Resources for the New Farmer

The FamilyFarmed.org 2006 Expo was a joyous and fascinating event for me. I'll cover more of the details soon, as well as post about the urban farm I visited in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday.

This post is devoted solely to the resources presented from our panel, "The New Grapevine: Connect Your Farm to a Greater Community with New Media." I took some notes during the conference, and those thoughts are included in the information here.

First of all, I have not covered EatFeed's presentation on podcasting, which was extensive and fascinating). You can obtain information by e-mailing Mia Littlejohn, their marketing director. (She will perhaps post them at the EatFeed site. I'll let you know.) The host of Anne Bramley gave such a nice presentation—it was wonderful to meet her and hear her voice. EatFeed is offering a wonderful partnership for small farms to build a network via their site. (I'm sorry I can't post more details. Trust me: if you have a small farm, check it out.)

Today's farmers need to be versatile in their work: no longer is back-breaking hard work enough to guarantee the success of your small farm. Happily, however, technology that didn't exist a few years ago can help you promote your farm, by getting your name and brand and identity into the world. If you ask me, it's all about the faces and places. That, and that alone, is the reason I love farms so much, and the reason I blog.

As Paul pointed out, one thing to consider about blogging is that the effort you put into producing a newsletter could instead go into building a blog.

Newsletters are a one-way street. Blogging is collaborative: your customers can put their recipes into the comments section, and then you have built a body of work that sustains not only your clients, but yourselves, as farmers. Your clients can come and "visit" you, and you'll get some feedback that is instantly shared with your whole community.

Successful farming is requires community and networking. Blogs and Platial maps enhance the experience mightily. Read on.

The panel started off with a stellar presentation by Paul McCann, of KIPLog (Knowledge Is Power) known to food bloggers as an über-blogger, who has actually gone to all the trouble of listing every food blog known to humankind. Paul gave an extremely well-organized Powerpoint presentation that walked everyone through the process of signing up for, and creating, a blog. It was dynamic and thorough, and I think the whole group breathed a collective sigh of relief, like, "Hey, I can do that!"

Paul's how-to presentation has been distilled, and you can find it here.

MY ADDITIONAL NOTES AND RESOURCES:

• FOR A WEBSITE OR BLOG

A. Where to get listed
B. Domain registration (definition and suggestions)
C. How to pick a good domain name (if it isn't obvious)
D. Domain hosting (definition and suggestions)
E. Blog hosts (why I chose Typepad, that is)

• PLATIAL MAPS

Creating maps: what and why

• CAFE PRESS

Printed products with your logo or photos: how and why

• DESIGN RESOURCES & TIPS

Fonts
Design resources
Tips: just a few thoughts
Photography

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FOR A WEBSITE OR BLOG

A. WHERE TO GET YOURSELF LISTED
Besides the ones listed on Paul's site, all farmers should get yourselves a free listing at LocalHarvest.org. Local Harvest, if you don't already know, is a database of over 7000 farms and other businesses devoted to food and farm products, searchable by zip code, product, and other parameters. It's one of the best resources online that I've ever seen, and is probably my single favorite website ever.

DOMAIN REGISTRATION AND DOMAIN HOSTING: Geek alert. You don't need to comprehend every word I'm saying here—I will explain the terms.

B. DOMAIN REGISTRATION
"Domain registration" is rather like the U.S. Postal Service, in that they need to know where you (or, in this case, your website files) "live." Your website is assigned an address, and your domain host will house your files (HTML pages and images, for example) on a "server." This server has a very specific, often very geeky-sounding, address that is different than your domain name. The address is configured with a "name server," and these are unique to your domain host.

For domain registration, I use Hostway.com exclusively: it's only $6.95 a year. If you want to register your domain name (e.g., www.MyHappyFarm.com), you don't have to build a website or pay for hosting. Hostway.com allows you to enter a forwarding address (URL), and several farmers I know just point their URL (www.MyHappyFarm.com) to their Local Harvest listing. (Go here to register a domain name.)

The advantage here is that you can have business cards printed and look professional, have an easily-remembered domain name, and tell your customers, "Just go to 'MyHappyFarm.com.' " Hostway will automatically redirect all traffic to your Local Harvest listing, or to your blog, if that's what you're choosing to do. Of course, you can only forward to one address, so choose wisely.

NEVER use Network Solutions to register your domain. They are usuriously priced, and are one of the most inefficient companies I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with. I've been online for seventeen years, and no single company has ever given me more agony than Network Solutions, whom I freely call "Nitwit Solutions" and "NotWork Solutions." My verdict: they are the Seventh Circle of Hell. Use them at your peril.

I likewise will not ever do business again with GoDaddy.com, since on four occasions, they admonished and threatened me with terminating one of my clients' accounts, claiming that we were spamming. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I spend at least a half an hour a day shutting down spammers via SpamCop.net, and that I consider stopping spammers my community service. GoDaddy really blew it by making these egregious charges, in a "guilty until proven innocent" way, and I subsequently moved all my clients away from them. I know others may have had good experiences, and if it had happened only once, I'd have forgiven it.

C. HOW TO PICK A GOOD DOMAIN NAME
My advice is to choose something memorable and easy. Lots of farms have unique names, but you might need to add a word or two if the domain name you want isn't available. For example, "MyHappyFarm.com" isn't available, but your farm is located in Iowa. See if you can score "MyHappyFarmIowa.com" instead. Be logical, and don't have something with thirteen thousand characters for people to type. If there's a doubt, ask yourselves, what is easiest to remember? Try to avoid something you have to spell for people, unless that's just how it is. Domain names are often transmitted verbally, and as such, they need to make sense.

D. DOMAIN HOSTING
(You will NOT need hosting if you are going to use a free blogging site, such as Blogspot. You will need hosting if you intend to build your own website.)

Think of "domain hosting" as the actual house you live in. Not you, but your files.

Every website is built of pages, and might contain images, movies, Flash presentations, etcetera. All those files need a place to live, and they are hosted (or housed) on "servers" (computers) all over the world. If you move hosts, you have to file the equivalent of a "change of address" form, as your "name servers" will be changing. You will then inform your domain registrar, "Hey, my files are over here now!"

If you are going to blog, check out Paul's site for hosts who have the proper software already installed.

For website hosting, I can recommend WebHost4Life ($4.95/month with small set-up fees).

E. BLOG HOSTS
I chose Typepad, and paid for their second-tier hosting, since the look of my blog was very important to me. I wanted the freedom to customize it some, and knew that the interface was elegant and professional-looking. There is so much to learn about customizing my blog that I have barely begun to scratch the surface. It's not like HTML, where I put things where I want them to be.

I know many bloggers who are happy with their free hosting, and more power to them. I needed Typepad. You might not. Paul's site has other options, but I am unfamiliar with them.

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PLATIAL MAPS

Oh, how I love maps.

You have a farm, right? You might make a map for:
• the restaurants who buy your produce
• the farmers markets you attend
• your CSA drop-off spots
• where you get your seeds
• you name it (where your children were born, where you apprenticed, your friends' farms, etc.)

I am currently adding to my own Chefs and Farms map. Platial's free, and I heartily encourage its use.

Some tips:
• Create your map name before you start sticking pins in the map. (I learned the hard way.)
• When I click "Add a place to this map," I usually use the "We can help you find it" feature, since Google already knows about so many places. E.g., at "What is this place called?", I type in "Frontera Grill." Then I input the entire address: "431 N Wells St, Chicago, IL" (you don't really need the zip code, but try adding it if Google doesn't know the place).
• Google found Frontera Grill, so I click "Add this place." Depending on who created the listing ("system" means it already existed via Google, you might also see a Platial username as the creator), you can either create from scratch or modify your Platial listing.
• In creating the listings for restaurants, I try to use their own copy in the "Description" section. Ditto their own images, unless I happen to have better photos. (When I list farms, I often have prettier photos than those that exist online. I don't think the farmers mind me using my photos, since it's all about showing the world how beautiful farms are, right?)
• You can easily click "Grab this place" if you find a listing that's already been created.
• You can add your farm name to the "tags" that are created. For example, you sell produce to Avec restaurant. Add "my happy farm" (to use a generic example) to the tags on a listing. Add "organic" or "supports local farms," too, if you would, please. Then I'll grab your places and add them to my Chefs and Farms map.

Platial is very collaborative. Again, you are expanding your community with another dimension to networking. And as much as I love LocalHarvest, Platial has the advantage of providing streets and even driving directions.

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CAFE PRESS
No longer is it necessary to have a budget set aside to print hats or t-shirts or tote bags with your farm's logo. Cafe Press has revolutionized the business of self-promotion by allowing you to create an account, upload artwork, and create products bearing your artwork. They will not only print these products, but they ship them for you. You don't have to manage an inventory or anything. Hallelujah!

If you are offering more than one product with a single design, you will need to pay a small fee ($6.95/month) to use multiple products in this way. (This would probably qualify as a deductible marketing expense on your taxes.)

I won't go into a huge tutorial here, but loosely what you need to create is 300dpi, RGB color (or black and white) artwork, aka a "PNG file" (I create mine in Photoshop), uploaded to your "Image Basket." Through trial and error, I learned that not all products are ideal for artwork. Mugs and coffee cups, for example, required me to move the artwork to the right of center, so that it wasn't opposite the handle. I even created artwork that was left of center, and thus actually created some left-handed coffee mugs. (Yes, I am that obssessive.)

Another great thing about Cafe Press is the tech support they provide to their customers. They are just great.

I have two Cafe Press stores: one for food and one for my own offbeat stuff.

GastroGear.com ("Because cooking naked hurts") is food/farm themed.
GetShirty.net is for everything else.

(Note that both of those URLs are automatically forwarded to Cafe Press: I don't have actual websites devoted to them, and am not paying for web hosting. Clever, eh?)

If you are serious about your designs, make sure to order/print one before you print a bunch: you might have quality issues if your artwork isn't to the correct specifications. Also, when applicable, choose DIRECT PRINTING over HEAT TRANSFER, as the heat transfer process is inferior. (Live and learn.)

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DESIGN RESOURCES & TIPS

Fonts: Someone at the presentation asked me which fonts you can use for food designs. (The fonts have pictures instead of letters.) Some of the names: Counterscraps and FancyFoodPics. You can find free fonts at 1001FreeFonts.com and a zillion other sites. Look for font themes, too.

Design resources: I once paid for a week at ClipArt.com and downloaded Dover black and white clip art like mad. This is royalty-free art, and you can make handsome designs which evoke another era, by including "dover" in your search, and unchecking the box for "color" art. This will result in a higher number of woodcuts, and woodcuts can make attractive artwork. (Says me.)

Design tips (for the do-it-yourself'ers)
• Don't use a script font in all capital letters. Don't. Just don't.
• Don't mix up a bunch of fonts. Three per page is usually the limit. Don't use two script fonts on one page, either.
• There is a balance between having a fast load time on your site, and having big pictures. I usually offer a thumbnail, with a clue in a caption as to how big the picture will be, should someone choose to click on it.
• You don't have to hire a local web designer. Find someone you trust, whose work you like. Hammer out a price. (I often work on a payment plan with clients.) Don't be afraid to ask for references, and e-mail those clients to find out if they were happy with the way the project went.
• You get what you pay for, for the most part. I am probably in the upper-middle of pricing, but I offer a completely professional services. I am a copywriter, a natural editor and proofreader, have a good eye, do pretty work, and have been designing sites for over ten years. If you get e-mails from a designer who can't spell, beware. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to have an attractive site, if you're trying to show people your beautiful farm.
• There are some nice templates out there for building websites, but I can't point them out to you as I have never used them. (Sorry.) This might be a cheaper alternative to having to design a whole site.
• Find sites you like and ask for the designer's name. Maybe they can use an existing site as a template for your own, and just change out colors and other elements to customize it for you. I've done this for a few clients, and it saves money. Hey, if you have a simple navigation, why not use it?

Photography
• FamilyFarmed.org has a good PDF to download called "Photo Tips for Farmers" (72K PDF).
• People are always asking me for camera recommendations. I love the Canon Powershot cameras for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost: the viewfinder on the back swings out and pivots. You can easily shoot underneath things or overhead. No other line of cameras offers this feature! You'll find it on these:

Canon Powershot Pro1 (8 megapixels): this is the camera I use
Canon Powershot A620 (7 megapixels)
Canon Powershot G6 (7 megapixels)
Canon Powershot A95 (5 megapixels)
Canon Powershot S2 IS (5 megapixels)
Canon Powershot A610 (5 megapixels)

What the photos don't make apparent is that the viewfinder swivels. Everyone I know who has one of these cameras loves that feature tremendously, and most say, "I'll never have another camera that doesn't have one of these on it."

You can compare cameras and features at DPReview.com (Digital Photography Review).

Finally, you might want to read this discussion of digital cameras at my food forum (MouthfulsFood.com): Digital Camera Recommendations. There is way too much information there to post it all here.

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Okay, that's all I can think of now, but I will note in my blog if I amend this post with other resources. For now, go get 'em, Tiger!

Thought for the day: "My friends, it is all a matter of education, of education toward community." —Robert Ley

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I LOVE YOU FARMERS. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!

Coming up next: more about the Expo, and a visit to a farm in Milwaukee.