Estimating Soil Moisture by Feel and Appearance (NRCS)
A useful guide to estimating soil moisture by feel. Includes photos for each soil type.

Foothill Farming Drought Resources (Placer-Nevada Cooperative Extension)
Links to drought updates, crop and livestock resources, and drought assistance programs.

The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook by Richard Wiswall
A book that offers strategies for farming smarter, not harder. Topics covered include recordkeeping, market planning and crop analysis (including crop budget spreadsheets).

Growing Farms Podcast
This podcast by farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm covers all things relevant to running a successful market farm. Great listening for while you’re weeding.

Foothill Farming Financial Resources (Placer-Nevada Cooperative Extension)
A list of farm funding sources, including loans and grants.

Foothill Farming Marketing Resources (Placer-Nevada Cooperative Extension)
A list of marketing associations and farmers’ market contacts for Placer and Nevada Counties.

FarmsReach
This organization works to help small and medium-scale farms to be viable, ecologically-minded, and happy in their vocation.

Farm Commons
A non-profit organization that provides farmers with practical legal education through webinars, sample documents, blog posts and one-on-one assistance.

Kiva Zip
A peer-to-peer crowdfunding style lending platform that offers 0% interest loans to small businesses. The Tahoe Food Hub is a Kiva Zip trustee, so contact us if you’re interested in pursuing a loan. 

Barnraiser
From healthy and artisanal foods to community kitchens and organic farms, this crowdfunding platform puts its collective support behind food system innovators in order to create a healthy food future.

We the Trees
A permaculture-based crowdfunding site designed to support projects that create environmental, social and educational change.

Crowdfunding sites that aren’t specific to food and farming: Kickstarter, Go Fund Me, Rockethub

Good Agricultural Practices Decision Making Tree (Cornell University)
Decision trees, sample log sheets and worker training materials for 9 key areas: Worker Health, Hygiene, and Training; Land Use; Soil Amendments; Wildlife and Animal Management; Agricultural Water for Production; Postharvest Water; Sanitation and Postharvest Handling; Traceability; and Transportation.

California Small Farm Food Safety Guidelines (CDFA)
Recommended practices from the CA Department of Food and Agriculture. A simple, easy to use checklist.

Small Farm Program Food Safety website (University of CA Davis)
A comprehensive list of Good Agricultural Practices audit checklists, fact sheets, resources and links.

Agricultural Water Testing Guidelines (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition)
This site provides an explanation of the water testing regulations proposed in the Food Safety Modernization Act. (Not sure if your farm will be affected by the FSMA? This guide should help: Who is Affected? )

WATER TESTING LABS

• We recommend calling the laboratory you choose to work with to receive specific instructions on sampling procedures and pick-up/delivery. Each laboratory should provide you with sampling containers, instructions and forms.

• Remember that you should request a quantified generic E. coli test for irrigation water; wash water (potable water used in post-harvest handling) just needs a presence/absence test since it cannot have any E. coli in it. See our Water Testing Guidelines in our Producer Manual for more detailed guidance.

• BUTTE COUNTY
  Basic Labs
  3860 Morrow Lane, Suite F, Chico, CA 95928
  Phone: (530) 894 8966

• NEVADA COUNTY
  Cranmer Analytical Laboratory
  1188 East Main Street, Grass Valley, CA 95945
  (530) 273-7284

• PLACER COUNTY
  Diamond Water Laboratory
  1660 Old Airport Road, Auburn, CA 95602
  (530) 823-0354

• Excelchem Environmental Laboratories, Inc. 
  1135 West Sunset Boulevard, Suite A, Rocklin, CA 95765
  (916) 543-4445

• Placer County Public Health Laboratory
  11475 C Avenue, Auburn, CA 95603
  (530) 889-7205

• SACRAMENTO COUNTY
  California Laboratory Services
  3249 Fitzgerald Road, Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
  Phone: (800) 638-7301

• BSK Associates
  Sacramento Microbiology Lab
  3140 Gold Camp Drive #160, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
  916-853-9293 x110

Northeast Beginning Farmers Project (Cornell University)
Resources for farm planning and online courses (useful for farmers outside of the Northeast as well).

Beginning Farmers
An online resource for beginning farmers, researchers and policy makers.

Farm Aid Beginning Farmers Resource Guide
A list of resources to help farmers gain experience and get started.

ATTRA Beginning Farmer Webpage
Tutorials, publications and links for beginning growers.

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
A plethora of publications and guides on topics pertinent to small farms.

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Grants (SARE)
A searchable online database of educational materials and grantee project reports on a variety of sustainable production practices and experiments.

On-Farm Production Techniques Videos (Cornell University)
A video series for production of vegetables, pastured pigs, poultry, grass-fed sheep and berries.

Sunseed Farm Crop Planning Spreadsheets
An Excel based crop planning tool that includes planting dates, spacing and transplant seeding specifications for over 50 different vegetable crops.

Brookfield Farm Crop Planning Spreadsheet
Crop planning spreadsheets pre-populated with planting information that you can customize to your farm. Downloadable for $25.

Farm Planning and Recordkeeping (North Carolina Cooperative Extension)
Spreadsheets to plan for continuous harvests.

Ag Squared
A crop planning and recordkeeping software service.

Crop Planning Article (Penn State Extension)
Outlines important steps in crop planning and links to helpful examples and templates. Though the article is geared towards CSA production it’s applicable to all crop planning processes.