The big news here at Fresh Earth Farms is the arrival of 32 new baby chicks. It has been about two years since we last got baby chicks and those old ladies are just not producing eggs the way we’d like them to. So, to mix things up a bit, we brought in some young guns to shake up the old ladies. Hopefully these new arrivals will persuade the old hens to start earning their keep!
Now for something completely different. Farming today is wholly unlike it was 11 years ago. Back then all you needed was land and a dial-up internet connection. Now you need land, a high-speed internet connection, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a Tumblr blog, a WordPress website, a Google map, a Google calendar and a YouTube channel. Who would have ever thought farming in the 21st century would be so complicated?
Well, we finally have all of these. Pretty impressive huh? I’m sure these will need to be added to as other new social media channels come along (Pinterest anyone?) but for now we are limiting our electronic footprint to these half dozen or so things. What does that mean to you? I have no idea. But now you get to choose how you want to receive information from the farm. Here is how I see us using these internet thingies.
All our films will be posted on our YouTube channel. We will link to them from Facebook, Tumblr and probably in our newsletters. Anything posted to Facebook generates a tweet on our Twitter page. We will use our web site for newsletters, recipes, weekly produce pictures, event calendar and general information about the farm. Posts to our web page can be sent to you via email or RSS though I don’t think updates to the calendar are sent. Newsletters and weekly share produce pictures will be cross-posted to Facebook (with an automatic tweet on twitter). More frequent pictures (usually daily during the season but less frequently in the off-season) will be posted to Facebook and Tumblr (but not the web site since this could overwhelm people’s email in-boxes) again with an automated tweet. The calendar on our web site will be kept current; today it has all farm events as well as our anticipated pick-up/delivery dates/times. I’m thinking it might be time to hire a fulltime social media coordinator. We will use plain-old email for information not intended for general availability.
So what should you the member do? I have no clue. At the very least make sure you read the weekly (during the season)/periodic (during the off-season) newsletters found on our web site (or sent via email or RSS or cross-posted to Facebook with an automatic tweet on twitter). These newsletters contain all the vital and interesting information from the farm. All other avenues for information are up to you to decide what you want to see.
Speaking of social media, this would be a good time to remind you of some of the events scheduled this season. The first event is the potato planting (potatoe for all you Dan Quayle fans) on April 20th @ 2:00 PM followed by a potluck dinner and bonfire. I suppose this would be a good time to start asking for RSVPs.
The other event I want to mention is the First Annual Fresh Earth Farms Fall Film Fest (FAFEFFFF) on Saturday September 7th. I want to mention it now so that you can start making or finding films. My hope is this is a grand success that results in many more FEFFFFs. To make it a success we all need to submit films. And as a threat, if I don’t get any submissions I will be showing baby chick films for many, many hours. So get to work on your films or find some from the internet!
Other than that it is mostly planting and watering in the greenhouse. We have all the alliums planted (that would be onions, leeks and shallots), Brussels sprouts, the first round of broccoli, and a bunch of herbs. This week will be more brassicas (cauliflower, cabbage), hot peppers and other things.
Don’t forget to send in payment for your shares. Also let me know if you want to add any of the other nutritious, delicious shares (cheese, fruit, salmon, meat, coffee, herbs, flowers, winter). Pricing is on our web site.
As always, feel free to contact me with questions, comments, video links, etc.