Love on baby chicks, ducklings, bunnies, pigs and more at Blue Whistler Farm’s biweekly Open Farm + Market events. The Bahama-based farm is just a 20-minute drive from Durham. After your tour, pick up pasture-raised proteins from a wide selection, including eggs, turkey, rabbit, lamb, pork and soon duck.
Fully stocked with organic delicacies year-round, the Perkins Orchard stand on Barbee Road is brimming this time of year with watermelons, peaches, strawberries and tomatoes … as well as kiwis, oranges and even fresh coconuts. “The fact that all the fruits and vegetables sit outside on the fruit stand allows them to ripen up continuously,” says Perkins owner Donovan Alexander Watson, allowing Perkins Orchard’s produce to reach peak deliciousness. Donovan’s grandfather started the stand in the 1970s, “and we’ve been open every day, from 9 a.m. to 8 at night, ever since,” he says. This summer, the stand offers frozen fruit pops and sorbets made on-site with no added sugar or dairy, and, on Fridays, the stand hosts a fondue party, offering as much fresh fruit and gourmet dark and milk chocolate fondue as you can handle for the flat fee of $12 a person.
Located between Durham and Chapel Hill, Funny Girl Farm has the perfect location for a farm stand. After purchasing the land in 2011, Adam and Rosalind Abram built their farm business focused on sustainable growing methods. The stand followed in 2014, and the summers typically boast pasture-raised eggs and meats, cucumber, zucchini, local cheeses, watermelon, peppers, preserves, eggplant, okra, herbs and tomatoes. “Nothing beats a local, sustainably grown tomato right out of the field, especially our heirloom varieties,” Funny Girl Farm’s marketing and sales manager Casey Roe says. For folks looking to easily enjoy Funny Girl’s bounty all summer, it’s not too late to sign up for its farm share – a pay-ahead price gets you credit at the stand June through August. “While [the CSA] begins June 1, we would still allow latecomers to join after that date,” Casey says.
