This Week's Market…
May 24 - May 30, 2026
Markets:
The farm stand is open Wednesday midday, and all day Thursday and Friday. I will be at the Hall’s Way market on Thursday from 2 pm to 6 pm, and I will be at the Depot St market on Saturday from 7:30am to 12pm.
This Week…
Banana bread
Apple pies
Triple chocolate cookies
Veggies: chard, kale, parsley, radish, collards, spring onions, yellow onions, turnips, carrots, garlic scapes, beets, celery, sweet peas, cauliflower, broccoli, broccolini.
Spring flower bouquets!
A Tuesday Morning for the Books!
I bought the farm in 2013, and I HAD to farm. I didn’t have a reliable source of water, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, and I had three babies. But, screw that. I had to do it. I’ve waited to own land my whole life, and now that I had it, I was going to figure it out.
I planted a whole bunch of things and started selling at a Cary farmer’s market.
I did not have fun. Every Saturday, I had to explain to a bunch of city people (who I was already annoyed with since I was still living in Durham and about to die of overpopulation), that there is a hole in the kale leaf because the veggies are organic and there are tiny creatures called bugs on a farm. We share. It’s fine.
After that year, I stopped going to the market. I also stopped farming because it was obvious that I needed water to farm (duhhh 🤦♀️), and I needed to be a mom for a minute, and I also got pregnant with Cookie.
Anyway, I gave birth in 2016, and in 2017, I was ready to go back to market. But there was no way I was going back to the city.
I found out that there was a farmer’s market on Depot St in Roxboro through Facebook. I called the number on the page, and Sandra Day answered me. She was the sweetest! I showed up at the market a couple of weeks later with a tiny bit of things, and that was that.
Billy, Sandra’s husband, accepted me with open arms. I could talk farming with him for hours, and he would tell me all the secrets. I’ve learned so much from him over the years, and we became really good friends.
I haven’t seen Billy in a while, so on Tuesday, on my way to get my truck inspected, I asked God to place him in the field for me. His fields are right next to the shop.
As I was leaving, there he was. I was so darn happy to see him. I jumped in his truck and off we went for a tour of the farm…
He showed me the fields which he farms on his own at the age of 85! With a couple of old Farmall tractors and his bare hands. The lack of rain this year made it very challenging for him. He said that he’ll still be at the market this summer, but might not have as much as in previous years.
The highlight was his childhood home, which still stands there between the fields. I have a thing with old anything… Homes, furniture, tractors, dishes, appliances… They hold a story.
If I need a piece of furniture, I usually go to the Habitat for Humanity in town, simply because when old people die, their kids donate their stuff to the Habitat. I love the old way furniture used to be… I love the smell of real wood.
Billy introduced me to the “Pie Safe.” I’ve never heard of that before, but once he touched the cabinet, it all made sense! The mamas used to place the pies on the top shelves and close the doors so the kids couldn’t get to them. Man, they used to be so smart back then!
Then, he took me to see the freezers! So many beans and pecans… All shelled by hand. Then, jars and jars of dried apples that he dries in the good old sun on the roof of the shed! They were delicious.
But the highlight for me was the quilt closet. Piles and piles of quilts that his mother sewn by hand years ago. I begged for a quilt, and he was so kind to let me have one. I literally started crying. I’ve wanted an old quilt for so many years!
The crazy part was that when we entered the house, he showed me a picture of his mother. But I didn’t think to ask for her name until I was holding the quilt. Something told me that I needed to know her name. Mable Alice was her name.
My grandma’s name was Alice!!!
This was such a wonderful morning, going back in time with a wonderful man. Billy is so important to me. Not only because he accepted me to the market years ago, not just because I am in awe of the way he cares for Sandra, who now has dementia, but also because I truly want to be like him when I am 85!
Still caring for the land, drying apples on rooftops, shelling pecans and beans, and splitting wood.
I am not built for modern times. My soul is in the 1800 still. As the world “progresses,” I truly hope that I can manage to stay behind.
Beets…
Beets are coming in in all their glory 🙌 🙌 🙌 and I wanted to share a few important beet recipes with you:
Israeli beet salad - it’s delicious! Please give it a try.
Pickled beet recipe - the best snack in the pantry.
How to can beets - so you can have them around all year.
Fermented beets - simple and earthy.
Spinach patties - replace the spinach with beet tops! Hands down, my favorite vegetarian recipe!
If you are new here…
Welcome!
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That’s it for now, friends! Thanks for your support. See you at the markets.
~ Lady Lee ~