Locallygrown on Kestrel's Nest

From Survival to Sustainability: The Next 20 Years for LocallyGrown.net

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 04:24:13 +0000

Why saving a 23-year-old farmers market platform matters more now than ever—and how modern architecture enables the next chapter of local food systems

TL;DR

⚠️ The Path Forward

Six weeks post-launch, I’m still squashing bugs daily, but the existential crisis is over. The platform that was one hardware failure away from extinction now has a solid foundation. With a clear niche (community-run, multi-grower cooperative markets), I’m focused on thoughtful improvements: automation that removes friction, EBT support for equitable access, and delivery tools for the last mile. This is about preserving vital community infrastructure that hundreds of growers and thousands of customers rely on.

Over the last five posts, I’ve walked you through a 23-year journey. I started with an accidental discovery that became pioneering infrastructure for a movement that barely existed. I sat with you in the crushing weight of a 14-year technical stagnation that brought the platform to the brink of extinction. I dissected the six-month, part-time rescue mission to rebuild everything from scratch, the architectural choices that made it possible, and the modern tools that made it feasible for a solo developer. And I lived through the brutal, humbling reality of the post-launch “bug apocalypse”.

Lessons from the Solo Developer Using Modern Tools

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 20:15:51 +0000

Advanced Developer Tools, Real Tradeoffs

ℹ️ Important Context

This isn’t about the “AI” that generates blog spam or copies artists’ styles. This is about a new generation of developer tools that understand code structure, maintain consistency, and amplify human expertise rather than replacing it.

TL;DR

I didn’t use “AI” to write my app. I used code-aware tools to multiply my reach by researching options, generating tests and docs, and catching patterns. I stayed the architect and quality gate.

The Reality of Production: When Hope Meets Live Users

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 01:44:05 +0000

Three thousand passing tests don’t mean your system works

📝 Note

This is based on actual production issues from August 2025. These were the real bugs that affected real users running real businesses.

TL;DR

⚠️ The Production Reality Check

I launched with 3,000 passing tests, weeks of manual checks on production data, and a two-month beta—and still hit two weeks of real-world bugs:

DNS delays, fee miscalculations, role-permission gaps
Stripe edge cases, fragile email templates
A thousand small cuts
Result: 314 commits in 18 days to keep markets running

This is what broke, why, and what I’d do differently.

The Architecture Challenge: Translating 19 Years of Rails Logic to Modern SvelteKit

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 01:44:05 +0000

How I migrated decades of complex ActiveRecord relationships, subdomain multitenancy, and business logic to a modern stack without losing a single feature

📝 Note on Code Examples

All code samples in this post are simplified, illustrative examples to demonstrate concepts, and not actual production code. They’re edited for clarity and brevity. Please don’t point out all the bugs! 😊

TL;DR

ℹ️ The Migration in Brief

Rebuilt 19 years of Rails in SvelteKit while production stayed live
TypeScript domain model + service layer, Drizzle ORM, subdomain multitenancy, role-based auth, secure theming
Zero data transformation; two-month preview; 2 AM, all-or-nothing cutover
1,865 commits → feature parity

The Mountain I Had to Climb

Early 2025: I opened my 19-year-old Rails codebase and knew this wouldn’t be a migration: it would be a translation of an entire business. Quietly, I gave myself until June to prove it could work. If not, 2025 would be the final year for LocallyGrown.net.

The 23-Year Rescue Mission: Saving Agricultural Innovation from Technical Extinction

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 19:53:40 +0000

How a platform serving thousands of farmers and customers nearly died from its own success—and the impossible choice I had to make to save it

TL;DR

🚨 Platform in Critical Condition

By 2025, the LocallyGrown.net platform was dying from technical extinction:

Running Rails 3.0.20 and Ruby 2.0.0 (both over a decade obsolete)
Critical: Ruby 2.0.0 won’t compile on modern systems - couldn’t rebuild if servers failed
Multiple Rails upgrade attempts had failed due to the customization system
COVID created a cruel irony: maximum demand meeting maximum technical constraints

After closing my own Athens market in 2021 and watching passion-driven competitors win markets with modern platforms, I faced three choices:

From Accidental Discovery to Agricultural Infrastructure: Building the World's First Online Farmers Market (2002-2011)

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 23:13:31 +0000

How a failed wholesale experiment in Athens, Georgia became the foundation for nationwide local food systems

TL;DR

ℹ️ The LocallyGrown Story in Brief

What started as a failed restaurant wholesale cooperative in Athens, GA accidentally became what I believe was the world’s first online farmers market platform. A simple innovation—letting customers pre-order exactly what they wanted before farmers harvested—addressed persistent problems that everyone in local food systems knew about but had struggled to solve with traditional farmers markets and CSAs.