Virtual Farming
Water the pigs, write a blog post, move the cattle, update facebook, feed the chickens, create a logo, mow the lawn, work on the website and on and on and on. Local, sustainable farming can be lucrative (I might be using that word a bit loosely) but it's going to take direct-marketing to do so. And it's not easy. The learning curve for sustainable farming is STEEP but add direct-marketing into the mix and it's downright ridiculous!
As you can tell, most of our initial marketing has been internet-based because, if for no other reason, it's cheap and easy easier. As we have more products to sell, we will expand to farmer's market and other venues and try additional advertising avenues (like newspapers). It's just such an interesting melding of new and old. Most of our agricultural practices are those of our grandparents and their parents, yet our marketing activities are more in tune with junior high kids! In fact hiring one to blog, tweet, update, and chat wouldn't be a bad idea.
At the end of the day though, focusing on the quality of your products and the quality of your relationships with your customers will be the keys to long term success. And those values transcend generations.
(FYI, we'll be working on our virtual farm over the holiday weekend and hope to have some neat new stuff to show you next week!)
