Alder Lot Community Farm: An urban farm website, built from one brief.
A community farm website that turns an introduction to the work into ways to take part. Program pages, produce-stand times, and a practical volunteer guide help visitors understand what to do next.
This brief guided the design and content. Compare its goals and details with the website and page previews below.
Purpose
Website for a neighborhood community farm and free produce stand in south Seattle: what it grows, the programs it runs, and how to volunteer
Audience
Neighbors in south Seattle who might give up a Saturday morning, teachers looking for a school plot, first-time growers who want a row of their own, and people who come to the free produce stand
Tone
Warm and practical. Tells you what to wear and when to arrive. No mission-statement language and no fundraising gloss.
Key facts
A quarter acre on a former parking lot in Beacon Hill, growing since 2019
Saturday work parties run 10am to 1pm from March through October, no experience needed
The produce stand is free and open Thursdays 4pm to 6pm through the growing season
About 4,000 pounds of food went to the stand and two neighborhood food banks last year
A registered 501(c)(3) run by two part-time staff and around sixty volunteers
Asked for Say what the farm is and where it is in the first two lines, then the two things a visitor most likely came for: the next Saturday work party and the Thursday produce stand, both with times. State that the stand is free and that volunteering needs no experience. One wide photograph of the beds in season. One clear route to signing up.
Asked for The five things the farm runs, each with who it is for and how to join: Saturday work parties, the Thursday produce stand, school plots with three neighborhood schools, the seed library in the shed, and mentor rows for first-time growers. Give each one its own real detail, such as how many beds a school gets or how the seed library works, rather than a paragraph of description.
Asked for What a Saturday morning is actually like, hour by hour: arrive at 10, what jobs are going in each month of the season, coffee at 11, done by 1. What to wear and bring, that tools and gloves are there, that kids are welcome with an adult, and that it goes ahead in light rain but not a storm. Weekday volunteering is by arrangement only, said plainly. The signup form asks for a name, an email, which Saturday, and whether they have volunteered before.
Asked for How a parking lot became a farm, written plainly and in first person plural: the year the lease was signed, who did the first beds, what was learned about the soil. The two part-time staff and what each does. How the farm is funded, described in general terms only, a city neighborhood matching grant and two local foundations, none of them named. State plainly that the site does not take donations and that anyone who wants to give should email, and say what money is actually spent on.
Asked for The contact form for everything that is not a work party signup: school plots, giving, press, or a question about the stand. The address as text with the gate to use and a line on parking and the nearest bus stop. The hours the farm is open to visitors, the phone number, and a note that email is answered faster than the phone.