Introducing Farm Bell Recipes

It’s here, it’s here! (And it includes giveaways!)

What is it? Well, let me go back…. Many moons ago–or, actually, a little less than two years ago–I launched the Chickens in the Road forum. One of the first topics opened on the forum was a “Recipes” topic. The topic quickly filled up with wonderful, mouthwatering recipes. In other words, the topic quickly got out of hand. So I opened a section on the forum just for recipes. I called it Just Recipes. (What a brainstorm!) The idea was that within that section, people could add as many recipe topics as they wanted and we could easily find them.

Only then the Just Recipes section got out of hand. There were so many recipes! And nobody could find what they wanted when they wanted. So I created the Community Cookbook to index the recipes.

Only then the Community Cookbook got out of hand. There were so many recipes! It had to be cross-referenced and indexed manually and, worse, it wasn’t searchable. This drove users crazy. And drove me crazy! Keeping up with indexing the recipes from Just Recipes into the Community Cookbook was like another job–and it wasn’t even a functional system. Meanwhile, people kept adding more recipes. Because we love recipes around here!

There had to be a better way! Something searchable and functional. Something that would auto-index and cross-reference. Something user-friendly. And fun!

I’ve spent the better part of the past year turning over in my head what to do about this lovely, wonderful, mouthwatering “problem” of our love for recipes around here. I talked to members about it and I talked to my website designer.

And Farm Bell Recipes was born.

At Farm Bell Recipes, you can browse, rate, review, print, and submit recipes. Connect with friends and share your favorites. Looking for a recipe? You can request it! Save recipes in your very own personalized recipe box. Search by category, recipe name, ingredient, or tag. It is soooooo searchable. (The Recipe Box is awesome!!!! I think that is my favorite thing. You can save recipes in your box that you want to try later–so you don’t have to search for them again. How cool is that?)

The Member bar is at the very top of the header on Farm Bell Recipes, and from there you can register then log in to access your profile and settings. Click on Activity to check for comments on recipes or requests you’ve posted, see what new recipes your friends have posted, and send messages. When you make a recipe that’s been posted by someone else, you can even add your photo to the gallery on that recipe. How much fun is that?! It is soooooo interactive.

For those of you who love to can (and preserve in other ways), the indexing for Preserving on Farm Bell Recipes is the best and most extensive you’ll find anywhere. When you browse canning, you won’t find green beans mixed in a big lump with jams and salsas or dehydrated potatoes. Experts in the arts of preserving guided the in-depth indexing on Farm Bell and it is the most useable system you’ll ever see.

But it’s not all about preserving! We have in-depth browsing on Breads and Desserts and Main Dishes and everything else you’d expect and want from a recipe site. You can even browse by special categories like Crowd-Size or Budget or Kid-Friendly. There is also an extensive indexing for Special Diets such as vegan, lactose-free, low-sodium, and more. There’s an Entertaining section, too, which I think will be so much fun. (After you register, check out the Submit Recipes page to see the incredibly detailed auto-indexing and organization that is available for recipes there. Some sub-categories will not appear in the browsing bars yet because recipes haven’t been submitted yet in all sub-categories.)

I want this to be your cooking community, and the Farm Bell blog is your community blog. I hope you’ll enjoy it! (If you’re interested in participating in the Farm Bell blog by becoming a contributor, see information for Farm Bell blog contributors here.)

If you need help getting started, check out the Help page for support.

Sign up (it’s free!) and join us. Browse, submit your recipes, rate and review posted recipes, and just have fun! You’re invited! (Note: If you’re already registered on the Chickens in the Road blog and/or forum, you can register at Farm Bell Recipes with the same name and password.) You can also subscribe to the Farm Bell blog feed and not miss a thing!

It’s everything I never dreamed of and more back when I launched the Chickens in the Road forum and we had that one little exploding “Recipes” topic. We’ve come a long way, baby! I hope you’ll join us for a cooking community of likeminded friends. It’s a highly searchable, interactive, and user-friendly place to be!

I didn’t create this site by myself, of course. I could never do such a thing! Everything that is beautiful and functional about this website, both here and on Farm Bell Recipes, is due to the artistic talent and technical expertise of my longtime website designer, Emily from Swank Web Style.

Farm Bell Recipes also would not exist today if not for the unbelievable and generous volunteer help and support of the moderators and admins from the Chickens in the Road forum–CindyP, Dede, BuckeyeGirl, Pete, Kate S, and Astrid. (What an amazing group of ladies! I can’t thank them enough!) I also appreciate all the early testers who went in for me and signed up to help ferret out bugs in the system.

Thank you to all the Chickens in the Road forum members, whose enthusiasm for cooking brought about Farm Bell Recipes. I also want to thank every single one of you reading this today because without you, this entire site wouldn’t exist at all. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate your comments and your support. Thank you just for being here!

Please join us over on Farm Bell Recipes! We’re going to have a lot of fun there. Today, and every day all through launch week, I’m giving away cute and handy kitchen gadgets on the Farm Bell blog. Join in, enter for a chance to win, submit recipes, share photos, have a blast. Can’t wait to see you there!

Note: Entry on today’s Launch Week Giveaway #1 is not here on this post. To enter the giveaway, go to Farm Bell Recipes now and click on the Farm Bell blog button on the menu!