SHEFA User Guide

The public SHEFA site helps visitors find local farms and fresh food. Here is how every part of the site works.

Top bar (desktop)

• Logo / Home — returns to the homepage.
• Categories — browse products by food category (when enabled).
• List Your Farm — goes to farm plans and registration.
• Sign In / Sign Up — member login and registration (a popup may appear for visitors).
• Cart & Favourites — shown when those features are enabled.
• Settings gear — switch layout (Traditional vs Holy Grail), light/dark theme, FAQ, Support.
• Profile menu (when signed in) — Dashboard, My Profile, Sign out, and Switch to Farm or Member dashboard.

Holy Grail layout (left panel)

On desktop Holy Grail layout you get a fixed left navigation bar with category shortcuts and a More button at the bottom.

• More opens: List Your Farm, FAQ, Support, Farm Sign In, Terms, Privacy, User Guide (this page), and contact info.

Mobile

Use the hamburger menu for the same links. Layout may default to Traditional on mobile.

The homepage has two main search cards:

Find Fresh Food

1. Enter a keyword (e.g. tomatoes, eggs).
2. Optionally set zip code and radius (miles).
3. Click search — you go to /products with results.

Find A Farm

1. Enter a farm name or keyword.
2. Set zip code and/or state filter.
3. Click search — you go to /farms.

Spotlights

Carousels below may show Featured Farms and Popular Food near your location (uses zip cookie or browser location when allowed).

Sign up (new member)

1. Go to /signup or use the Sign Up popup.
2. Fill in name, email, phone, address, and password.
3. Complete reCAPTCHA if shown.
4. Submit — you receive a 6-digit verification code by email and land on your dashboard.
5. Enter the code in the Verify your email popup, or click Verify later and verify anytime from your dashboard banner.
6. While logged in but unverified, the verification popup may appear when you browse the site — this helps existing accounts complete verification.

Sign in

1. Go to /signin.
2. Enter email and password.
3. You land on the Member Dashboard.

Forgot password

Use /forgot-password → check email → reset link.

After member sign-in, open /user/dashboard. The left sidebar contains:

Dashboard

Overview of your member activity and quick links.

Top announcements

Dismissible banner cards may appear at the top (email verification, etc.). Click X to dismiss; unfulfilled announcements return after 12 hours. When several banners are active, tap announcements to expand the stack.

Notifications

Click the bell icon in the top bar or sidebar to read dashboard notifications (verification reminders, farm approved, etc.).

Joined Farms

Go to Joined Farms (/user/farms) to see every farm you have joined. Use the search box to filter joined farms or discover farms you have not joined yet — matching farms show a Join Farm button. Broken farm logos show initials in a circle.

My Subscriptions

View farm-share or other subscriptions you hold at /user/subscriptions.

My Account

At /user/account update your profile, password, and Email & notification preferences (choose which lifecycle emails and bell notifications you receive).

Developer Guide & Developer Accounts

Authorized developer accounts also see Developer Guide and Developer Accounts in the main sidebar (not under More).

Signout

Logs you out of the member portal (and admin if impersonating).

More (bottom-left)

Support, FAQ, Terms, Privacy, and User Guide.

Top bar — Switch to Farm

If you also own a farm, profile menu → Switch to → Farm Dashboard — no second login needed.

Step 1 — Choose a plan

1. Visit /plans or click List Your Farm.
2. Compare Farm Stand, Micro Farm, and Market Farm (✔/✖ show included features).
3. Click Sign Up on your chosen plan.

Step 2 — Complete the form

1. Fill owner name, farm name, email, phone, address, city, state, ZIP.
2. Submit the registration form (reCAPTCHA if enabled).
3. A member account is created automatically with the same email/password.
4. Your farm enters pending verification until admin approves.

Step 3 — Pay (if plan has a fee)

If your plan costs money, you are redirected to the Stripe payment screen. See Year Pass & Billing below.

Step 4 — Farm sign-in later

Use /farm-signin with your farm email and password after admin approval.

Signed-in farm owners use /myfarm/dashboard. Left sidebar items:

Top announcements

Dismissible banners at the top show payment due, email verification, Year Pass status, and farm approval progress. Click X to dismiss; they resurface after 12 hours if still relevant. Multiple banners collapse into one announcements bar you can expand.

Your plan capabilities

The dashboard and Manage Subscription show a card with counts on the right of each row. Click a tile to jump to product listings, your public farm reviews, or ratings.

Edit Farm Details

Opens a modal with a white header to update farm name, description, promotional text, logo, cover photo, contact info, and location without leaving the page.

Dashboard

Home screen with product count and share holders. Payment and Year Pass status appear in the top banner stack (not duplicated on the page body).

New Product

Go to /myfarm/products/add — add title, description, price, category, photos, availability. Plan limits apply (Farm Stand = up to 5 listings; Micro Farm = 50; Market Farm = unlimited).

Product List

/myfarm/products — edit, deactivate, or delete existing products. Badge shows active count.

Orders

/myfarm/orders — view customer orders placed through SHEFA.

Farm Share

/myfarm/farmshare — create and manage CSA-style farm share offerings.

Farm Share Holders

/myfarm/farmshare/list_holders — see who subscribed to your shares.

Farm Members

/myfarm/members — members who clicked Join Farm on your public profile.

Account section

• My Account — farm owner contact details and email preferences.
• Payment History — past Stripe transactions.
• Manage Subscription — plan, auto-renew toggle, upgrade, cancel.
• Plan & Billing Guide — explains Year Pass and auto-renew.
• Open Hours — set weekly open/close times shown on your public farm page.
• Change Password — update farm portal password.
• Developer Guide & Developer Accounts — shown in the main sidebar for authorized developer accounts only.
• Signout — leave farm portal (returns admin to admin dash if impersonating).

Notifications bell (top bar)

Alerts for verification, subscription, payments — click to open /myfarm/notifications.

More panel

Support, FAQ, Terms, Privacy, User Guide.

First payment

1. After registration (or when prompted), click Pay now or go to the payment screen.
2. Review plan name, price, and Year Pass message.
3. Click Pay with Stripe — complete checkout on Stripe's secure page.
4. On success you return to the farm dashboard with subscription active.

Year Pass

Your first payment includes a promotional pass (3, 6, 9, or 12 months — set by admin). During the pass you are not charged monthly. A green badge on the dashboard shows days remaining.

Auto-renew

Auto-renew is enabled in the system after payment. The Auto-renew card on Manage Subscription may be hidden until your administrator enables it. When visible, use the toggle to turn auto-renew off — you keep access until the current period ends.

Cancel entirely

Manage Subscription → Cancel subscription → confirm. Same end-of-period behavior.

Upgrade plan

Manage Subscription → buttons to switch to Micro Farm or Market Farm. When you downgrade, excess active product listings may be deactivated automatically to match your new plan limit.

Renews on

Manage Subscription shows Renews on with the next billing date when your subscription is active.

Farm registration creates both a farm account and a member account on the same email.

1. Click your profile name/icon top-right.
2. Scroll to Switch to.
3. Choose Farm Dashboard or Member Dashboard.
4. No re-login required — sessions for both are kept.

Farm owners can browse the site as a member (search, join other farms, favourites) and manage their farm from the farm dashboard.

Search page — /farms

1. Enter keywords in the search box.
2. Set Zip code to find farms near you.
3. Use State dropdown to narrow results.
4. Set Radius (miles) for distance filtering.
5. Results load as cards — scroll for more (infinite scroll).
6. Click Reset to clear all filters.

Farm detail page — /farm/{slug}

• Edge-to-edge cover photo with farm logo overlapping the cover.
• Name, star rating, farm type, verification badge, and member count.
• Promotional text on the profile and on the default Hours card.
• Recent reviews with member avatars. Click a spotlight review to open the Reviews drawer. Your own reviews show a ⋮ menu to Edit or Delete.
• Tabs with icons — Info, Hours (default), Reviews, Rating, Directions.
• Ratings: select stars then click Save rating.

Only farms that are admin-approved AND have an active paid subscription appear in search.

Reviews & ratings

Signed-in members can leave written reviews and star ratings when enabled for that farm's plan.

Search page — /products

1. Search by food name or keyword.
2. Filter by category, zip, radius, state.
3. Cards show farm name, price, availability badge (Available, Sold Out, etc.).

Product page — /product/{slug}

• Photos, description, price, farm link.
• Availability status badge.
• Link back to the farm's profile.

Categories — /categories

Browse all categories, then drill into a category listing.

Visitors may see a sign-in/sign-up modal on first visits (controlled by admin App Controls). You can often close it during the grace period. After the grace period, some actions may require signing in. Use Sign In or Sign Up in the modal or top bar.

When admins turn the modal off and enable Require sign-in, visitors must create an account before browsing. Grace period length is also set in App Controls.

Members, farm owners, and admins may see a Complete your profile panel at the bottom-right when required fields are missing (name, email, phone, address, etc.).

• Progress bar shows how complete your profile is.
• Click incomplete items to jump to your account page.
• Close the panel with X — it reappears after 24 hours if still incomplete.
• The rest of the app stays usable while the panel is open.

Self-serve account deletion is disabled by default. Contact support if you need your member or farm account removed permanently.

Farm owners: Account → Open Hours in the farm sidebar.

• Open — set open and close times for that day.
• Closed — no public hours.
• Self Serve — same as Open: set hours when customers can pick up without staff (honor-system / unmanned stand).

Members and farms register with email + password. After signup you land on your dashboard with a verification code modal — enter the 6-digit code from email, or close the modal and verify later.

• If you are logged in but not yet verified, the verification popup may appear when you browse any page — including existing accounts created before codes were introduced.
• Click Verify now on the dashboard banner anytime.
• Send new code if the code expired.
• During the grace period you can use the site normally; after grace, farms cannot list products and members cannot check out until verified.

SHEFA sends emails and shows matching alerts in your dashboard bell / Notifications page for important events.

Under My Account on your member or farm dashboard, use Email & notification preferences — each event has an on/off toggle slider.

Check spam if you do not see an expected message. You can always open Notifications in your dashboard for the same updates.

Signed-in members see a bell icon in the top bar and a Notifications item in the member sidebar (/user/notifications).

You receive notifications for email verification, account events, and other activity. Farm owners have a similar notifications page under the farm dashboard.

When adding or editing a product under New Product:

• Product specs are required (at least one spec name).
• Quantity — number of units in the listing (before Measurement).
• Measurement — standard units or Other with a custom value; custom values are preserved when editing.

Member and farm dashboards show colored announcement cards at the top for important items (verify email, pay subscription, Year Pass remaining, farm pending approval).

• Each card has an X on the right — dismiss it to hide the card.
• If you have not completed what the banner asks (e.g. still unverified), it reappears after 12 hours.
• Fulfilled items (e.g. active Year Pass info) stay dismissed once closed.
• When more than one banner is active, they collapse into a single announcements bar — tap to expand and read all.

Public site

• Home
• Find farms
• Find food
• Categories
• Farm plans
• Register farm
• Member signup
• Member signin
• Farm signin
• FAQ
• Support
• Terms
• Privacy
• User Guide

Member dashboard

• Dashboard
• Joined Farms (search & discover)
• My Subscriptions
• My Account
• Notifications
• Developer Accounts (managers only)

Farm dashboard

• Dashboard
• Product list
• New product
• Orders
• Farm members
• Manage subscription
• Plan & billing guide
• Payment history
• Notifications
• Open hours

Dynamic public pages

• /farm/{slug} — farm profile
• /product/{slug} — product detail
• /category/{slug} — category listing

• FAQ — common questions.
• Support — contact form for help.
• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Phone: 1.330.403.3340
• Email: info@shefa.life