Crystal and Janelle
My co-founder and I (Crystal and Janelle – the goofballs in the selfie photo) were talking about what was going to replace the neighborhood paper route, side businesses that are neighborhood-centric. We loved the cheeky idea that folks can have a side “yard” business if they have an urban farm! It is one of our favorite ideas of building our online platform.
Crystal’s nephew asks her all the time to help him set up his own online store on Barn2Door, so he can list his chicken’s eggs for sale. We started Barn2Door a year ago; it is like Etsy for food growers – including urban and small farmers, fishers and ranchers + cute nephews. Food growers setup a store, list items for sale and can then list or promote their store in emails, on social channels and to friends.
I have an urban farm, too. It is tucked in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. I sell yard-grazed farm eggs and excess herbs and lettuce in little bags with cute labels. I list items, quantity, price and date folks can pick up their items – then leave on my porch for them to pickup. I have loved meeting new neighbors and making some money to cover the cost of chicken feed, seeds and compost. (Here is a link to my store).
Fresh eggs!
Barn2Door charges a $10/month subscription fee (fees will not be charged until May 2016). For all sales through your ‘urban farm webstore’ you keep all the profits but will be charge a standard 3.5% credit card processing fee. Folks pay directly online then Barn2Door deposits into my (or your) account. Nice when you have a lot of things listed.
It IS all about transparency, so you will be asked to include feed and soil inputs and Barn2Door strictly prohibits chemicals, pesticides aka RoundUp, hormones, etc. People like to know who grew their food and what’s in it. They deserve that much, don’t you think? To learn more, check out the Urban Farmer Guide to Getting Started and email hello@barn2door.com if you have questions.
And, so you can support our current sellers – including farmers, fishers and ranchers that deliver locally or ship nationally – we thought we’d give you a little gift of a coupon ($15 off your order of $15 or more from now through end of February).
Janelle Maiocco
CEO Barn2Door Inc.
206.787.2220
www.barn2door.com
I'd love to hear from you!