Show HN: Fruits and vegetables in season in your zip code(harvestsignal.com)
harvestsignal.com
Show HN: Fruits and vegetables in season in your zip code
https://harvestsignal.com
120 comments
But clearly what you mean when you say that is you really want a long-form article filled with OPs life story about how they discovered vegetables, best ways to prepare vegetables, pointers for the recipe, etc. interspersed with ads before finally delivering the recipe somewhere towards the bottom of the page (possible behind a link to a second page with the actual recipe). /s
Oh gosh those are the worst. And they never look good on your phone, so you have to get your laptop out (or tablet if you have one).
If it's not a pointless blog/article header, then the ingredients and method are split up across "tabs". So that now, when it says "melt the butter and whisk in half the flour", you need to flick back and forward multiple times for each step to remember what to do and how much to add.
If it's not a pointless blog/article header, then the ingredients and method are split up across "tabs". So that now, when it says "melt the butter and whisk in half the flour", you need to flick back and forward multiple times for each step to remember what to do and how much to add.
My kingdom for a browser plugin that automatically identifies a recipe site and strips out everything except the actual recipe. Reader mode comes close, but you still have to scroll through all the crap (assuming the recipe is all on one page).
What gets me though is why Google suddenly felt the need to rank these sites over more established recipe sites that literally just gave you the recipe. I've been in digital marketing a long time and seen a few "waves" of major SEO updates come and go. When there seems to be a significant shift in quality for a category of results, Google does tend to eventually take action. So I wonder if we're going to see a correction at some point that stops favoring those sorts of aggregator blog posts and "long-form recipes."
The content being created is not valuable, and is clearly being done solely for rankings at this point.
If any Googlers are reading this, I'd love any additional insight as to why these sites continue to do well.
What gets me though is why Google suddenly felt the need to rank these sites over more established recipe sites that literally just gave you the recipe. I've been in digital marketing a long time and seen a few "waves" of major SEO updates come and go. When there seems to be a significant shift in quality for a category of results, Google does tend to eventually take action. So I wonder if we're going to see a correction at some point that stops favoring those sorts of aggregator blog posts and "long-form recipes."
The content being created is not valuable, and is clearly being done solely for rankings at this point.
If any Googlers are reading this, I'd love any additional insight as to why these sites continue to do well.
I've also wanted such an extension so after reading this comment I was finally spurred into action.
It works on a few sites I know are popular plus any that use the standard div with "itemtype" set to "http[s]://schema.org/Recipe", which seems to handle about 85% of the long-winded blogs out there. It extracts the recipe div and displays it nicely at the top of the page, dimming the site behind it. It has a button at the bottom of the recipe to dismiss the popup. Most sites include a handy print link or button at the top as well so you can quickly click through to that formatting as well (i.e. if you actually print recipes or use the Paprika recipe manager bookmarklet).
You can install the CRX directly: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter/m...
I will work on it some more to have proper controls, icon, work on more sites, etc then get it into the Chrome Web Store for easy installation.
Thanks for the final push!
It works on a few sites I know are popular plus any that use the standard div with "itemtype" set to "http[s]://schema.org/Recipe", which seems to handle about 85% of the long-winded blogs out there. It extracts the recipe div and displays it nicely at the top of the page, dimming the site behind it. It has a button at the bottom of the recipe to dismiss the popup. Most sites include a handy print link or button at the top as well so you can quickly click through to that formatting as well (i.e. if you actually print recipes or use the Paprika recipe manager bookmarklet).
You can install the CRX directly: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter/m...
I will work on it some more to have proper controls, icon, work on more sites, etc then get it into the Chrome Web Store for easy installation.
Thanks for the final push!
Wow, nice work! Please circle back here and let me know once it is officially in the store, would love to check it out and spread the word!
Honestly, this is the sort of thing that once Amazon adds a Whole Foods API for ordering, you could add an unobtrusive "order these ingredients for pickup at Whole Foods" link or something at the bottom and hopefully make some commission off of it.
Ping me when it's built and I'll help you promote it if you're interested (I'm a marketer).
Honestly, this is the sort of thing that once Amazon adds a Whole Foods API for ordering, you could add an unobtrusive "order these ingredients for pickup at Whole Foods" link or something at the bottom and hopefully make some commission off of it.
Ping me when it's built and I'll help you promote it if you're interested (I'm a marketer).
they're often heavily promoted/shared - social signals seem to weigh heavily these days for SEO.
I have a clean site in a related space (https://keto.fm) and multiple subscribers have commented along the lines of: "this looked like a spam site, but once we browsed through it, it had rrally good content!"
I have a clean site in a related space (https://keto.fm) and multiple subscribers have commented along the lines of: "this looked like a spam site, but once we browsed through it, it had rrally good content!"
I use cooksmarts as a recipe service. Weekly menus have reusable items. Sometimes you make double of one item one day use in the next days dinner if it stores well. Also to seasonal cooking into account.
This site has recipes like that. Most of them have 5 or less ingredients and take less than 30 minutes http://thestonesoup.com/blog/start-here/
Your request is different from the core value prop of OP's sites focus
It's a mailing list, not a unix app. I'm not going to be piping the output from this into something else. To me the core "value prop" of this is "inspiration" for things to make. Adding specifics to that seems like a natural extension.
You need inspiration to cook a vegetable?
Not everyone is aware of what's on season or how easy those things are to prepare in a way that would satisfy picky Americans.
So yes, every bit helps.
So yes, every bit helps.
We wouldn't be having a obesity epidemic if that wasn't the case.
I wouldn't say it's inspiration that's lacking. It has more to do with the fact that vegetables are more expensive and harder to get than junk food, and the contents of said junk food, combined with factors like time and cultural trends, and of course education.
The mailing list is valuable if OP's site wants to sell seeds.
Exactly. It doesn’t make sense to build a recipes app when many already exist. All they need to do is link to allrecipes search by included ingredient, and preferably sorted by average rating. Feature added with much less effort.
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> but the recipe is so impractical I'll probably never make it.
or the food amounts to cookies dipped in honey dipped in butter dipped in icing sugar.
or the food amounts to cookies dipped in honey dipped in butter dipped in icing sugar.
Neat!
But you've got some work to do to get the data in there. I put in my Southern Indiana zip code and got 12 results back. Only one was actually anywhere near my zipcode (or even in my state). The rest were anywhere from 200 - 500 miles away. Sorry, but I don't consider Maryland to be local to Indiana.
I would suggest you work on getting data about local farms in there, and then tighten up the constraints for what is considered "local".
At the very least, in the results paragraph, change the display from "12 for your zipcode" which is just flatly false to "1 for your zipcode and 11 in the broader region" or something of that nature.
But you've got some work to do to get the data in there. I put in my Southern Indiana zip code and got 12 results back. Only one was actually anywhere near my zipcode (or even in my state). The rest were anywhere from 200 - 500 miles away. Sorry, but I don't consider Maryland to be local to Indiana.
I would suggest you work on getting data about local farms in there, and then tighten up the constraints for what is considered "local".
At the very least, in the results paragraph, change the display from "12 for your zipcode" which is just flatly false to "1 for your zipcode and 11 in the broader region" or something of that nature.
Thanks for the feedback - this is very first version, and there are a lot of improvements to make.
I think you're right about the wording, reading it with fresh eyes it is very confusing, and I'll change it ASAP.
Right now, all the farm information data is pulled from aggregated USDA data so there is a ton of work left to do to get better, finer-grained results. My plan is to look at which zip codes get the most queries and the most user sign ups, and improve results for those first.
The data wrangling aspect of this is definitely one of the biggest challenges. I've spent more time than I'd care to say extracting data from PDFs and other non-parser-friendly materials with regular expressions, and, often, manually.
I think you're right about the wording, reading it with fresh eyes it is very confusing, and I'll change it ASAP.
Right now, all the farm information data is pulled from aggregated USDA data so there is a ton of work left to do to get better, finer-grained results. My plan is to look at which zip codes get the most queries and the most user sign ups, and improve results for those first.
The data wrangling aspect of this is definitely one of the biggest challenges. I've spent more time than I'd care to say extracting data from PDFs and other non-parser-friendly materials with regular expressions, and, often, manually.
Have you come across [Local Harvest](https://www.localharvest.org) before? That might be a good data source, at least for what farms exist where. I don't know if they collect data on what farms actually grow.
But I empathize a lot. I've pursued a number of side projects in this space. I've worked on an online farmer's market, a plant database, and a recipe database in the hope of solving a nexus of problems around eating sustainably and sourcing food locally. The only one that ever actually made it to live was http://www.fridgetofood.com and I haven't touched that in years, so it has decayed pretty hard.
I always got hung up on the data collection and translation aspect of things. It's not an easy problem to solve.
But I empathize a lot. I've pursued a number of side projects in this space. I've worked on an online farmer's market, a plant database, and a recipe database in the hope of solving a nexus of problems around eating sustainably and sourcing food locally. The only one that ever actually made it to live was http://www.fridgetofood.com and I haven't touched that in years, so it has decayed pretty hard.
I always got hung up on the data collection and translation aspect of things. It's not an easy problem to solve.
Another good data source that I've used is https://www.farmmatch.com/.
I haven't, but a few people have mentioned LocalHarvest, so I am definitely going to look into it.
Thank you for sharing your experience, it's really interesting to hear from other people interested in this space and I haven't had a chance to do so before, so I appreciate it.
Thank you for sharing your experience, it's really interesting to hear from other people interested in this space and I haven't had a chance to do so before, so I appreciate it.
Interesting project, not clear on the model for commercialization if any. Here in China we are looking at seasonality as a potential differentiator for our own food offering - http://infinite-food.com/
I think there are a few challenges with offering this as a commercial service. Firstly, the data. You stated you have a USDA data feed, that's great but is going to come away limited by its sources and I'd hazard a guess is largely going to be picking up sources that are the larger and more established versus smaller, more organic/seasonal farmers.
Second, the idea of locality. Right now I am typing this in Hong Kong and I can tell you basically nothing is produced here. So the locality model is 100% out of the question for many high density urban centers (which increasingly are where most people in the world live, usually in Asia).
Another issue from a conceptual standpoint is the high distance a lot of food travels in the US. Because of this reason the locality model is going to break down and the majority of the more established, larger-scale retail operators are sourcing in bulk from reliable supplies at distance rather than nearby vendors. What good is telling someone there are great local vegetables if they can't find them to buy them? Also, a half-price shipment may just have arrived from Honduras or Mexico.
Finally there is the reality of hydroponics. A great deal of some crops (eg. tomatoes, leafy greens, all baby greens) are produced in artificial growth conditions which are generally not seasonal or have exceptionally extended seasons.
If I were you I would think about the matches between data sources, potential demand and commercialization and see if you can't get in to the distribution ecosystem somehow (eg. 'supply chain transparecy') in more innovative places like Detroit where (according to media) a lot of this sort of thing is breaking down right now and there are probably good options for partnerships and cheap scaling.
Lots of people are trying to apply blockchain to agtech but the value add seems weak to me. If you went at the same space with a centralized model and a significant, customer-driven value add (short term/last minute deals for restaurants as per the recently fast growing and relatively new segment of hotels/travel, etc.) I do think this could have legs. But it seems there's a long way to go in finding and validating a model.
One way to look at it would be to have price and/or consumption data as your value add, another would be deal making, another would be qualitative assessment and supply chain transparency (some form of auditing/tracking). Another perspective to look at it from would be the players: restaurateurs, caterers, individual consumers, supermarket chains, farmers markets, etc. Many startups (eg. last mile food delivery) have done well partnering with restaurateurs who ware always under pressure and looking for an edge and immediate cashflow. There's surely opportunities in there, find them!
Just my 2c.
I think there are a few challenges with offering this as a commercial service. Firstly, the data. You stated you have a USDA data feed, that's great but is going to come away limited by its sources and I'd hazard a guess is largely going to be picking up sources that are the larger and more established versus smaller, more organic/seasonal farmers.
Second, the idea of locality. Right now I am typing this in Hong Kong and I can tell you basically nothing is produced here. So the locality model is 100% out of the question for many high density urban centers (which increasingly are where most people in the world live, usually in Asia).
Another issue from a conceptual standpoint is the high distance a lot of food travels in the US. Because of this reason the locality model is going to break down and the majority of the more established, larger-scale retail operators are sourcing in bulk from reliable supplies at distance rather than nearby vendors. What good is telling someone there are great local vegetables if they can't find them to buy them? Also, a half-price shipment may just have arrived from Honduras or Mexico.
Finally there is the reality of hydroponics. A great deal of some crops (eg. tomatoes, leafy greens, all baby greens) are produced in artificial growth conditions which are generally not seasonal or have exceptionally extended seasons.
If I were you I would think about the matches between data sources, potential demand and commercialization and see if you can't get in to the distribution ecosystem somehow (eg. 'supply chain transparecy') in more innovative places like Detroit where (according to media) a lot of this sort of thing is breaking down right now and there are probably good options for partnerships and cheap scaling.
Lots of people are trying to apply blockchain to agtech but the value add seems weak to me. If you went at the same space with a centralized model and a significant, customer-driven value add (short term/last minute deals for restaurants as per the recently fast growing and relatively new segment of hotels/travel, etc.) I do think this could have legs. But it seems there's a long way to go in finding and validating a model.
One way to look at it would be to have price and/or consumption data as your value add, another would be deal making, another would be qualitative assessment and supply chain transparency (some form of auditing/tracking). Another perspective to look at it from would be the players: restaurateurs, caterers, individual consumers, supermarket chains, farmers markets, etc. Many startups (eg. last mile food delivery) have done well partnering with restaurateurs who ware always under pressure and looking for an edge and immediate cashflow. There's surely opportunities in there, find them!
Just my 2c.
Does a project have to have a commercialization/monitization route?
I think part of the problem you're finding is just that nothing is in season in your zip code, maybe? I don't really know Southern Indiana but I wasn't surprised that there were no real local results around me here in SW PA.
Up here in northern New England, I just harvested kale from my garden, and my CSA pickup on Sunday had a nice variety of squash, root crops, greenhouse spinach and cabbage. I'm sure there's plenty of things in season in southern PA.
Same:
> We found 9 results near your zip code...
> 3 Results from Michigan: (my county, my county, neighboring county...sure!)
> 6 Results from other states: Wisconsin, New York, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New Jersey.
That's 3 results with 6 that are hundreds of miles away.
> We found 9 results near your zip code...
> 3 Results from Michigan: (my county, my county, neighboring county...sure!)
> 6 Results from other states: Wisconsin, New York, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New Jersey.
That's 3 results with 6 that are hundreds of miles away.
Hey dbingham :) 's Josh. So you got "apples" too, eh? What? You dont want to go to "local" tomatoes in Georgia, over 500 miles away?!?
But yeah, I like it, but "NEEDS MORE INPUT"! :)
But yeah, I like it, but "NEEDS MORE INPUT"! :)
I had a similar experience in Yakima county - According to this site the nearest local apples are in Chelan county which is funny because there are many many apple orchards here.
Just a small detail: The large subscription form popping up after a search made me think there are no results initially. Maybe make sure the results are higher up, and e.g. move the subscription form to the side?
Also, a softer (lighter?) background might bring out the fruit/vegetable images a bit better.
Also, a softer (lighter?) background might bring out the fruit/vegetable images a bit better.
My visual experience:
1. There is a field to enter zipcode and empty space below.
2. I enter zipcode.
3. Empty space filled with fields for an email and name and a "we found results banner".
4. Because all the results were off my screen I figured it was nothing more than another email harvesting page.
5. Later I saw it on the front page of HN and tried it again. It still looked like an email harvesting page on my laptop. Only because I had seen the comments did I think it might be possible to scroll down.
It might be worth delivering value (results) before asking for value (a visitor's email). Fresh fruits near me is awesome. Signing up for email isn't.
Good luck.
1. There is a field to enter zipcode and empty space below.
2. I enter zipcode.
3. Empty space filled with fields for an email and name and a "we found results banner".
4. Because all the results were off my screen I figured it was nothing more than another email harvesting page.
5. Later I saw it on the front page of HN and tried it again. It still looked like an email harvesting page on my laptop. Only because I had seen the comments did I think it might be possible to scroll down.
It might be worth delivering value (results) before asking for value (a visitor's email). Fresh fruits near me is awesome. Signing up for email isn't.
Good luck.
same here, assumed it was spam before realizing good stuff was below
I like this! This was an idea I toyed around with in my head for a long time. I am glad to see you actually implement it.
One suggestion I have is this: it would be great if there was a way to "peek" ahead and see what other items will soon be coming into season within the next 1-2 weeks.
One suggestion I have is this: it would be great if there was a way to "peek" ahead and see what other items will soon be coming into season within the next 1-2 weeks.
I toyed with this idea just the same and expanding it to provide recipes with the peak fruits and vegetables.
Not only was collecting the data time intensive, but determining the feature ingredient(s) was a challenge.
Not only was collecting the data time intensive, but determining the feature ingredient(s) was a challenge.
Oh ya connecting the Yummly API[0] to this would be really cool! Simply pass the search terms that are in season and you have seasonally curated recipes.
[0]: https://developer.yummly.com
[0]: https://developer.yummly.com
Very nice! Next step: steer users to where they can get the produce. I would suggest teaming up with Community Supported Agriculture [1] where people can buy stuff right off the farm with subscription.
[1] https://www.localharvest.org/csa/
[1] https://www.localharvest.org/csa/
I would like that too. In the LA area I have no idea where to get veggies that have been grown locally.
As a LA/OC local, we have tons of farmer's markets near us. The two powerhouses are the Wed Santa Monica Market and Sunday Hollywood market, but there are several others depending on the city you live in.
I've used a CSA before and it was nice to get random assortments of fruits/vegetables that I otherwise wouldn't buy. But the convenience of just shopping online for what you want is lost.
That's why my friend started Market Wagon[0] which acts as a middle-man between farmers who have crops and people who want to buy the food. The experience is like shopping on Amazon but you're buying local.
[0]: https://marketwagon.com
That's why my friend started Market Wagon[0] which acts as a middle-man between farmers who have crops and people who want to buy the food. The experience is like shopping on Amazon but you're buying local.
[0]: https://marketwagon.com
> Next step: steer users to where they can get the produce.
This is very location specific to NYC but I've always used this site to get local farmer's market info: http://www.whatisfresh.com/
This is very location specific to NYC but I've always used this site to get local farmer's market info: http://www.whatisfresh.com/
Here in Berkeley there's this amazing company https://www.imperfectproduce.com/ that delivers veggies that are not nice enough for markets.
I get that you don't want to show mostly empty pages(but that's going to happen most places in November), but 500+ miles seems to be stretching the definition of near. Being in Tennessee, I don't know that I'd consider various citrus fruits 572 miles in Florida to be very helpful.
nice website
No, not quite accurate -- the only results it returned are apples and cherries. Apples are 100% correct. Cherries are not. And there are a plethora of squashes and pumpkins recently harvested, as we just had our first frost last week, so the list is clearly incomplete.
The database is definitely incomplete - I have a ton of work left to do.
There is also the problem that just because a certain produce item is being harvested within x miles doesn't necessarily mean that produce is available at local stores, and vice-versa.
My hope is that if I can get some early adopters, I'll be able to concentrate improving the data in a smaller number of targeted areas. This is the first time I've shown the site to anyone, so I'm hoping I can get some feedback to make the most effective improvements first.
There is also the problem that just because a certain produce item is being harvested within x miles doesn't necessarily mean that produce is available at local stores, and vice-versa.
My hope is that if I can get some early adopters, I'll be able to concentrate improving the data in a smaller number of targeted areas. This is the first time I've shown the site to anyone, so I'm hoping I can get some feedback to make the most effective improvements first.
Ah, see, I wasn't thinking this was about local stores. Because frankly, stores ship food in from wherever it is in season, so I don't need this info... I just look in the store and see what looks good. The better use case, for me at least, is to know when it is worth going to my local farms/markets and not even bothering with the store.
Apples are sort of correct, at least near me...but really only the late varieties. It lists apples as "In peak season", but peak apple season is late September, and the only ones really being harvested now are the Braeburns and Fujis and others that don't mind the frost so much:
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/predicted_2017_apple_harvest_da...
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/predicted_2017_apple_harvest_da...
Ah, that might explain it - I actually have varietal information in the database, but I'm not using it yet because it adds a ton of complexity and I really wanted to show this to people before spending more time on it.
So "peak season" might better be interpreted as "as least one variety is in peak season", at least for now. And "peak season" is a bit nebulous due to how hard it is to normalise between different data sources, but it's something akin to "most active harvest period"
So "peak season" might better be interpreted as "as least one variety is in peak season", at least for now. And "peak season" is a bit nebulous due to how hard it is to normalise between different data sources, but it's something akin to "most active harvest period"
I thought most apples one can get in any grocery store in the USA is typically retrieved from storage that has lasted 9-12 months. How does one guarantee an apple that is fresh from the tree other than picking it yourself?
<input type=number pattern="\d*"> on the ZIP code field would be fantastic for your mobile users. (At least until you support non-US zips)
https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/design-and-ux...
https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/design-and-ux...
Nice work. Worth mentioning prior art:
Harvest: https://itunes.apple.com/app/harvest-select-best-produce/id3...
Seasons: http://www.seasonsapp.com/
Locavore: http://www.getlocavore.com/
Harvest: https://itunes.apple.com/app/harvest-select-best-produce/id3...
Seasons: http://www.seasonsapp.com/
Locavore: http://www.getlocavore.com/
Seasons:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'new' (T_NEW) in /homepages/14/d154513924/htdocs/seasonsapp.com/wp-settings.php on line 204
Uh oh…
Uh oh…
How can I use this to help me eat locally? I put in my zip code for Raleigh, NC (27601), and it gives me a result of: Cabbage in Pasquotank County, but there is no contact information. How can I get some of that cabbage?
Easiest thing for you is probably The State Farmer's Market [0], corner of Lake Wheeler Road and Centennial Parkway.
We keep a copy of the NC seasonal produce chart [1] hanging in the kitchen, and sometimes remember to check it.
Seems like one option for the OP would be to let users (moderators) update the site with vendors. That's a can of worms, but it could provide local information not available from online sources.
[0] http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/facilities/markets/raleigh/ [1] http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/chart.htm
We keep a copy of the NC seasonal produce chart [1] hanging in the kitchen, and sometimes remember to check it.
Seems like one option for the OP would be to let users (moderators) update the site with vendors. That's a can of worms, but it could provide local information not available from online sources.
[0] http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/facilities/markets/raleigh/ [1] http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/chart.htm
Awesome idea. My zip (59718, MT) shows 250 miles away as the nearest food. Definitely as others have pointed out, needs a lot more data to be viable. If you are to take this more seriously, maybe target a single community and connect with local farms, i.e. https://www.strikefarms.com/
You just typed out my comment for me. I tried 59715. I like to cook entirely local meals for fun and Montana has plenty of readily available farm goods for that.
Would love to share this with my non-tech friends, but the data's just not there yet, and sharing with them would ruin their impression forever. Data is too sparse with respect to geography. No idea how you get the data, but increase your data density as a function of location, and you'll likely see wide adoption.
The results are kind of confusing. If I put in zip code 22003 (not mine, but close, and the results are the same) it tells me "1 Result from Georgia" which is bell peppers from a place 611 miles away, then "10 Results from other states" including one place 14 miles away, and another 36 miles away.
The wording seems to imply that it thinks 22003 is in Georgia and the top result is the best, but it's in Virginia and the top result is the most distant one.
I'd also suggest making the on-page results a bit more prominent. My first reaction after typing a zip code was that I was required to give an e-mail address to view the results, and nearly gave up and left the page before realizing they were also displayed at the bottom. (The fact that only the "1 Result from Georgia" was above the fold didn't help, since it looked unrelated.)
The wording seems to imply that it thinks 22003 is in Georgia and the top result is the best, but it's in Virginia and the top result is the most distant one.
I'd also suggest making the on-page results a bit more prominent. My first reaction after typing a zip code was that I was required to give an e-mail address to view the results, and nearly gave up and left the page before realizing they were also displayed at the bottom. (The fact that only the "1 Result from Georgia" was above the fold didn't help, since it looked unrelated.)
Ah yeah, the zip database I'm using is a bit out of date (as some other people have mentioned) and you're seeing this behaviour as it thinks 22003 is in Georgia. I had a hunch people might be more interested in results from their own state even if they were a bit further away, but clearly in this case that doesn't make sense.
I'll experiment with moving the email form to under the results, or putting it behind a button. I was trying to make it low friction, but I think I might have gone a bit far.
I'll experiment with moving the email form to under the results, or putting it behind a button. I was trying to make it low friction, but I think I might have gone a bit far.
Interesting, I take it the distances are being computed in some other way? The "results from State" would definitely make a lot more sense if they matched the zip code.
Distances are being computed from a geopoint representation of each zip code (which is a bit out of date, but which I can update fairly easily) to a set of shape files representing US counties. It's intentionally not 100% accurate because the underlying math is quite slow and using slight approximations speeds things way up.
This is great - cool idea. I'll register as this is something I really care about and this saves me research and time. It also helps me consider which meals I'd like to make.
I'd be willing to pay a small monthly fee for this data being curated for me when you get the database a bit more fleshed out.
I'd be willing to pay a small monthly fee for this data being curated for me when you get the database a bit more fleshed out.
This is a great resource. Thanks for sharing it!
I have a suggestion which would make it very useful for me: hints on when to plant. Since you have the timing for "peak season" and (I assume) the growing times to get there, hopefully it would be easy to work backwards to arrive at planting times.
As a new gardener in Southern California, I could use some help planning my planting schedule. I can get away with planting a lot of things whenever I feel like it, but sticking with the ideal times would help optimize my yields.
I have a suggestion which would make it very useful for me: hints on when to plant. Since you have the timing for "peak season" and (I assume) the growing times to get there, hopefully it would be easy to work backwards to arrive at planting times.
As a new gardener in Southern California, I could use some help planning my planting schedule. I can get away with planting a lot of things whenever I feel like it, but sticking with the ideal times would help optimize my yields.
As someone who frequents farmer's markets often, my suggestion would to visit one close to you. I often ask the local farmers for planting advice especially since it seems our temperatures are getting wackier each season.
That's an excellent point! There are several near me so I'll ask next time I go to the market.
About five years ago, a colleague had an idea for a social/user-driven app for seasonal food (produce, meats, etc.) He called it something like Local Bee, and then we created a version (for Windows Phone 7!) of it over the weekend at a Hack-a-thon. We actually won, though it was small (13 teams). We called it P2P Farms! We made another version (for Android Auto, before it was even called that) at another event, where it would actually alert you right in your dashboard when you got close to specified items. Then our employer started to turn it into "a real thing", and renamed it Fresh! However, I left the company around then and haven't heard much about it since.
At the time, I searched online, and found sites like LocalHarvest, Farmstand, RipeNear.me, LocalDirt, etc., each usually with a little different spin (some focus on specific food, some one farmer's markets, some on actual farms, and some on produce stands).
So you can see the challenges - data, use case, implementation, monetization, etc.
If it's from various feeds, they aren't standardized or consistent. They could update at different frequencies. They might omit huge swaths of geography.
If it's from the users themselves (i.e. you "check-in" when you find a local produce stand selling fruit or beef jerky or something), you need MASSIVE adoption and participation, and you'll probably have a 10-to-1 ratio of people that want to consume vs contribute. And how long is the data useful? Maybe they bought awesome watermelons but 15 minutes later, the last few sold out. Can you get people at the stands to update their listings?
What if you convince producers (farmer's markets, farmers) that it's worth their marketing dollars to get listed (and highlighted)? Does it follow the spirit of the app you envisioned?
And do you combine approaches? Multiple ways of getting data in, keeping it updated, etc? I'm curious where you'll take this, so create an "About/News" section of your site (or Twitter) and keep posting!
Edit: Also, I realize your approach "just what fruit is in season" varies from the above variations, and so the challenges and solutions do as well. I kind of went off on tangents there! Hopefully it gives you ideas anyway.
At the time, I searched online, and found sites like LocalHarvest, Farmstand, RipeNear.me, LocalDirt, etc., each usually with a little different spin (some focus on specific food, some one farmer's markets, some on actual farms, and some on produce stands).
So you can see the challenges - data, use case, implementation, monetization, etc.
If it's from various feeds, they aren't standardized or consistent. They could update at different frequencies. They might omit huge swaths of geography.
If it's from the users themselves (i.e. you "check-in" when you find a local produce stand selling fruit or beef jerky or something), you need MASSIVE adoption and participation, and you'll probably have a 10-to-1 ratio of people that want to consume vs contribute. And how long is the data useful? Maybe they bought awesome watermelons but 15 minutes later, the last few sold out. Can you get people at the stands to update their listings?
What if you convince producers (farmer's markets, farmers) that it's worth their marketing dollars to get listed (and highlighted)? Does it follow the spirit of the app you envisioned?
And do you combine approaches? Multiple ways of getting data in, keeping it updated, etc? I'm curious where you'll take this, so create an "About/News" section of your site (or Twitter) and keep posting!
Edit: Also, I realize your approach "just what fruit is in season" varies from the above variations, and so the challenges and solutions do as well. I kind of went off on tangents there! Hopefully it gives you ideas anyway.
Very neat idea. I'd like to make the following suggestions:
1) Some vendors of said produce. If I can get grapes that were grown 5 miles away, awesome! Now where can I buy them?
2) A filter that lets me determine the maximum distance allowed. I ran a search based on a Northern Virginia zipcode and it recommended me some Bell Peppers from Georgia...609 miles away. We're not exactly "local" at this point. Simply having a filter option to stop it from showing me anything farther than 50 miles away would be useful.
1) Some vendors of said produce. If I can get grapes that were grown 5 miles away, awesome! Now where can I buy them?
2) A filter that lets me determine the maximum distance allowed. I ran a search based on a Northern Virginia zipcode and it recommended me some Bell Peppers from Georgia...609 miles away. We're not exactly "local" at this point. Simply having a filter option to stop it from showing me anything farther than 50 miles away would be useful.
3 thumbs up!
As soon as my wife heard about it - voice of joy!
Definitely solution to existing problem + tons of potentials for business (recipes, partnerships with stores, organics, deliveries)..
As soon as my wife heard about it - voice of joy!
Definitely solution to existing problem + tons of potentials for business (recipes, partnerships with stores, organics, deliveries)..
Nifty, thanks for sharing!
Couple of suggestions:
I signed up for the email, but I'd likely pay more attention to a monthly email as personally I get so many "weekly" email that I setup a filter consciously or not.
Second, `being` is misspelled in your post-signup message: "confirmation link to being receiving fresh produce notifications once a week." Might even be good to reword it a bit .:-)
Couple of suggestions:
I signed up for the email, but I'd likely pay more attention to a monthly email as personally I get so many "weekly" email that I setup a filter consciously or not.
Second, `being` is misspelled in your post-signup message: "confirmation link to being receiving fresh produce notifications once a week." Might even be good to reword it a bit .:-)
I love the concept. Rather than just listing what's 'in' season, listing what's out (among staples, fuzzy definition of what that would include) would be valuable to.
My wife tends to give me a grocery list and includes things that - when i get to the store, are overpriced/look like crap as they're significantly out of season anywhere remotely close.
My wife tends to give me a grocery list and includes things that - when i get to the store, are overpriced/look like crap as they're significantly out of season anywhere remotely close.
Hey! Very cool.
I visited the local farmer's market yesterday. Every 3rd stall had persimmons... Didn't see any in my Santa Clara County list.
I visited the local farmer's market yesterday. Every 3rd stall had persimmons... Didn't see any in my Santa Clara County list.
Not sure if it is my ignorance here, but I was actually pretty happy with the results for my zip in southern CA. There are certainly results that are not convenient traveling distance from me, but the value to me isn't in knowing exactly which farms to purchase from, but in knowing what produce I should look more closely at when I go to the market.
Where is the data coming from? It tells me that things like apples, pears, etc. are at peak ripeness (true) - but then it says the closest places are 50 miles away. I know for a fact that there are numerous apple and pear farms that are open to the public within a few miles of my house (they are problem in the same zip code as my house).
Good stuff! Would totally install a native app that sent me pushes when things go in/out of season.
Your zip database is old. My zip returns nothing (97078) but the old zip they split up works (97007).
For the UK, I use http://eattheseasons.co.uk/ which is much simpler, but serves as a great starting point when considering what to cook.
Thank you for this site. Wonderful!
One correction: 'Cantaloups' should be spelled 'Cantaloupes'.
It would be really nice to have the tags clickable (for example 'Peak', so that we can figure out what produce would be cheaper).
One correction: 'Cantaloups' should be spelled 'Cantaloupes'.
It would be really nice to have the tags clickable (for example 'Peak', so that we can figure out what produce would be cheaper).
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Looks like a very neat idea.
I'm curious where the data comes from. For my zipcode (souther New Hampshire) it said apples are in peak season. Peak Apple around here ends early to late October (depending on weather).
I'm curious where the data comes from. For my zipcode (souther New Hampshire) it said apples are in peak season. Peak Apple around here ends early to late October (depending on weather).
Almost all the data right now is pulled from various USDA publications which I scraped, combined, sanity-checked and cleaned up. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do as a first-run.
I'll have a look at southern New Hampshire specifically and see if anything weird is going on.
I'll have a look at southern New Hampshire specifically and see if anything weird is going on.
Very cool would it be possible to get a reminder of when something is in season to plant as well, this would be very helpful with my home vegetable gardening efforts.
I’d love to see this integrated with https://fallingfruit.org/
This is awesome. It would be nice to have a list of local farms that produce them, as well as farmers markets that offer them (when and where)
I get wildly different out-of-state results when putting in 99114 vs 99113, even though both zips are in the same starting state. What gives?
This is great! Thank you. Lots of great feedback here as well :) Look forward to following along and making more informed grocery choices.
You can generally figure out what's in season by going to the grocery store and seeing what they have a mountain of for almost no money
I showed this to my wife who has never been on HN and is an avid Gardener. I was excited to find some commonality in our hobbies!
She spent three minutes on it and said “this is crap.”
When she entered our Dallas zip code, it noted that the nearest harvests for very basic veggies was over 270 miles away in the middle of no where. Meanwhile she’s growing the very same plants in our backyard.
Gardening is far from my area of expertise. But unless we’re missing something fundamental about the program, there may be some work to be done on this commendable project.
She spent three minutes on it and said “this is crap.”
When she entered our Dallas zip code, it noted that the nearest harvests for very basic veggies was over 270 miles away in the middle of no where. Meanwhile she’s growing the very same plants in our backyard.
Gardening is far from my area of expertise. But unless we’re missing something fundamental about the program, there may be some work to be done on this commendable project.
LOVE THIS!!! I have actually printed out charts and put them on our bulletin board, however, not all charts are local.
Next question: Is this public code?
Next question: Is this public code?
This is nice. I'd love to see this expanded as I am sure there are more than just 4 fruits in season right now in Oregon. :)
Very cool idea! Agree with the comments tying this to a Farmer's Market somehow. Would be good to get user input as well.
I love it! So awesome.
I'd love to make a mobile app for it. Is it an abuse if I just pinged https://harvestsignal.com/api/v1/public/whatsfresh/[zip code]? I don't want to spam you but I doubt I'll have any traffic any time soon anyway.
I'd love to make a mobile app for it. Is it an abuse if I just pinged https://harvestsignal.com/api/v1/public/whatsfresh/[zip code]? I don't want to spam you but I doubt I'll have any traffic any time soon anyway.
6 things within a 300 mile radius and the combination does not form a complete protein...
Nice 90210 reference :-) here's hoping for some data to brazilian visitors...
Very cool, I always wondered about things like this but it was verrry low priority
Very interesting! Can you talk a little bit about the reliability of your data?
I would say that the data I have at the moment are reliable in the sense that they are collated from informed, reasonably up to date sources (mainly US government sources at the moment). I would say that they are not very complete and not very granular yet, but this is something I am working on.
I work for a company that has very similar problems - our data is reliable, but not necessarily complete. Thanks for sharing!
...congrats bruuv...wanted to build something similar lack of time killed it
Very cool!
Also lucky to be in a west coast state with lots of rain and lots of agriculture.
Also lucky to be in a west coast state with lots of rain and lots of agriculture.
>Artichoke
>Days left in season: 253
Artichokes, man. You just can't convince them to die.
>Days left in season: 253
Artichokes, man. You just can't convince them to die.
I also noticed that. I tend to buy the heirloom perennial artichokes which have a shorter season than the continuously planted annual varieties. Also, saw asparagus which even near the bay area I don't think is in season, most of it seems to be from Mexico.
I ran some queries and it looks like there are only about 4 weeks a year when asparagus isn't being commercially harvested somewhere in California - the first couple of weeks in December and the last couple of weeks in May (approximately)
Distribution is another matter entirely of course!
Distribution is another matter entirely of course!
200+ miles away. Holy hell. Are the farms really that far away?
Without knowing where you are, I'd say "probably not"; the end of November is not the best time to show this service off (in the US).
A great start! So exciting to keep an eye on this
Super cool - awesome idea and great UI.
This is awesome! Nice work :)
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> Chile Peppers
> Chaves County, New Mexico (607 miles)
> In peak season
I guess there's a reason we call this hunting season... deer, turkey,pheasent, quail, dove plus many non-game animals (hogs, etc) are in season in the midwest.
I guess there's a reason we call this hunting season... deer, turkey,pheasent, quail, dove plus many non-game animals (hogs, etc) are in season in the midwest.
Hilariously, hunting is free-range, grass-fed, antibiotic-free, cage-free, ethically-sourced, ethically harvested, local, and sustainable, among many other things like 100% of the fees go towards habitat preservation.
Some very angsty vegetarians on HN :D
Some very angsty vegetarians on HN :D
Great work! Sorting by days left (asc/dec) or alphabetical would be nice.
The last point is important to me. Food porn is common these days, they put out these recipes with beautiful pictures, but the recipe is so impractical I'll probably never make it. Frankly, if I never make the recipe... it's of little added value to me.