Build a small farm website that tells visitors what's on and when
A farm website has to say what the farm offers and, above all, when: what's ready to pick, which weekends are open, when share sign-ups start. Visitors plan around seasons, so a farm website that's out of date by a fortnight is worse than none. Anticode handles the information, visit bookings and a payment link well; it doesn't manage subscriptions or delivery runs.
Many farms, many offers
"Farm" covers a wide range of businesses, and the site should lead with whichever brings in most visitors. A pick-your-own fruit farm, a market garden selling vegetable shares, a livestock farm with a farm stay, an open farm for families and a grower supplying restaurants all need different homepages. If you do several, list them as clear routes from the top of the page: Pick your own, Veg shares, Stay, Visit, Wholesale.
The season calendar
For a pick-your-own or open farm, the most valuable content is a simple, honest calendar of what's ready. Picture the family deciding at breakfast whether to drive out today.
- This week: what's picking now, what's nearly over, and conditions ("strawberries plentiful, raspberries starting, fields muddy after rain").
- The year at a glance: typical windows for each crop or activity, with a note that weather moves them.
- Open days and hours, with a line at the top on any day you've closed early because a crop is picked out.
- What to bring: boots, containers or whether you provide punnets, cash or card.
In Anticode, keep crops or activities in a season CMS collection with fields for name, status (not yet, picking now, finished), typical window and a note. Changing a status in the dashboard updates its page and the overview. It's quick enough to do from a phone in the field, which is what keeps it current.
Visits, farm stays and events
Anticode's booking calendar lets a visitor choose a service, day and time and give their name, phone and email. Two visitors can't book the same slot, and dates in the past or more than 120 days ahead are refused; the times are fixed (six a day from 09:00 to 17:30, Mondays skipped) and you confirm each booking. That fits a guided tour for one group, a school or nursery visit, a lambing experience for a family, or a private picking session. It doesn't fit a pick-your-own field open to hundreds of people a day, which usually needs no booking at all, or a timed-entry ticket from a ticketing tool if you limit numbers.
For a farm stay, the calendar's one-booking-per-slot model isn't a room or pitch inventory, so treat stays as enquiries: the contact form (name, email and a message) with a prompt for dates and party size, then confirm and send a payment link. The campsite and holiday rental pages go further on stays.
Shares and boxes through payment links
A community-supported agriculture (CSA) scheme, or any season share, is sold before the harvest. A page that explains it well covers:
- What a share contains through the season, with honest notes on lean weeks.
- Share sizes, the season's start and end, and the collection points or delivery area.
- How payment works: in full, in instalments, or work shares in exchange for hours.
- What happens if a crop fails, and the shared risk that's part of the model.
The site has one payment link per account, from Stripe Payment Links, PayPal or a similar provider, and every buy button opens it, so point it at a page at the provider listing your share sizes. That handles the payment. It doesn't handle what comes after: member lists, weekly packing lists, skipped weeks, holds or delivery runs. Small schemes manage that in a spreadsheet; larger ones use a dedicated CSA or box-scheme platform and link to it for sign-ups. The sell a subscription guide explains the trade-offs.
The farm story and wholesale
An About page with the family or team, how long the land has been farmed, and how you grow or rear (be precise with words like organic, regenerative or pasture-fed, which may need certification) gives restaurants and regular customers a reason to choose you. For wholesale, write a short page for chefs and shops: what you supply, minimum orders, delivery days and area, and how to get an availability list. The contact form handles first enquiries, and each is saved sealed at rest and emailed to you.
Design and limits
Organic (Figtree) suits most farms; Playful (Fredoka) suits an open farm for children; Editorial (Geist) suits a grower with chefs as customers. Use your own photographs, taken through the seasons. As for limits: Anticode has no subscriptions with recurring billing managed on the site, no delivery routes or packing lists, no timed-entry ticketing, no deposits on bookings and no room or pitch inventory for stays. Pair it with the tools above where those matter.
Questions people ask
Can I sell CSA shares on my farm website?
Yes, through the site's payment link, pointed at a page that lists your share sizes. Managing members, deliveries and skipped weeks needs a spreadsheet or a dedicated CSA platform.
Can visitors book a farm tour?
Yes. The booking calendar takes one booking per slot up to 120 days ahead, which suits group tours and private visits.
How do I keep the picking calendar up to date?
Keep crops in a CMS collection and change each one's status in the dashboard, which works from a phone.