The following quote from a recent entry of Seth Godin's blog reminded me to tell you how Small Farm Central supports your farm:

...don't pretend you have a policy. Just be human.

We know that you are an individual farmer working a distinct farm, so we will treat you as an individual with unique needs.

We design the sites, write the code, answer the phones, reply to emails, and we work exclusively with farmers. We understand your web needs because we are the largest provider of websites to farms in the country. We understand you and farming because we have started and grown a medium-sized CSA farm ourselves.

We are watching out for you because we want your farm to succeed and we feel like Small Farm Central can be a small part of that success. So next time you are having a problem with your site, call or email and know that we are on your side and here to help.

We're happy to be a partner in your farm's continued success -- just let us know how we can help you!

If you are not a customer yet, when you are tired of working with cranky "techies", calling international support, and talking to people who are more familiar with their local Starbucks than their local tomatoes, talk to us.

We are going to take a break from blogging from mid July to the end of August. We know you are busy, so we'll take some time to focus on some other projects and get back to blogging in about a month.

Anxiously awaiting more? First, sign up for email updates, so you'll get our blog posts in your email when we start up again.

After you are done with that, there's lot of great content to read from our 2009 blog posts.

Farm Web Marketing Tips

• Create a testimonial page on your site to collect all that positive feedback.
• Twittering for the farm: Part 1 & Part 2
• Create a "name that vegetable" page for customers new too cooking with fresh, local ingredients.
• Farmers are getting into social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

• 3 Reasons Why the Web Works for Farms.

• How to take more pictures for your farm website or blog.
  

Small Farm Central features

• Slick Google Maps directions pages right on your website.
• Welcoming the Member Assembler, our CSA signup and management tool. (Much more for the 2010 season coming on Dec, 1, 2009)
  
• Member Assembler 2008 sign-up season in review.
• All about premium templates.

Fun Stuff

• Blooming Idiosyncrasies from Mad Magazine, 1967.
• Pepsi Throwback uses real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.
• "Playing with your Food" -- food art by a photographer from Brazil, Vanessa Dualib
• The wind is at our back! In local food and ag, we're booming.
  

Sites of Interest

• Yes, We Can promotes community canning events in the Bay Area.
• A review of the Eat Wild grassfed directory.
• It's Spring in the Small Farm Central universe.
• Read about Broadened Horizons Organic Farm in Tennessee.
  

We know you are busy! Heck, I am surprised you are reading this on a clear July afternoon when there are weeds to pull, irrigation to run, cows to move, markets to attend, and on, and on.

Although I don't currently run a production farm, I have done it and I know how hard and busy these months are.

And still, your website is still begging to be updated with photos and stories of the year because that is what your committed and prospective customers want to hear. With all of these other commitments, it is very easy to let communication slip. If you make updating your site and blog an EASY (maybe even enjoyable as many of our customers tell us Small Farm Central is) task, you will find yourself making the effort more often.

If you look back to your site in the cool days of October and notice that you haven't updated since April, perhaps it is time to try a different approach. If you want someone else to take care of the technology and let you concentrate on your crops, animals, and communication with your customers, let's talk!

Earlier this year, we created a way for Small Farm Central users to quickly create Google Maps directions pages for their farm.



The example above is from Oak Ridge Farm's "Directions to the Farm" page. On the left, the page asks for the origination address and then the destination address is already programmed by the farmer.

The user then hits "Get Directions!" and they are immediately shown turn-by-turn directions from their originating address to the farm. The user does not leave the Oak Ridge Farm website at all.

In my case it shows a 651 mile trip from Pittsburgh to Neenah, Wisconsin.

A special feature for our farms is the ability to drag and drop the destination point, so even if Google Maps does not recognize your rural address, you can direct your customers to find your location.

If you are already a Small Farm Central subscriber, login to your control panel and navigate to:
Create Content / Maps / Directions Pages

...you will have a directions page on your website within a few short minutes.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to take advantage of this and our many other features, sign up today!

Our CSA member management service, the Member Assembler, was a success in it's first season with over 5,000 CSA members signed up. From farms with well over 1,000 members to farms with 25 members, the system eased data entry, collected payments, and is now serving as a repository for membership information as the season progresses.

It is fun to watch the automated "pickup reminders" go out each night to CSA members that are receiving a CSA box the next day. I can imagine a great box of veggies and fruit behind each one of those emails. Quite exciting.

If you are running a CSA in 2010, consider using our system for online member sign-up, balance tracking, credit card integration (or old fashioned checks; your choice), member management, pick-up reminders, and more.

We are planning a lot of improvements for later this season and next season:

• Survey/questionnaire integration for end-of-season surveys and next season we'd like to have a way for members to give feedback on a weekly basis like Village Acres Farm does it now.
• PayPal integration to complement/replace Google Checkout.
• Improved interface for easier interaction with membership information.
• And much more based on the feedback from our subscribers.

Google Checkout Problems

The biggest hiccup for the Member Assembler this Spring was related to Google Checkout. Google apparently does not understand or appreciate the collective risk of the CSA system and, for a couple of farms, was holding back 10% of gross sales to cover any charge-backs.

Despite reasonable explanation from Small Farm Central, our farms, and numerous emails from CSA customers, Google could not be budged. If we cannot get a guarantee that this will not happen for 2010, we will remove Google Checkout as an option in the Member Assembler and move to use PayPal as the credit card processor.

We Love CSAs

We love the CSA concept -- I've helped start and manage a CSA farm, been a member of a number of CSA programs, and seen the logistical issues of complex CSA programs in my experience delivering CSA boxes for Penns Corner Farm Alliance which collects products from 25 farms in the Pittsburgh area, packs CSA boxes, and then delivers them across the city.

Keep up the hard work this year - I know the CSA delivery season has just started for most of you. Another 20 weeks, give or take, left! We'll keep working for you to make sure the Member Assembler continues to improve and can become an even more useful tool for your CSA.