Farmer Story · Escondido, CA
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.
In his words
"They basically fall in love with our produce here."
Michael Clark · JR Organics Farm · Escondido, CA
Watch the interview →How it actually works
"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.
So here's a season of it — and everything it built.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The sweet potato field finished in August. Every affected order was credited that day.
More from Michael
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 →.webp)
What's in the box this week
The weekly box post on their own site, written from the same email that goes to members the morning it is picked.
Read the box blog →Your turn
What's the part you'd hand off first?
Bring the pile you've been avoiding. Fifteen minutes with Ari, our founder and a farmer. He'll tell you straight whether we're the right fit.