People keep asking how a farm ends up on our farm map, so here's the whole process. Fair warning: it's boring on purpose.
Anyone can be on it, and it's free. Farm stands, farm stores, farmers markets, nurseries, u-picks, and the local businesses that show up for farmers. It costs nothing to get listed, nothing to stay listed, and nothing to leave. Nobody pays to be on the map, and nobody pays to move up it. There is no “up.”
Our own farm plays by the same rules. Our stand in Bel Alton is on the map too. The only thing it gets is a little red tractor, so you know which one is ours. The farm stand closest to ours is on there as well, because a map of local farms that skips the neighbors would be a pretty sad map.
We tell you who we know. This is Southern Maryland. Everybody knows everybody, and some of those everybodies are family. Rather than pretend otherwise, we label it. "Farm Family" means they're family to us. "Farmer Friend" means it's someone we know personally. A label tells you who we know - it doesn't say who's better. A place without a label is every bit as welcome on the map, and in our grocery budget.
What actually gets a farm listed: it's real, it's in our area, and its information is current this year. We print what the business says about itself, not our opinion of it. There are no stars, no rankings and no “best of” lists here. We'll leave the judging to your taste buds.
And how a farm gets off: email us at leave@yourneighborsfarmstand.com. It's free, it's fast, and you don't owe anyone an explanation. A neighbor can confirm a farm is open, but no one can mark a farm closed except the farm itself. Nothing comes off the map because one person said so. The full details are in our privacy write-up for listed farms.
That's it. It's not really our map - it's the community's. We just hold the clipboard.
Know a farm that isn't on it yet? Tell us about it. It takes about two minutes.