Green Machine Farm

As I wrote about before, we’ve been hard at work getting our farmers market trailer up and running.  It’s nearly there.

After a lot of strategic cutting, caulking and cursing the dairyboard walls and ceiling are all finished. The linoleum floors are all done too. Very spiffy.

Meanwhile, up in the nose of the trailer, the magic happens. That’s a nice little electrical outlet (110v) and light that we’ll use to power our freezer and refrigerator.

There is a corresponding outlet on the outside of the trailer that allows us to plug in to a power source with an extension cord.
While we’re on the road we are supposed to be plugged into a generator, so the freezers are always on. We got our hands on a nice little Honda generator, but we’ve got nowhere to put it while on the road.

But after one sheet of expanded steel, two pieces of angle iron and some crappy welding (mine), we’ve got a place to put just such a generator.

After being postponed once last week due to 14″ of snow, we finally got our appointment with the MDA inspector. She spent approximately 5 seconds looking at the trailer and gave it her stamp of approval. She jotted down the make and model of our fridge and freezer, took my $85 check and issued our Mobile Retail Food Handlers License.

And with that, we’re ready for market and moving on down the to-do list.

Amidst the flurry of activity that is a new farm in the beginning of spring, we have managed to get our hands on a new trailer.

It’s a pretty basic 6′x10′ enclosed trailer, and it ought to work just fine for our purposes.  Unfortunately, they don’t exactly sell them all done up in a way that’ll pass muster with the MDA.  We’ve got a bit of work to do to get the trailer up to snuff.

The inside walls are finished in Luan, with some little luan strips covering up the gaps where the panels meet. That’s all well and good, but the MDA requires a non-porous easily-cleaned surface.
In order to get this new non-porous surface to go on smoothly, I promptly broke out some tools and proceeded to tear up the nice new trailer.

With all the luan strips out of the way, the FSB (or dairyboard) can go on a bit easier.  We’re installing the diaryboard over the luan panels with plenty of construction adhesive and several stainless-steel screws per panel.  I bought several packages of the pound-in plastic rivets for fastening dairyboard, but quickly decided that it’d be a pain in the butt to have to drill a hole for every fastener I wanted to put in.  Stainless self-tapping sheet metal screws go in much faster, and being stainless, are just dandy for a food facility.

It’s less than halfway done, but we’ve got the bulk of the ceiling done, which is the hard part. Dairyboard is a real pain to work with, because it’s relatively heavy for something so thin. That means that if you ever try to pick it up above your head, it does it’s best to curl down around you from all 4 corners. Putting dairyboard up on a ceiling is most certainly a two-man job.  Cutting diaryboard isn’t much easier.  It has too much fiber (FRP stands for Fiber Reinforced Plastic) to score and snap easily, and cutting thin plastic with a circular saw is always a crap shoot.  I quickly settled on the electric power shears, which cut through the stuff like butter.

So, that’s some stuff I’ve been doing.

Now we’ve just got to finish up the diaryboard, put linoleum on the floor, get it wired up with a 110v outlet and light, get a generator, and get it all inspected.

No sweat.

Well the animals are all here now, so it’s time to get all the stuff for the farmers markets in order.  We’ve got our markets lined up: Zumbrota, Red Wing and Eagan.  Now to get the trailer all squared away that we’ll need.

According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) a farmer doesn’t need a license to sell meat from their own animals, as long as 100% of the ingredients come from the farm.  They will need to keep the meat in a NSF (commercial) Freezer that’s plugged in at all times.

We will be selling meat from our own animals, but we’ll also be selling a few things like bacon and sausage that have a few ingredients that don’t come from our farm, like salt and spices.  In the MDA’s eyes, this means that we need to have a Mobile Retail Food Handlers Permit.

Having talked to a few MDA inspectors, I’ve learned that we’ll need the following:

• Enclosed trailer (or box truck, van, etc.)
• Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP or dairyboard) to cover the walls and ceiling of the trailer
• Vinyl tile or similar easily washable flooring for the trailer
• Commercial Freezer to store the beef, pork and chicken
• Commercial refrigerator to store the eggs.
• Generator to run the freezer and refrigerator while we’re on the road.

Today I got two of those knocked out.

I drove over to Winona and picked up this commercial chest freezer that I found on Craigslist.

It’s got a couple of dings, and the casters on the bottom need to be replaced, but it’s clean and most importantly, it works.
Commercial chest freezers are actually kinda hard to find. Most restaurant supply places have upright freezers, which in addition to being inefficient, are too tall to fit in a trailer.
This particular freezer only draws 5 amps max. That’s 575 watts, which means that you could comfortably run two freezers and a refrigerator on a 2000 watt generator.

On my way home I stopped by a home improvement store and picked up 7 sheets of FRP, which everyone around here calls Dairyboard, and all the accoutrements that we’ll need to install it in the trailer.

The FRP is required to make the trailer into, essentially, a retail food establishment. As with any restaurant or store that sells food, the walls and floor have to be easily sanitized. Since most trailers have plywood walls, they need to be covered up with FRP to pass muster with the MDA.

Anyhow, it’s two down, three to go. We’re on the hunt for a trailer next week, and I’m following a few leads on a refrigerator and generator. It’s a lot to get done in the next month, but we can’t sell much without it.

Last night was the 2nd annual Fayette Farmers Market Farm-to-Table dinner.

We got an early start on the festivities, with most of us starting to set everything up around 1:00, but Joseph had already been at it for hours.

As we got all the tables and place-settings set up, they even conned me into helping out.

In spite of my assistance, I think everything sure ended up looking nice! We all have Joseph to thank for that.

And the menu sure looked nice as well.

Much to our chagrin, a few of us guys, myself and Derek Bryant were tasked with manning the wine and beer table. We were nearly despondent with grief.

By 6:00 all of the folks had arrived and we sat down to eat. But first Kristen O’Dell, the market manager, let everyone know which farm each dish came from.

After dinner it ended up cooling off and getting a bit chilly out. The adults kept warm by hanging around the fire and socializing.

The kids….
Well, they kept warm the way that kids do. By playing around in the yard and on the zipline as if it were 75 degrees and sunny.

Thanks everyone for coming out, we hope you enjoyed yourselves!

So we’ve been making plans for the on-farm store in Minnesota.  There is a small garage-type building right next to the house that looks ideal for the purpose, but it needs a bit of work, specifically, a new roof.

We’ve been thinking of an on-farm store for a while now, and that’s part of the reason we chose this farm in Zumbrota.  It’s close to town, and right off the highway, making it convenient for our customers to get to our store.

Just think of all the times we won’t have to load everything in the truck, drive to the farmers market, setup, sell, take-down, drive home and finally, unload.

But there are a few less-obvious benefits of an on-farm store as well.

The first and foremost of these is the lower regulatory burden and it’s attendant benefits.

Selling your eggs to a Restaurant or Grocery Store? You’ll need to Candle, Grade, Pack and Label your eggs.  And you’ll get paid a (lower) wholesale price for them.

Selling at the Farmers Market? You’ll still need to Candle and Pack them, but you’ll at least get a retail price for them.

Selling at your on-farm store?  There aren’t any of those restrictions. Lower regulatory burden means we can offer lower prices too.  We’re planning on offering eggs from the farm-store at $3/dozen.  The same eggs sold at the farmers market will be $3.25 or $3.50 to account for the added costs.

Keep in mind that this example is just for eggs, but holds true for many different product categories such as poultry, dairy and canned or processed foods.

With on-farm poultry and dairy, there are opportunities that simply don’t exist for farmers selling off the farm.  There is simply no legal way for a consumer to buy raw milk or a chicken that was processed on-farm from a farmer who is selling at a farmers market or through a grocery store.  Consumers get more choice and better prices, and the farmer gets more time to actually farm.

There is a bit of a sticking point with an on-farm store, and that is the big question: Manned or Unmanned?

We’ve been leaning toward Unmanned, and it seems that we’re in good company.  While theft is always a bit of a concern, a large company has just helped us out by doing a bit of an experiment with the honor system.

This summer, Honest Tea conducted experiments in 30 cities to test people’s honesty.
We set up unmanned pop-up stores and asked people to pay $1 per bottle on the honor system.
Data was collected and we compiled our findings into the National Honesty Index.

Note that the worst performance was a pay-rate of 61%  (Detroit) with only two cities coming in under 80%.  The average pay-rate seems to hover just below 95%.

I can live with that.

More importantly, I can make a living with that.

Ok, quick!  Think of the last thing you bought from someone’s farm.

What did their logo look like? What color(s) was it?  What did their text look like?

If they’re like most small farmers, you probably can’t remember.  Maybe they didn’t have a logo at all, and maybe it was just pretty “blah” to look at so you forgot all about it.

You want your logo and farm name,which should be part of your logo, on everything.  Your logo is the way to get your farm name out there, to get your customers to associate your product (a tangible thing) with your farm (an intangible entity). This is what they call “branding.” Your brand is the idea that is in your customers head, about what your farm and your products are about.  This idea all starts with your farm name.

Farm names come in roughly 4 different categories (at least according to me).

1. Geographical – describing a place or landmarke.g. Windy Hill Farm
2. Personal – describing a person, usually the proprietore.g. Smith Farm
3. Conceptual – describing an idea e.g. Pastoral Fantasyland Acres
4. Hybrid – a mix of any of the above

So which one of these types of names are best?  There is no best, but there sure might be one that suits you a lot better then the others.  I have a general rule of thumb that says to look at what the majority of people around you are doing, and don’t do what they do.  For farmers, this means usually staying away from geographical names unless you have a darn good reason for doing so. If I had a dime for every geographical farm name, I could afford a pretty nice farm of my own.  If you’re trying to come up with a name only use a geographic name if you have a place or landmark that is truly historic or meaningful.

So how about personal names? Personal names are great, unless you have a funky name that a majority of people are going to have a hard time with.  Even so, feel free to have a little fun with names. Nicknames, ironies and oxymorons are all fair game.

Conceptual names can be the best of all (in my opinion) when done correctly.  Conceptual names need to convey an idea that is central to your philosophy/story.  To do it right, you’ll have to distill your entire philosophy down into a very few words.  Shoehorning a big idea down into a few measly words is tough, but totally worth it.

Hybrid names?  Well, it’s anything that doesn’t fit comfortably into the other three.

So, if you already have a farm name then you’re in good shape.  Stick with the name you’ve got.  There’s no use changing horses mid-stream.

If you’re trying to come up with a name, start by listing a few ideas, themes, or categories that you’d like to have in the name.  For example, I used “Agriculture” “Environmental” “Industrial”

Then as fast as you can, write down every word you can possibly think of within those categories.  Don’t censor yourself during this process, write it down even if it sounds stupid,  try to get down as many words as possible.

It also helps to write down as many different words for “Farm” as you can think of.  (Ranch, Gardens, Acres, Pastures, etc.)

Once you’ve got your lists of words, look through them and start coming up with some combinations that you like.  That should at least give you a starting point for coming up with a name.

Now if you have any artistic leanings whatsoever (stick-figures totally count) start doodling based off the same word list, and see if you can’t find a few images that work together. If you don’t have any artistic skills, go to our good friend google and start looking for pictures that you like related to those words.

Here’s my first sketch of what would become my logo. For someone who’s been around cattle for half his life, I sure can’t draw them very convincingly.

Now we have a name and ideas for a logo, it’s time for the last piece of the puzzle, a typeface.

Typefaces or Fonts are an often overlooked and abused tool for conveying meaning.  A well-chosen font can help reinforce the message that your name and logo are sending.  Start hitting all the free-font internet sites and browse to your hearts content.  Make sure that you’re picking a font that compliments the “feel” that you’re going for (e.g. clean & modern, old-timey, rustic, earthy, etc.)  Jot down the names of any fonts you like, and download them on your computer.

Using your new fonts, type out your farm name in a word-editing program and see which ones you like.  Remember your Shakespeare: Discretion is the better part of valor.  Use the most subtle font that still conveys that feel that you’re going for.  You’re trying to convey your message, not beat people over the head with it.

At top are the two fonts I ended up using: BorisBlackBloxx and Avenir.

Ok, one more choice to go.  Color(s).  For reasons that will be explained later, it is usually cheapest to stick with a 1-color logo.  To make it cheaper still, stick to a common PMS color.   What’s a PMS color?  Well, it’s not that important right now, it’s a printing thing.  But if any of those common colors look good to you, pick it and stick to it.  You’ll thank me later.

Here is my color: PMS 3425 – Kelly Green.

Anyway, it’s at this point that for-real, professional software is needed.  We’re talking about the good stuff, Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.   If you have these programs and know how to use them, then get to work!

If you don’t have the programs, or the know-how to use them, don’t worry.  There are people around you who do.  Pay them to do the work, it’s worth it.   Look around for a commercial printer, screen-print shop, or a sign & banner place.  They’ll usually have a small staff of designers who can design you something for $60-120.

Take in your sketches or pictures from Google, your farm name, any fonts you have chosen, your color preferences and let them do their work.

Next Time: Branding consistently.

Marketing.

Yeah, it sounds like one of those dirty corporate words to me too. Yuck.

But, lets face facts, farms are businesses.  If we really hope to be sustainable, that means financially sustainable (AKA: profitable) too. And there are few businesses out there that get to profitability without doing a little marketing.

The problem is that most small farmers are terrible marketers.  They are not alone in this.  In fact, most small business owners are terrible marketers, but farmers in general seem to have a few unique obstacles to overcome.

Small sustainable farmers tend to have an almost visceral disgust of marketing.  I can’t blame them because I too share that disgust in some cases.  But we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Marketing is a very basic business tool and can be used for good as well as for evil.

Marketing: Noun

1. Selling of Products or Services: the business activity of presenting products or services in such a way as to make them desirable

So like it or not, we engage in marketing every time we go to a farmers market or talk to a customer.  We are engaged in marketing when we attempt to describe our farm, our process, and our products to anyone.  Heck, if you’re anything like most of the farmers I know you probably love talking to your customers about your farm. We love to tell our story.

The problem is, while most of us farmers are fairly engaging on a personal level, we don’t expand our story into our wider presence very well.  I rarely go to a farmers market and see a stall that really has a well-defined, unified look that tells the customer who they are, or what they’re about.   Remember, there are a lot of people out there who are intimidated or uncomfortable initiating conversation with strangers, so we need to be able to get our message across without necessarily speaking.  Even those customers that you do speak with have started to form opinions about you before they even start to strike up a conversation.

If you are selling products in a retail store, where you the farmer are not there to tell your story, then your marketing is even more important.  You cannot tell the story, so your product, packaging and sinage has to tell it for you.  Worse yet, your message has to compete with the messages of Tyson, Land ‘O Lakes, Dole and all the rest of the big food companies. With that kind of competition we can’t afford to have bad marketing, we need better marketing to accomplish our goals of creating a better local food economy.

As you may know, I am about to embark on a move up North, and probably will not be able to farm full time for the next year.  I still think that I can leverage some of my experience to help other beginning (and established) farmers to get their marketing house in order.  I have worked for 5 years as a Graphic Designer at two printing companies, so I’ve seen every mistake in the book from our local clients.  Save yourself some trial-and-error and learn from their mistakes.

So here are the biggest problems that I typically see with farmers marketing:

• Bad identity design
• Inconsistent identity / brand
• Failure to describe benefit
• Failure to use technology

Now that we know what’s wrong, stay tuned as we fix these 4 problems.

First up, Identity design.