Guides

Taking good photos with any phone

1. Use daylight. Stand so the light is behind you, not behind the food.
2. Wipe the lens.
3. Fill the frame with the eggs, produce, jar, or bunch.
4. Take one more photo of the price, if you post a price.
5. Leave out children's faces and a home address in the background.

Setting up a Google Business Profile

1. Open Google Business Profile and sign in with a Google account you control.
2. Add the public farm name, the town, and the hours you want shown.
3. If you do not want a home address public, use a service area when Google offers one.
4. Add a photo of the goods, not of a child.
5. You can do this yourself. It is not required to sell here.

Google Business Profile

Writing product descriptions

1. Say what it is.
2. Say the size or the count.
3. Say how someone picks it up.
4. Skip health claims and promises about money.
5. The listing form is on the sell page.

Set up your stand

Pricing your goods

1. Add what the seed, feed, or jars cost you.
2. Add the time you want paid.
3. Set a price you can keep without losing money.
4. Write that price where a buyer can see it.
5. The market does not take a cut. The fee page has that promise.

Fees

Setting up an honor stand

1. Put a price on every item.
2. Say how to pay the farm. A locked cash box is one way.
3. Count what you put out, then check the box the same day.
4. The site's honor count is not running. The stands page says so.

Honor stand status

Using the site

1. Open a free stand. It costs nothing.
2. Add one item and a price. You keep the whole price.
3. A buyer finds the stand on the directory or the farm stands list.
4. The buyer pays you, not the market.
5. How it works and the tour already spell this out.

Open a stand · How it works · Tour · Help

Save your own seed

1. Leave a healthy plant until the seed is dry and ripe.
2. Clean the seed and let it dry.
3. Write the plant, the variety, the year, and the state where it grew on the packet.
4. Store the packet cool and dry.
5. To check germination, put 10 seeds on a damp paper towel and count how many sprout.
6. Do not save treated, patented, or prohibited seed.
7. Sharing seed is free on the seed bank. The vault is a community of growers, not a storage building.

USDA · USDA extension · USDA National Plant Germplasm System · Svalbard Global Seed Vault · Seed storage guide · Seed bank

How to get approved to take WIC and Senior market benefits

1. Ask the agency that runs the program in your state. This site does not approve anyone.
2. WIC Farmers' Market benefits are FMNP. Senior Farmers' Market benefits are SFMNP. A state may run one, both, or neither.
3. Many states are moving from paper checks to free farmer phone apps. Check your state's current method.
4. After you are approved, you can say so on your stand. Buyers should ask at pickup.

Seller says they're approved. Ask at pickup. The market did not check it.

USDA FNS FMNP · USDA FNS SFMNP

Pick a state. If a state page is not listed here, use the USDA FNS page and contact your state agency.

Food labels and allergens

This is general info, not legal advice. Cottage food rules vary by state.

The FDA names nine major food allergens:

• Milk
• Eggs
• Fish
• Crustacean shellfish
• Tree nuts
• Peanuts
• Wheat
• Soybeans
• Sesame

FDA's updated guidance counts milk from goats, sheep, and other animals as milk. It counts eggs from ducks, geese, quail, and other birds as eggs. Coconut is no longer listed as a tree nut.

If a label is old, check it and update it.

FDA food allergies · FDA allergen labeling questions · FDA: read the label

Pick a state to open its official site, then search for the agriculture department.

Questions: hello@americansharemarket.com

Farm energy audits

1. Write down the fuel and electricity the farm uses, and what each one runs.
2. Ask your utility, and your state energy office, what an audit includes.
3. USDA REAP is one program for energy efficiency on farms. Open the official page.
4. This guide does not estimate a savings number.

energy.gov · USDA REAP

Solar on farms and agrivoltaics

1. Agrivoltaics means crops or grazing and solar panels on the same land.
2. Ask your utility what it takes to connect.
3. USDA REAP is one program for renewable energy on a farm. Check the official page for current dates.
4. This guide does not compare brands or promise a bill.

energy.gov · USDA REAP

Biogas basics

1. A digester can turn manure or other farm waste into biogas.
2. EPA AgSTAR explains farm digesters.
3. This guide does not size a system.

EPA AgSTAR

Water saving

1. Check the soil before you irrigate.
2. Fix leaks before you add equipment.
3. NRCS EQIP is one conservation program. Each state sets a ranking date.

NRCS EQIP · State ranking dates

Soil carbon and cover crops

1. A cover crop holds soil between cash crops.
2. Ask NRCS which practice fits your land.
3. This site does not buy, sell, or trade carbon credits or offsets.
4. If someone has shared cover-crop seed, it is in the seed vault.

NRCS EQIP · Seed vault

Electrifying farm equipment

1. An electric tractor or a charger is the farm's choice. This guide names no brand.
2. Ask your utility whether the service you have can run it.
3. Read USDA REAP's official page for what it can fund. Check the official page for current dates.

energy.gov · USDA REAP

Finding farms near you

1. Open the directory or the farm stands list.
2. Look by state or town.
3. A listing shows a name and a town, not a home address.
4. If none are near you, none are listed yet. We do not add farms to fill the page.

Directory · Farm stands · Search

Storing fresh produce

1. Put greens, berries, and anything already cut in the fridge.
2. Whole tomatoes, potatoes, and winter squash can stay in a cool, dry place.
3. Wash berries when you eat them, not before.
4. When food smells off or looks spoiled, do not eat it.

Starting a small garden

1. Start with one bed or a few pots.
2. Pick a spot that gets sun most of the day.
3. Grow what your household will eat.
4. Water when the soil is dry about an inch down.
5. The garden page has the soil and lead notes. The season page is a general crop list, not a planting promise.

Garden · What's in season

Food safety and canning basics

This page does not give canning steps or food-safety rules. Use the sources below. The kitchen page points to the same ones.

National Center for Home Food Preservation · USDA canning guide · USDA food safety · Kitchen

Start your ag business

A free checklist from an idea to an open stand. Tick a step when you finish it. This is general info, not legal or tax advice.

We never ask for a Social Security number, an EIN, or an ID number, and we do not fill out a government form for you. Ticks stay on this device. Help: hello@americansharemarket.com

1. Pick what you'll sell

   Farms come first. The kinds are on the signup page. What kind of ag business are you?

2. Pick a business name and check it's free

   Pick your state, then search the official business registry.

3. Choose a business type

   A sole proprietor is you, using your own name. An LLC is a business that is separate from you on paper. Ask a CPA or a lawyer which one fits your own situation.

4. Register with your state

   Pick your state. The link goes to that state's official filing office, or to the state site if the filing page is not confirmed here.

5. Get a free EIN from the IRS

   The IRS EIN is free. Use only irs.gov. Avoid sites that charge you to get one.

6. Local business license and zoning

   Check your city or county website for a business license and for zoning. This page does not list cities.

7. Sales tax

   Pick your state to open its tax department.

8. Food, cottage food, plant, egg and animal rules

   Pick your state, then search for the department of agriculture. USDA · USDA food safety · USDA plants and animals · State rules on this site · Food guides

9. Open a free business bank account

   A business bank account keeps the business money separate. Pick a bank yourself. This page does not recommend a bank and has no bank links.

10. Open your free stand

    The stand is free. You keep the whole price. Open your free stand

Print the one-page version

Recipes

Simple seasonal recipes that use farm foods. Free to read. No sign-up. These are general ideas, not a farm's recipe and not a rating.

What is in season near you can differ. The season page is a general list. The older recipe library is still off.