150 acres in Escondido, sixteen farmers markets, thirty-one pickup sites.
A market stand that nearly doubled the CSA in twelve months.
Most of JR's members met them at a market first. They taste something, come back, and join. From then on their box is waiting at the stand, even after everything else has sold.
Forty years of reputation. One place to run it from.
15 minutes with Ari, our founder and a farmer.
They basically fall in love with our produce here.
Michael Clark · JR Organics Farm · Escondido, CA
Watch the interview"Hey farmhand,
can you…"
Michael texts what he needs. Someone on the Farmhand team does it and texts back, usually before the stand is packed down.
Sixteen markets means something changes almost every week. Most of it fits in a sentence.
See what he runs ↓The reputation is forty years old. The marketing is ours to run.
JR built the reputation over forty years of market Saturdays. Farmhand runs everything that puts it in front of people: the whole website, the weekly blog, Nextdoor ads in the neighborhoods around each market, and the member emails.
- The whole websiteFarmhand builds and maintains jrorganicsfarm.com, so a new pickup site or a closed market is live the same day it changes.
- Nextdoor ads with somewhere to landThe ads point at a page built for them. "Try Your First Farm Box, $10 Off," code NEXTDOOR, with both box types one tap away.
- The weekly box blog, with recipesThe member email becomes a post on their site every week, recipes included. Somebody deciding whether to join can see exactly what shows up and how to cook it.
- Reply-to-buy flash salesMembers text back a number and that many are added to their next box, without opening a shop or a cart.
Twenty new members in sixty days, from one Nextdoor ad and a $10 code.
Regular, Small, or built item by item.
Two box types, three intervals, and thirty-one places to collect. Members set it at signup and change it whenever the household changes.
- Farmer's ChoiceEleven or twelve items in a regular box, seven or eight in a small, chosen by the farmer. $30 to $45 depending on size and prepay.
- Custom Box$40 of the member's own picks, weekly or every other week. $36 to $40 depending on how many they prepay.
- Fruit ExpansionA $10 fruit share added on top of any box, for members who want more than the vegetables.
- Delivered, or collectedTo the door, or from any of thirty-one pickup sites. Some sites run weekly and some every other week, and the signup says which.
- Prepay and the price comes downOne box at a time, or 2, 4, 6, or 12 at once.
Twelve boxes prepaid takes a Regular from $45 to $37.
The stand is open one morning. The shop is open all week.
The same produce that sells out at the stand is listed online, so a member can order ahead and collect it at the market. That is why a two o'clock arrival still gets what they came for.
- 64 items across ten categoriesProduce, fruit, herbs, lettuce, flowers, holiday, prepared food and merch, all from the same 150 acres.
- Bulk sizes for people who put food upKirby cucumbers at $6 for 18oz, $25 for five pounds, $40 for ten. Lemons run $7 for two pounds up to $28 for ten.
- More than vegetablesDragon fruit at $10 a pound, dried flower bouquets $18, eucalyptus wreaths $50, strawberry jam $12.
- Ordered online, collected at the standThe order is set aside before the crowd arrives, so it survives a busy Saturday morning.
Sold out by two o'clock, and their order is still under the table.
His members get an answer. He gets his Saturday back.
Members ask where the box is, whether they can skip next week, or why a card was declined. Those questions land with Farmhand, so the stand stays clear through a market rush.
- A person repliesMembers write in directly. Someone on the Farmhand team works it out and confirms back, often inside the half hour.
- Skips and holdsA member going out of town pauses their own box before the cutoff without asking anyone at the farm.
- Cards that fail get retriedIf it fails again the member gets a branded notice with a link to fix it, so nobody chases a neighbor for money.
- Credits without an invoiceWhen a market closes or an item falls short, credit goes on the account and the member is told why.
Every box is spoken for before it is packed.
Farmhand turns the week's orders into a harvest list and a set of routes, then keeps the members on a late run posted.
- Harvest report by siteOrder summary, packing labels, packing slips and sign-out sheets, generated from the week's orders before anyone walks into the field.
- Zones with names78 Corridor, Coast, Fallbrook, Central San Carlos, Valley Center, the Market Van. Each with its own stops, mileage and drive time.
- Running late is a statusA route behind schedule is flagged, with re-optimize and a delay notification one tap away.
- Proof of deliveryThe driver marks each stop complete with a photo of the box where it was left.
- Substitution noticesWhen a field finishes, the orders carrying that item are found by product and told before pickup day.
The sweet potato field finished in August. Every affected order was credited that day.
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Honestly, just stay consistent.
Asked what nearly doubled the CSA, Michael pointed at the box: good quality every week, the best of what is available, and letting the flavor do the rest.
The stand, the box, and the CSA behind both
Michael at the Little Italy market on how shoppers become members, and why their items are waiting even when the stand is bare.
Watch the interview
Sixteen Markets a Week: The Case for Still Doing Them
Farms are split on whether markets are still worth it. Here's the argument from one doing sixteen a week.
Read the playbook
Next storyHowling Fresh FarmCSA · Huntsville, AL
What's the part you'd hand off first?
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