Dear Freedom Gardeners

We know this a busy season with everyone digging on their plots of feedom, but as each of you tend and  care for your garden please consider tending this virtual garden of friendship, knowledge and community.

As you know Jordanne has been single handedly working on to upgrade this site with new features, less buggs and overall ease of use.   I know there are still some issues but you do have to admit it's a thousand times better than it was just a few weeks ago.   THANK YOU for all your hard work, late nights - Jordanne!

Now down to the nitty gritty details

Any further upgrades are going to cost (money) with funds we don't have, so we are asking that you please consider supporting this site with some small "change" 

Imagine this!

If every FG (over 4,700) just contributed ONE DOLLAR we would have raised more than enough money to keep this site going for another year and continue with the upgrades yet we are struggling to foot the bill. 

If you would like for this site to continue, then help this site grow  - thank you.

TEND OUR GARDEN - HELP US GROW

$1 a month!?!
For ALL the GREAT KNOWLEDGE I have learned here,
ALL the GREAT FRIENDS I have made here,
for ALL the WONDERFUL IDEAS I have gleaned here~

Why, that's COUCH CHANGE! Clean out your CAR CHANGE!! Electric DRYER CHANGE, IF you use one!!!
Come'on EVERYBODY! Join me to continue ALL the GREAT THINGS that are happening here,
AND, give Jordanne a BIG THANKYOU & some BREATHING TIME!

June 2 (only two donations today -- so far)

RW $20
LL $25

Thank you for your support.

Now what about the rest of you, care to help tend this site? Anything from couch change ($1.00) to what a cuppa joe cost ($5.00) is greatly needed and appreciated.

Your welcome (I am LL) which should not be confused with DD LOL!

How's the best/quickest way to donate?

Click on the nifty little "Help this site grow" - with big yellow DONATE button at the top of this forum

i guess now would be the opportune time to order that canning kit on the peddler's wagon that i've been eyeing forever!

Anais, Thanks for encouraging us to take more responsibility for the site. I have learned through experience that giving something tangible connects me much more tightly to a project, and I carry that sense of part-ownership. That is a good way to be, IMHO.

Count me in!

Thank you Jordanne for all the long hours and sleepless nights building this site from scratch. Everyday, I enjoy the benefits of your hard work, sharing ideas, triumphs and setbacks. I've met and made friends with more passionate gardeners this past years than all my previous years gardening combined. This is a nice community we have here, I want see it continue to grow.

Money is important, but we can also help the site grow by telling our friends, linking to it from our blogs or websites, and buying supplies from the Peddlers Wagon.

Dear fellow Freedom Gardeners

Thank you for your comments and support. They are greatly appreciated. Talking with local FGers they often don't realize that this site, though free to it's members, does cost someone. As you know not only are we building this community ourselves (Jordanne single handedly coding this site) but the monthly webhosting fees and the continuing upgrades are coming out of pocket - our pocket.

So we need and value your supportive efforts to help tend this online garden community of ours.

RW $20
LL $25
KC - $10
CD- $5
LM - $5
JD - $5
DH - $20

We can do better! As we near 5,000 if each member as AnimalRsq said just contributed a bit of change for change we could clear our expenses.

And like rshbruin said there are many ways you can offer your support through purchasing from FreedomSeeds.org or PeddlersWagon.com (where we make a 30% profit on each item) All proceeds go straight into our non profit Dervaes Institute and donations are tax deductible.

Thanks for the donations so far....

And sorry for not getting some upgrades and coding fixes in... I know there is a lot that isn't visually right and some elements are on top of each other (like the top of this forum and the right side ad) and I thank you for being patient with the quirks of the site.

A lot of this stuff is easy to fix but I'm feeling more and more like I'm drowning on dry land.    Honestly, the piles of papers on my desk are parted only slightly for me to see my monitor.   Every other square inch is covered with some project or another.

If I didn't put a monetary number to the many hours I've put into this site (if I did... I'd scare myself) the cost of the site so far has been $5 -$7,000 --- just a guess.  It could be more than that.   This has come out of our produce sales and the small donations we have received off the site (which only came to approx $3,000).

I do enjoy providing the best for you, our users and adding cool and nifty features in.  It is fun -- but not when it all rests on you.     There is a vision I see for the site and I have it scribbled over many papers.... there are a lot of ideas and resources I hope to add into this site and I really wish I could take our vision for the site to completion. 

But one can't be a visionary AND do the grunt work without burning out.   It's hard to be creative when I'm muddled in code.  The job becomes a tedious one.   I work for free so I end up doing all the work.... because hiring a full time programmer and coder will be too much.     I have hired out some temp work to programmers and gotten some things done but it's not enough.

The ads on this site bring in approximately $1.00 a day.  I really need to figure out how to get more out of it because that just won't do the trick.

Also, I have to work on the Path to Freedom site / Calendar / Photo Gallery and so some of my attention is directed toward that way.  The site is terribly outdated and I need to make it simple and easier to work with.  So, Freedom Gardens has suffered and the bits and pieces that I need to plugin to make it better are languishing on my computer.

With the $90 we received during this June fundraising campaign, I have purchased the ability to:

- Paginated activity feed (see all that you have missed on the site!)
- Integration with Wordpress (a community blog and article directory)

I just haven't had the time to put them in.    

So, that's two programming features off my list (well, not really.... putting them in will take days)  and about 200 more to go. 

Thanks for your hard work! I do hope the members here who are enjoying all the features you have put in will consider supporting to keep this site online .... we wouldn't want to be forced to pull the plug.

Okay, I just sent a draft of a new Q & A feature to a freelance developer.    Y'know... Yahoo Answers?  Well, this will be just like that but for gardening answers so we can form an easy to search database.  By giving the best answer, you can also earn points (which will be put to use in the future - if I ever get around to it).

Anyhow... I will be receiving the quote for the custom programming soon.  I estimate it to be around $300 plus.   I need to employ freelancers these days - can't do all the nitty gritty work myself.  

Do you all think this will be a worthy addition to the site? 

Thanks,
Jordanne

Jordanne, I have been thinking lately that we are starting to collect quite a bit of knowledge and experience here. Something searchable would be convenient. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how much FG has helped me, just as it has been, and as a former programmer, I have a clue as to how much work is involved behind the scenes. Thanks!

Jordanne I have done some freelance work on wordpress and also OsCommerce. Both are php. I've created plugins and recoded and for OsCommerce created contributions and LOTS more.
I would be willing to do some work free of charge if you need some help. Just let me know even if it is just a coding question.

Jordanne - wouldn't that be redundant? I mean, people post questions to the forums all the time. I'd rather see a more effective forum search function that can delve into all the data we've already accumulated than see you try to shoehorn in one more widget that needs config and maintenance. Remember the design mantra for usability: "Keep it simple".

Hey there!
Thank you for all the hard work! I don't have any money right now... I owe a lot and just got my hours cut at work again! I'm not sure I will be able to pay all my bills... but I have some time on my hands! If you would like some help... I have some coding experience, but it is basic. I know about working with photoshop and have a small amount of experience with dreamweaver and could possibly assist! Please let me know if there is anything I can do!
Thanks for your hard work!
-Kelli

Thanks for all the work and for providing us with this forum! I would encourage everyone who can to give what they can - even a few dollars each would do it! And its so easy.....

Lets show them our support. $1 or $2 per member will go far!!!

DuaneD thanks for your appreciation and trying to wrangle up some support for FG. Funny how something so simple can be so hard.