Another premium template is ready for your farm website. We call it "Wooden": Lookin' good.

Check out the sample site at: http://premium5.smallfarmcentral.com

One great feature of our templates is that switching between templates is completely seamless -- with one click all of your site transfers over to the new "look". The content and photos move over with you, so there is no re-typing necessary. This is a great long-term plan because you'll get tired of looking at your website "look" after a few years. When you want a new look or we have a great new template out, you can move over without any extra fees or extra effort.

If you have an account, you'll find this new template available in your control panel:
Display / Template Settings / Template Settings

Otherwise, if you would like to use this new design template for your farm website, just sign up or request a free 30-day trial.

We find and work with great web designers so you don't have to! More templates coming in the next few weeks.

Want to put a Facebook or Twitter badge on your site? Not even sure what Twitter is?? Here's a helpful doc to help you get started!

Facebook: Facebook is a social networking website. Anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address can become a Facebook user. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, and school or college.

Twitter: Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers." It's this 'short format' of communication that appeals to users who are suffering from lengthy email fatigue!

Placing a Facebook Badge on Your Site

1. Grab the HTML code from Facebook.
You'll have to select the type of badge you'd like to display. For this example, let's click on 'Profile Badge'. (See Img. 1) Click on "Other" for the type of website you're placing the badge on.
Facebook will then provide you with some HTML code. (See Img. 2) Click on this code and copy it (keyboard shortcut: Control + C).





2. Login to your control panel and navigate to Display  /  Widgets  /  Create Custom Widget

3. Click on the HTML icon in your rich text editor (See Img. 3)



4. Paste in the Facebook code in your HTML pop up box. (See Img. 4)



5. Click Update to save the HTML changes.

6. Click Submit Changes to save your new widget. (Be sure to fill out the 'narrow to' field, if you do not want this widget on every page of your site.)

7. View your public site, to see how your new widget looks!


Placing a Twitter Badge on Your Site

1. Grab the HTML code from Twitter.
Select "Widgets for My Website" and choose which type of badge you'd like. For this example, let's click on "Profile". (You may need to log in for your information to automatically populate in the Username field.)
Click "Finish & Grab Code". Copy the HTML code that Twitter creates for you.

2. Follow steps 2-7 above!

I've met the Animal Welfare Approved folks at many of the conferences I travel to and they seem like a great organization offering a standard and certification program to farmers. They sent me the information below so you can familiarize yourself with their work:

Are you concerned about the welfare of animals that become part of the food chain? Animal Welfare Approved is the only third-party welfare certification that actually guarantees animals were raised outdoors. This USDA recognized certification and food label is dedicated to family farmers practicing high-welfare husbandry, outdoors on pasture or range. Animal Welfare Approved maintains a fee-free program, which has two important outcomes: one, there is no incentive to pass noncompliant farms; and two, the certification is available to any farm meeting AWA’s rigorous standards, regardless of size or scale.

Animal Welfare Approved’s standards are the most rigorous and progressive animal care requirements in the nation, as recognized by the World Society for the Protection of Animals for two years running. These standards have been developed in collaboration with scientists, veterinarians, researchers and farmers and incorporate best practice and recent research. Annual audits by experts in the field cover birth to slaughter. Species include beef cattle and calves, dairy cattle and calves, pigs, poultry (chicken, turkey and duck), sheep, dairy sheep, goat, dairy goats and bison and calves. The basic premise of all the standards is that animals must be able to behave naturally and be in a state of physical and psychological well-being.

Given only to family farms, the Animal Welfare Approved label verifies that participating farms are putting each individual animal’s comfort and well-being first. The program is based on the simple understanding that our own best interests are intrinsically linked to animals and the environment. Farmers benefit from having a third-party affirmation of their practices and consumers benefit by knowing that the label means what it says. The many health benefits of meat, dairy and eggs from animals raised outdoors are well-documented. As more and more people seek out these products - for ethical, health, and environmental reasons, Animal Welfare Approved is emerging as the most dependable guarantee that an animal was raised humanely outdoors.

Additionally, Animal Welfare Approved offers a level of farmer support that sets it apart from other certifications. Grant opportunities, technical and marketing assistance and networking are offered to all member farmers at no cost. AWA also actively works to develop relationships with retailers, restaurants and cooperatives in an effort to expand the availability of high-welfare products in the marketplace. This comprehensive support helps farmers to stay abreast of the latest techniques in high-welfare farming, and also to thrive as businesses and to share these techniques with other farms. AWA’s philosophy is to be supportive and encouraging, revitalizing a culture of independent family farms in which a humane ethic can be passed on to future generations.

For more information, visit www.AnimalWelfareApproved.org.

We have three premium templates in varying stages of development right now. They will be coming to your control panel in the next few weeks. We hope to bring out about 10 new templates this year.

These templates are always customizable to your own farm's unique looks and it is a very cost-effective way to get a completely professional look going for your farm quickly. We invest heavily in these templates, so we hope you love them!

One nice thing about using these templates: if you get bored of looking at the same design after a few years, you can switch your template with one click and all of your content, photos, and etc will transfer over and you have a completely new site!

Here is one really nice template that is in the works:

This is not finished yet and we are still polishing things up. For example, we need work on tying the graphics together. The farm that has apples (the header image) is unlikely to grow wheat (in the footer), so we are working on that aspect of this template still!

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review printed an article about what we are doing over here at Small Farm Central.

Check it out. I think it is an interesting article and covers the subject pretty well. Thanks to Penns Corner Farm Alliance and West Liberty Farm for talking to the reporter!