We'll monitor our new plants for eggs, nymphs and adults over the next few weeks. 🥬💚

09/15/2023

We're excited to host our annual Harvest Dinner fundraiser on October 8th and welcome chefs Andrew Ullom of Union Special and James Sampson of Corner Boys BBQ 🍽️

Easter Maynard and Spoonflower present this year's special event with additional support from fabulous farm friends, including art by Julia Einstein. 🎨

We'll sip beer and wine from Wine Authorities and Fullsteam Brewery and bid on silent auction items. Music and art will complement the farm's autumnal glow. Then, we'll dine under the stars and celebrate another successful season of growth. 🌠

A limited number of tickets are now available on our website; thanks to all our sponsors and partners for your generous support! 💚

09/01/2023

The majestic monarchs begin their migration to Mexico this month. Traveling 50–100 miles daily on their 3,000-mile journey takes two months to complete. Amazing.

Due to pesticides, development and climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has designated them as endangered. They need our help.

Common milkweed, aka Asclepius syriaca is the primary food source of the larvae or caterpillars. Adults feed on the nectar of many flowers. We’re pleased to offer an abundance of these plants on the Farm and wish them a safe journey. 💚

08/23/2023

We're thrilled to welcome our Fall Intern Crew. L-R: Mia is a senior at NC State majoring in Environmental Science, minoring in Agroecology, who has passion and experience in addressing food insecurity by bringing healthy, sustainable food to those who cannot afford it. 🥬

Drew is a seasoned sustainability professional and entrepreneur with experience in construction and home remodeling. He is finishing his BS in Horticultural Science, specializing in Landscape Design & the Urban Environment. 🍅

With an MS in Urban and Regional Planning and a concentration in Community Food Systems from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Talyr brings a solid dedication to the farm’s vision of expanding the impact of urban agriculture in our community. 🌻

Say "hey" when you see them on the Farm!

07/21/2023

We're covering our tomatoes with Aluminet, a highly reflective shade cloth, to help ward off birds who like to sample our harvest before our Farmstand customers. This is our first time doing this, and it's working like a charm! ✅

We also use Aluminet inside our high tunnel and greenhouse to regulate light and temperature. It's better than traditional shade cloth since it doesn't retain heat, and its lovely, shiny strands allow for better light diffusion. 🔆

07/05/2023

Summer bounty and beauty await at our Pay-What-You-Can Farmstand every Wednesday from 4-7pm. Patty pan squash, eggplant and peppers are making their way onto our Farm Stage. Tomatoes, figs, melons, and much more are waiting in the wings for their grand appearance! 💚

06/26/2023

This morning we hosted summer campers from Wake County Salvation Army for a farm tour to launch our annual Farm to Camp program. They saw carrots, kale and onions harvested by Farmer Colleen and Intern Ariel and toured the site to see what else was growing. 🥕🥬 Later, they tasted raw produce and veggie fried rice prepared by Chef Liya with the morning's harvest. It was a fabulous launch! Thanks to our sponsors, Blue Cross NC Spoonflower and TELUS for making this program possible. 💙💚💜

06/23/2023

Meet the Kabocha squash, a Japanese variety of Cucurbita maxima species, forming in our raised cardboard box beds. We predict fully formed squash in about 60 days and look forward to sharing them with our community! As Pollinator Week comes to a close, we thank pollinators everywhere for providing us with one of every three bites of food we eat. We also express deep gratitude to our friend and sponsor, Logan's "One Stop Garden Shop", for their consistent support of our mission. 🌼🐝🪲🦋🦇🐦💚

06/22/2023

Three beneficial hedgerows enhance our production area and include many beautiful pollinator-friendly herbs and flowers. One of our favorites is bursting with lavender, a flowering plant in the mint or Lamiaceae family. It's believed to be native to the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and India, with a history dating as far back as 2,500 years. In addition to its delightful fragrance, it has many medicinal uses for treating headaches, nervous disorders, exhaustion and more. And the bees love it! 💜🐝

06/20/2023

In addition to providing habitat for thousands of native pollinators, Raleigh City Farm is home to a small apiary with two honeybee hives named Connie and Susan! Connie is named after Purple Coneflower, and Susan is named after Black-eyed Susan, two native plants that you can easily grow in your garden to provide flowers for pollinators.

Our beekeepers Ben Crawley and Dana Deaton have been busy caring for the apiary and caught several swarms this spring. Connie has had a very productive foraging season; we can harvest honey from the Raleigh City Farm bees for the first time! We look forward to sharing delicious local honey with our farm supporters in July.

06/19/2023

We're excited to celebrate Pollinator Week, sponsored by our good friends Logan's "One Stop Garden Shop". It's the perfect time to raise awareness for pollinators and spread the word about what we can do to protect them. Here are three easy ways to get involved in this effort: 1) Check out The Pollinator Partnership for resources and ideas. 2) Visit Logan's "One Stop Garden Shop" for a great selection of pollinator-friendly plants and advice. 3) Look for pollinators in your surroundings, including bats, bees, beetles, birds, and butterflies. 🦇🐝🪲🐦🦋

06/15/2023

We were pleased to welcome the Teen Climate Ambassador cohort from North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who spent the morning on the Farm learning about our strategies for building community resilience through our Farmshare and Pay-What-You-Can Farmstand programs. 💚

06/14/2023

We have the best intern crew! Ariel, Jacob and Marlee knocked it out of the park today and harvested over 200 lbs of beautiful, healthy produce. Stop by from 4pm-7pm to enjoy today's bounty. 🥬💚

06/07/2023

Code rainbow 🌈 for today's Pay-What-You-Can Farmstand, featuring beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, collards, edible flowers, green onions, herbs, kale, lettuce, microgreens Oak Collective, radicchio, Black Spanish radish, Swiss chard and colorful spring bouquets. We're open from 4-7pm today; what we don't sell, we'll donate to our nonprofit partners through our Farmshare program. 💚

06/02/2023

Happy June! We were thrilled to welcome Andrew Ullom of Union Special this morning. After touring the site and talking all things farming and food, we shared some produce, including these spicy Spanish black radishes. 🖤 We're cooking up a special collab that will be announced soon; any guesses? 🙋

05/30/2023

The weekend rains have hydrated the soil, and the plants are happy! Visit us tomorrow from 4-7pm for our Pay-What-You-Can Farmstand; we're harvesting tomorrow morning just for you. 💚 While you're here, shop our awesome retail neighbors in the Person Street Plaza and keep it local! 👍

05/19/2023

Did you know ladybugs are not bugs but belong to the order Coleoptera with beetles? They experience four stages of growth: egg, larva, pupa and adult. During their larval stage, they are voracious and can consume up to 50 aphids daily or 5,000 during their one-year lifespan. 🐞

Last year, we released ladybugs to address pest issues and discovered eggs and larvae anywhere we were experiencing aphid problems. Overall, pest pressure on the farm has decreased this year. This friend is hard at work munching on aphids invading an eggplant leaf. Let's hear it for beneficial insects! 💚

05/16/2023

We're thrilled to introduce our summer crop of interns: Ariel, Jacob, Marlee and Heritier, and excited to watch them grow alongside the produce they are planting and tending. Today they installed a trellis system to support 50 different varieties of tomatoes from our partners Stone House Breeding Welcome and thanks for digging in with us! 🍅💚

05/15/2023

We’re less than a month away from the 2023 Farm to Fork Picnic and I know your mouths are watering for details! To quench your curiosity, here is another sneak peek 👀 at one of the tasty pairings you can expect at the picnic on June 4!

A Place at the Table Raleigh and Raleigh City Farm will team up to bring you some delectable dishes! 😋 Don’t worry, we will be announcing more soon! Does this pairing look appetizing? Reserve tickets at www.FarmtoForkNC.com

05/15/2023

It's a beautiful Monday, and we're looking forward to ending the day on our mats with Renée Baker, breathing deeply, slowing down, stretching our limbs, staring up at the clear blue sky and setting our intentions for the week ahead. 🙏 Join us at 6pm by signing up on our website: http://ow.ly/jiyn50OnOlr. Three FREE spots are available thanks to the generosity of our friends Murphy's Naturals. 💚