New Field Farm – Temple, New Hampshire

A fuller explanation about online market

Greetings,

When I sent out individual emails I didn’t want to clutter them up with too much information. Now for the clutter.

Here’s why I’m making the change and some more details about how it will work.

The online market had been set up 10 years ago as a kind of offshoot of our main market in Newton, Ma. We grew enough for Newton and then some and the surplus was available for the online market. That’s more or less how it worked and as a result we didn’t have to require a definite commitment from online market members. Now without Newton (after 29 years there it was time to stop) that no longer works. In order to know how much to grow I need to know how many people want to join at a certain level of payment. With that information I can use the sales records from the website for the past nine years to get a good idea about how much to plant. And then I’ll plant more to be safe.

If there’s enough interest then this will work. If not, then it’s back to the drawing board. I’m asking people to respond by next month – by October 15th – so I’ll know if the market will happen and I can start planning and ordering. And if it doesn’t look like it can happen then I can let everyone know and you can start figuring out an alternative for next season sooner than later. But hopefully this will work, one way or another!

Meanwhile, I’ve already heard from some people whose helpful questions and comments have led to some tweaking of the membership structure. The shares now begin at $200 and increase in $50 increments up to an unlimited amount (In theory. In fact I suppose we would cap a share at $5000. Any takers?) And I’ve eliminated the limited number of shares per membership level.

And to clarify in response to one person’s question, when you make your payments before the season begins they go into your account on the website. The balance is reduced each time you order until your account is empty. It’s possible you could add additional funds and continue to order, but there’s no guarantee that will work and at this point it’s safer to assume that that won’t be the case.

In terms of ordering, the market will work just as it has in the past. You go to the website, see what’s available, and then order what you want at the price listed.

That’s it for now. This is a work in progress so as always your questions and comments are welcome. For more details see the Q and A section of the website. http://newfield.locallygrown.net/faq (sorry if this isn’t a live link)

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Tim