We still have lots of great produce to go in our summer CSA season. There are 7 remaining deliveries with our final pickups for the season being October 24th to 26th.
We will be doing a winter CSA season again starting October 31st. Normally we would be taking signups for the winter season around this time, however we just learned that the Harvie software platform we use for our CSA management software will be shutting down at the end of the year. This is sad news for us because we've been using the software for 5 years to deliver tens of thousands of individually customized boxes to you our members. We rely very heavily on this software to manage our pick lists and print custom labels to pack you boxes and automate communications and manage your payment info and allow you to manage your skips and delivery locations. We absolutely cannot do what we have been doing without some sort of software solution. So it's going to be a bit of a learning curve as we migrate to a new CSA software platform.
What the Harvie Platform shutdown means for you
- There will be no changes to the remainder of the summer season. We will continue as normal with Harvie with normal locations, normal logins, etc until October 26th.
- Winter signups will be delayed until we can get a new software platform configured and up and running to take signups and manage box building etc. We will keep you posted on our progress. Be looking for further communications to prompt you to go to the new software to set up login information and create your winter CSA orders. We will do our best to be in operation taking signups by early October and delivering winter CSA boxes starting October 31st since that is what we've been planting for. Now we need to do the computer work to make that happen.
- Autorenew will not be happening this year. So everyone will need to sign up for next summer or this winter. It will not happen automatically. Since we will be migrating to a new platform you will (at the very least) need to reenter your payment information in the new software. We are still trying to decide what platform to use and we may be able to port over a lot of your user data but at the very least you will need to set up new login credentials and payment info. Worst case, you'll have to enter everything new again.
- It won't be the same. Thing will function differently. There are a few different options we can choose from to do something similar but whatever we choose, your user experience will certainly change. We are weighing the pros and cons of these software solutions. A non-negotiable for us is we want you to be able to customize your box and choose what you want each week from what we have available. The various software systems have different ways to do this especially when it comes to your initial box that you start with and then trade items in and out from. Most software options would require that we initially build all the boxes the same on a given week with links for you to then swap items in and out from there with our entire inventory at your disposal. These options don't preconfigure your box based upon your preferences and our availability like Harvie does. Some options would require your box to be empty at the start of the week and then you simply shop to fill your box to the spend limit from our available projected harvest (downside to both of these options is we might sell out of your favorite items before you get a chance to either swap or shop). There is one platform that does function similarly to Harvie matching our harvest with your preferences to build your initial box with the items you personally like the most and then allows you to swap from there. We like that option the best because it is most similar to what we are all used to and we think will end up delivering you the box of produce you are most satisfied with, however the user experience does not appear to be a clean and mobile friendly as many of the others. I think most of you check your shares and make changes using a smartphone and this software platform that performs most like Harvie may not deliver the same level of user experience that some of the other platforms use. I would love to hear your feedback on what is important to you. Tell us what you think. Does it excite you to have a totally empty box each week to shop as you wish online? Do you mind having a preconfigured box that is not customized to you to start with and then swapping items from there? Do you really want to be able to do this easily from your phone? Is a cool looking modern interface important to you? What about the option for text message reminders to customize your share and to pick up your share? That is an option for some of these platforms.
No matter how you look at it, the impending change in software is a huge disruption to our already busy fall schedule as we continue to harvest, tend, and plant crops while also spending way too much time in the office doing Google Meetings and screen shares to demo software options and think through how we could make them work for us. This is an important decision that we want to make wisely! We are hoping to make a decision this coming week and then work on migrating our data and setting up the new system ASAP so we can start taking winter CSA signups and get back to our real job of growing food. We are really thankful for the service the Harvie platform and the people behind it have provided for our farm and for you and we will certainly miss the partnership. But we will march on because we have veggies to grow and people to feed. Thanks for your patience as we all learn something new this fall and next summer.
Bread and Cheese
Farm to Market Rosemary Olive Oil bread
Hemme Brothers Fresh Mozzarella (note: shelf life of 7- days in the refrigerator or freeze for longer storage)
We hope you have the chance to get outside and enjoy the beauty of early autumn weather. This is our favorite time of year to enjoy the beauty of creation.
Your farmers,
Dave and Sheri
