How to Recommend Your Own Blog

PLEASE: IF YOU WISH TO RECOMMEND YOUR OWN BLOG THERE ARE SOME SIMPLE REQUESTS ON MY PART FOR YOU TO FULFILL BEFORE I WILL EVEN LOOK AT YOUR BLOG:

1. Please send me the name of your blog AND its URL.

2. Provide a brief description of your own farm and blog, such as when you started it and why, and what sort of farming you're involved in and what do you post about.

3. Provide a list of the main livestock, crops and/or fibres you are farming. (N.B. This is NOT a donkey or horse blog.)

4. Provide your location, by nearest town, state/region and country.

5. Provide the size of your farm in acres and/or hectares.

6. Now for the really important bit: along with recommending your own blog (which is no shoe-in that I will like it or add it to the blogroll here) please provide YOUR recommendations for between one and five of your favourite farm blogs which you would like to recommend yourself AND which are not already listed.

If you don't recommend at least one other farm blog, other than your own, giving me their exact names, URLs, the location of the farm and a few sentences on why you are recommending them, then I won't feature your self-recommended farm blog, however good your own one might be.

(There are special prize points for those who recommend blogs that are not in their own country, not because I don't want more of them, but because I am also trying to connect farmers in different countries, not just finding the best farm blogs in the world.)

Apologies for being so prescriptive but good bloggers recommending even better ones is very much the ethos of this blog. Furthermore, by following the above guidelines, I can feature as many new blogs as possible in the very limited time I have available to me to keep this blog going.

Many thanks,

Ian

Where have I been?

First off, my apologies for not having posted since... September 2010. And equally my apologies for not having responded to the emails readers have sent me.

The reason is, I've been finishing a novel, and now that summer has started I won't be posting again until... winter.

Yes, winter 2011, because the long days and the summer are just too beautiful to be in front of a computer.

However, in the meantime, I'd like to mention a few farm blogs that have caught my eye, which you will find below:

www.foodresourcebank.blogspot.com

Dean Lundeen is a farmer in Illinois, USA, involved in a world hunger project.

http://www.farmingfirst.org/green-economy

The Farming First coalition has launched a six-part online infographic called “The Story of Agriculture and the Green Economy”, which uses data from leading research organisations to tell the story of agriculture’s potential contribution to building a global green economy.

There is growing consensus that a green economy is central to continued global prosperity, in other words, pursuing growth while helping to create sustainable livelihoods, reduce poverty and safeguard the environment.

In 2009, G8 leaders made bold pledges to increase food security aid to $22bn by 2012. At this year’s meeting, the G8 should promote policy coherence on food security and price volatility issues in order to support the poorest without disrupting the market or discouraging farmers from receiving adequate prices. Funding should be coordinated, transparent and farmer-centred.

Each section of the infographic contains statistics and explanations around topics relevant to the green economy, demonstrating, for instance, the central role of farmers as stewards of our natural resources, actors involved in building a more sustainable supply chain, how investment in women farmers may bring greater rewards and existing solutions to making the sector more sustainable while increasing yields, such as conservation agriculture and drip irrigation.

All of the images have been designed so that they can be Tweeted and embedded on external websites and blogs so that others can share the data and participate in the discussions on the green economy.

www.littleflowerfarmcsa.blogspot.com

Chiara Dowell, concerned about GMOs

http://brazycreekfarm.blogspot.com/

Brad and Susy.

www.everythingleft.wordpress.com
www.shadesofgreen.info

Dan Grifen is

trying to earn some publicity for the Nature Conservancy’s mission to plant 1 billion trees.

http://homegrowngoodness.blogspot.com/

Bill Drake recommends the above blog, and he also recommends his page on his own website about Farmers Markets : http://www.cultivatorshandbook.com/cultivators/Farmers_Market.html

http://faithartfarming.blogspot.com

Debbie Young is an artist and a new farmer In Ellensbury, WA, USA. She's integrating the topics of faith, art and farming on her site

PLEASE: IF YOU WISH TO RECOMMEND YOUR OWN BLOG THERE ARE SOME SIMPLE REQUESTS ON MY PART.

1. Send me the name of your blog and it's URL.

2. Provide a brief explanation about your blog, such as when you started it and why, and what sort of things you post about.

3. Please provide a complete list of what you are farming. (N.B. This is NOT a donkey or horse blog.)

4. Provide your exact location and how many acres/hectares you have.

5. Now for the really important bit: alongside recommending your own blog (which is no gaurentee that I will like it) please provide YOUR recommendations for the 5 BEST FARM BLOGS WHICH ARE NOT ALREADY LISTED on Farm Blogs from Around the World. Special points for those who recommend blogs that are not in the USA, not because I don't want more, but because I am trying to connect farmers in different countries.

Farm Blogs.Org (Self-Recommended)

'Farm Blogs was created for farmers by a real farm family. Each of the pictures on this page were taken on our family farm. You don't have to be a web developer to get your farm online with the tools that are available these days. If you are involved in agriculture and would like to start blogging about your farm, you can get yours here on Farm Blogs quickly and easily. We can even help you sell products on your blog with e-commerce.'

I was contacted by Mike Murhpy at Farm Blogs.org and this is what he had to say:

'We have a small family farm and raise sheep and cattle on pasture. We concentrate on breeds that work well for small farms. We also have a guardian llama who actually stands over the lambs when their mothers go get water in the first few days of their lives. He also patiently lays there and lets the lambs use his back to play king of the hill as they take turns jumping on him and knocking each other off. He does a great job of keeping coyotes and stray dogs away from the sheep, but so do our Scottish Highland cattle with their impressive horns. We raise pork , chicken, and eggs as well.

We started Farm Blogs at http://www.farmblogs.org to give farms who may be daunted by getting their own website an option for easily getting their own blogs with either their own domain name, or theirname.farmblogs.org. If they know how, they can set up and maintain their blogs, or we can even help them get them set up and teach them how to easily maintain their blog.'

Land Strategies (UK) Self-recommender

I don't normally profile blogs that have a fairly evident commercial angle to their activity but I thought this one was interesting and worthwhile.

http://landstrategies.blogspot.com is run by Colette Burke.

Although her company has it's own website she also runs this blog which provides a 'regular round up of news and comment about consumers, the food they buy and the places they buy from, aiming to provide British farmers with an easy way to keep up to date with consumer trends.'

After a 25 year career with Cadbury Schweppes Colette moved into the agricultural sector to see whether the marketing skills learnt at Cadbury could be applied to farming.

Following a spell at the Royal Agricultural College Cirencester, she started her own farmers marketing consultancy, Land Strategies. Her brother and she run a livestock farm together in the Scottish Borders.

Self-Recommenders for Farm Blogs

It's been a long time since I've been able to recommend some good new blogs.

This is because either people who have been recommended and added to the blog roll have not come back to me with their own recommendations OR because people who have recommended themselves have not come back to me on my emails about being added to the blog roll.

The whole idea of Farm Blogs is that good bloggers recommend even better ones that are not already listed.

So when someone asks to be listed (referred to as self-recommended) I send them an email - if I think their blog is good - asking them for some basic information and for their own recommendations of blogs they like apart from their own:

Dear X,

I'd love to feature your blog and add you to the blog roll but first I would

ask you to send me your favourite top five farm blogs that are not already

listed. The idea is that Farm Blogs grows organically with the good

recommending the better, who I then in turn contact and ask for their

recommendations. To be truthful, I'm often surprised at how many people want

to get featured but wont take the time to follow the basic principal of Farm

Blogs which is to recommend others, so hence I send this email.

All I'd need is:

a) permission to use five pics for a one time use on my blog when I write

about you.

b) a couple of paras about your farm and blog

c) your top five recommendations with the blogs full name; url; and a

sentence on why you like it. (Also their location.)

I then do five things:

a) a post about you

b) a post about your recommendations

c) list your recommendations and you

d) contact your recommendations and ask them to recommend.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

With kind regards,

Ian

I have to say I am surprised how many people want to be listed on Farm Blogs and take the time to contact me, but who do not take the time to write back to me.

Which is hardly in the spirit of the Organic Growth of Farm Blogs from Around the World.

If I have missed your replies (and I am sorting this out over Christmas and New Year) my apologies for not having followed up. Kate & Brendon @ Daylesford Organics - sorry: will do a post soon....

______________________

Recently, I have received emails from the following bloggers asking to be listed on the blog roll and when they reply to the email aboveI will be happy to do a posting on them and on their recommendations, and add them to the blog roll.

tylerfarm@fairpoint.net

http://edensfarm.blogspot.com/

www.brookfarmalpaca.com

http://www.goldforestfarms.blogspot.com/

http://littlefarmbigworld.blogspot.com

http://www.farmblogs.org

Can you recommend yourself?

That's the question asked by Kate at Daylesford Organics.

Can you recommend yourself?

The answer to that is a strict and definite rule which is:

NO!! YOU CAN'T.

But as I'm not much of a believer in small rules of no importance and because Kate asked me this question about five years ago and I've only just replied and because I can't stand the whole concept of blog etiquette, what the heck?

Is the world going to end? No.

So Kate, consider yourself recommended.

HOWEVER - I will be deeply upset if you do not send me a brief email recommending your five favourite farm blogs - their full names, urls, what they're about and why you like them (in a sentence or two and where they are).

Because the idea of this blog is organic growth - recommended people in turn recommend others.

And finally, you must be one of the 2 people to buy my book referred to in the following self-serving post. Actually that last request is optional.

ONWARDS!

Daylesford Organics

Brendon Eisner & Kate Ulman

Growers of fresh produce,

certified organic by NASAA

Licence Number 3500