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| [23:53:10] | <paul121[m]> | Hi @ludwa6 ! Wanted to share how our farm plans to be using farmOS this season |
| [23:53:44] | <ludwa6> | hey paul121: great -would love to hear about it! |
| [23:55:10] | <ludwa6> | what sort of farm are you running, essentially? on what scale? |
| [23:55:26] | <paul121[m]> | For background, I work at a market farm in WA. I'm also helping with some of the development for farmOS sponsored by the RFC Study among other stuff |
| [23:55:42] | <paul121[m]> | I was very excited to bring farmOS to the farm :) |
| [23:55:54] | <ludwa6> | when did you start using farmOS? |
| [23:56:23] | <paul121[m]> | We are diversified vegetables and pastured eggs, expanding to broilers too |
| [23:57:47] | <paul121[m]> | We started getting setup with farmOS earlier this year. Two months ago? With the busy spring it has been hard to dive in 100% |
| [23:58:56] | <ludwa6> | Ah, so… Your move into farmOS was driven by the RFC project, then? |
| [23:59:48] | <paul121[m]> | Actually, no! We're not affiliated. I'm a recent Comp Sci grad, interested in farming, so farmOS appeared quite naturally |
| [00:01:52] | <ludwa6> | So, if you can offer a truly objective opinion, then i would ask: do you see farmOS at this point as being capable of managing all the info related to running an ag operation such as yours? |
| [00:02:49] | <paul121[m]> | ACTION sent a long message: < https://matrix.org/_matrix/media/v1/download/matrix.org/PZcFGuQtqkVmXfFW... > |
| [00:03:51] | <ludwa6> | I ask because we too are running a market garden, pastured eggs… and thinking about getting into broilers too. We also run sheep, and have a lot of fruticulture going on (vineyards, almonds & figs & olives & carobs -lots) |
| [00:04:33] | <paul121[m]> | We are currently doing/done: |
| [00:04:34] | <paul121[m]> | - mapped out farm |
| [00:04:35] | <paul121[m]> | - using Planting assets to create seeding tasks |
| [00:06:24] | <paul121[m]> | I think farmOS is capable of managing most everything... until you get into financial/book keeping (which it isn't currently designed for) |
| [00:07:25] | <ludwa6> | Sure: the scope of app needs to. stop somewhere :-) |
| [00:08:01] | <ludwa6> | But i’m curious about that boundary, and transactions across the boundary. |
| [00:08:27] | <paul121[m]> | The addition of the farmOS Field Kit mobile phone app makes a big difference. The app is under development... but the beta for Android works quite well. We can create `tasks` in farmOS online, assign them to users, and they will appear on farm workers' phones - Workers can then mark tasks as done, add harvest quantity, etc. |
| [00:09:02] | <ludwa6> | Sounds like it’s all on the production side, as far as you’ve described… But what about market side? i.e. from Harvest to Delivery? |
| [00:09:56] | <paul121[m]> | For me, the hardest part has been getting my farmer boss to sit down and let me show him everything :) He understands the farm needs it, I just need him to start using it. i.e. when he goes on a midnight moonlight seeding mission, nothing gets recorded..... |
| [00:10:47] | <ludwa6> | as to the mobile app features: that sounds great! indeed, without a usable interface for workers in the field, a back-office system for farm management woiuld be like the sound of one hand clapping. ultimately, unmaintainable. |
| [00:12:01] | <paul121[m]> | Great question... I would love to use farmOS to help out with our harvest day. Harvest manager could decide harvest quantities, prepopulate harvest logs with quanitities from the desired beds, then workers can see the list on their phones. OR hopefully even a screen in the harvest room.. as things are marked done, they drop off the list.. |
| [00:12:34] | <ludwa6> | So, your farmer boss is not yet using the mobile app? is anyone actually using it in production, as far as you know? |
| [00:13:48] | <paul121[m]> | We're hoping to start using the Open Food Network USA instance for an online storefront this season. Primarily for some wholesale. I would love if a completed farmOS harvest task could auto-populate the "stock" quantity in our online store..... |
| [00:15:28] | <ludwa6> | That would be a great feature, it seems to me. Do you submit such feature requests via the issue tracker? |
| [00:15:29] | <paul121[m]> | Yes, but farmer's phone just died... I really need to get the farmer up to speed on the Desktop version of farmOS. Currently, that is the best place for them to create seeding and harvest tasks, as we would like to do |
| [00:17:15] | <paul121[m]> | > Do you submit such feature requests via the issue tracker? |
| [00:17:16] | <paul121[m]> | I should!! Being involved in the development side of things I've been brainstorming how to make it possible... with the OFN API, I think it is quite realistic |
| [00:19:34] | <paul121[m]> | We're starting to brainstorm the logistics of the `timesheet` functionality now |
| [00:21:33] | <paul121[m]> | > is anyone actually using it in production, as far as you know? |
| [00:21:34] | <paul121[m]> | I believe there is a farm sponsoring development of mobile app. So, yes, at least one farm using it in production :) |
| [00:21:34] | <paul121[m]> | mstenta and jgaehring could speak more to this |
| [00:22:27] | <ludwa6> | I’m just trying to get some sense of whether i can use this app to support some aspect of our ops, where the cost of implementation (in terms of time to manage it) is justified, in terms of the benefits that we’re able to realize from such effort. |
| [00:22:58] | <paul121[m]> | I've been recording our egg harvest quantities the past week via the mobile app - works well! |
| [00:23:50] | <paul121[m]> | > I’m just trying to get some sense of whether i can use this app to support some aspect of our ops, where the cost of implementation (in terms of time to manage it) is justified, in terms of the benefits that we’re able to realize from such effort. |
| [00:23:51] | <paul121[m]> | Totally! |
| [00:25:51] | <ludwa6> | Managing the egg business should be simple enough. Maybe our plant propagation operation also: seeding and transplanting and harvesting. We’re currently evaluating whether we should continue with propagation, or if we should just by seedlings (where we have some good local sources). |
| [00:27:17] | <paul121[m]> | ACTION sent a long message: < https://matrix.org/_matrix/media/v1/download/matrix.org/UpgXGjKvOWGtARPB... > |
| [00:27:53] | <ludwa6> | I’m afraid i’d have some of that same problem you experienced with your farmer boss. In my case, the “power structure” is reversed, in that i’m the boss, but that hardlyh matters. Fact is, i’m not gonna tell the guy running my market garden to spend a lot of time online, if he feels his time is better spent actually growing stuff. |
| [00:29:20] | <paul121[m]> | Agreed, eggs is pretty easy. We'd like to also use `quantities` to track our feed invenvtory. As workers feed chickens, mark how many bags are used, then when we only have 50 bags left, we know to order more. It could be a good 'backup', and also provide good data for analyzing that enterprise |
| [00:32:43] | <paul121[m]> | > In my case, the “power structure” is reversed, |
| [00:33:11] | <paul121[m]> | Can I work for you ludwa6 ?? :D |
| [00:34:00] | <ludwa6> | From all that i’ve heard, it seems to me the viability of farmOS for us will hinge on the utility of that mobile app. I must find out about that from mike and… jgaehring, you say? is he on the devleopment side, or an actual user? |
| [00:34:38] | <ludwa6> | to your Q paul121 : if you don’t mind commuting to Algarve Portugal, i’d be happy to have ya, mate! :-) |
| [00:36:17] | <paul121[m]> | Jamie, jgaehring, is leading development! They can speak more to # of actual users, etc |
| [00:37:17] | <ludwa6> | ah, ok. Do you know these guys IRL (In Real Life) or only online? You are in WA… like, Seattle area? |
| [00:38:53] | <paul121[m]> | Just online :) I'm north of Seattle. (We sell at markets in the Seattle and Bellingham area) Mike and Jamie are East Coast |
| [00:40:05] | <ludwa6> | West is best (in Algarve as well as USA :-) |
| [00:41:01] | <ludwa6> | I can say that as an easterner myself (NY, ME… then eastern Canada, before i came across the pond) |
| [00:42:17] | <ludwa6> | Visited your part of world last summer, when i was in Whistler BC for a wedding, and drove down to Seattle. Loved it! (especially the beer :-) |
| [00:42:18] | <paul121[m]> | Woo! haha. I think I do need to visit the east coast, though... |
| [00:46:36] | <paul121[m]> | Yes! The PNW is quite great!! |
| [00:46:52] | <ludwa6> | damn, i gotta get my 5hit together, to catch the first bus to Lisbon this am. Really appreciate your taking the time to share farmOS experience & insight with me here, Paul. I’ll look for you online, next time i’m IRC’ing in the morning. Might i expect to find you here around this time of any given day? or at some other day/time, typically? |
| [00:48:24] | <ludwa6> | i am walt at valedalama.net, if you should ever want to send email. |
| [00:49:48] | <paul121[m]> | Nice to meet you ludwa6 ! It's starting to get late here (almost 10pm) but I check the chatroom often. Might respond better if you mention me! with @paul121 |
| [00:50:10] | <ludwa6> | will do @paul121 -thanks |
| [00:50:16] | <ludwa6> | ACTION gets packing |
| [01:17:38] | <MockingbirdConsu> | ludwa6: That's a stunning part of the world you live in looking at your website! I've not made it to Portugal in my life yet, but I'm very tempted now! |
| [01:29:37] | <ludwa6> | thanks, @MockingbirdConsu ; would love to meet up, if you should ever decide to take a trip down here. FAO airport (<1hr’s drive away) is a real milk-run from most airports in the UK, so it’s pretty easy & cheap to get here. |
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| [01:40:11] | <MockingbirdConsu> | oh, thanks for the heads up earlier on with the app btw, I've just installed it and it's awesome! The ability to take pictures and have them "just turn up" on the log item is something that I can see being really valuable to users! |
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