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Farming and restoration projects in the beautiful Oley Hills, eastern PA
Contact Register

Country: United States

Last Activity: 04/05/2012

Description

Our Farm is located high in the forested Oley hills about 1.5 hours NE of Philadelphia, in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania. We raise pastured poultry, hogs, and sometimes sheep and goats too, and we also grow veggies for our own use.

We welcome last-minute helpers so often have our farm on the last-minute host list - and if you are planning ahead that's great too!

Area

Pennsylvania

Type of work

Other,
Art project,
Animal care,
Help with Eco project,
Farming,
General Maintenance,
Cooking / shopping,
Building,
Gardening

Work

Day to day farm activities include caring for livestock, collecting eggs, going to farmers markets, going to other farms to pick up feed, supplies etc. In addition there are always projects in progress - when we moved here, our farm hadn't been farmed for over 30 years, so a lot of our current projects revolve around reclaiming fields and restoring buildings. We are very interested in alternative energy and green building, so try and incorporate these principles into our projects. Current projects on the List include: converting the smoke house into a farm store and guest accommodation, fencing and restoring fields, and restoring our barn.

Languages spoken

English, a smattering of Hindi

Accommodation

We usually have space for folks with a tent or camper, and our spare room may also be available depending on time of year and who else is staying here.

What else ...

There are also opportunities to visit other farms in the area, and there may also be workshops and field days in this region that may be of interest. If there are things that you are particularly interested in learning, please let us know as even if it is not something that we do here, we may be able to arrange for you to visit a farm that does that. There may also be opportunities for part-time/casual work in the area.

Winter is our quiet time, but there are still animals to take care of, and there is a surprising amount to do so we are open to having volunteer/s at this time.

There is public transport to Allentown from Philadelphia and NY City, and we can pick someone up from Allentown. We speak English and a smattering of Hindi!

We are in a very out-of-the-way, peaceful location and yet only a 10 minute drive to local towns and highways. There are lots of quiet country roads for walking and cycling and we are surrounded by woods with lots of wildlife and birds, and we have a very active arts and music community in the area. Lancaster county, Hawk Mountain, the Poconos and the Delaware River are all easy day trips from here. We enjoy taking advantage of these great resources and you are welcome to join us, or to explore on your own depending on what you prefer.

We are omnivores but can easily accommodate lacto-ovo vegetarians. When you contact us, please be sure to include a some information about yourself - what your interests are, previous farm experience, relevant skills, what you hope to learn etc. Thanks.

Farm

Click to enlarge
Restoring the frame of an old hay wagon for use as our egg-mobile.
The farmhouse.
Our laying flock includes a number of heritage breeds.
Cleaning out along our boundary so we can get electric fence set up for the goats.
Jam session supervised by Lance, our husky.
Chicks in the brooder.
The veggie garden is a work in progress as we learn to garden in this climate.
Building the egg-mobile on an old hay wagon frame.
Halloween
Members of our field cleanout team. The goats eat the high stuff and these guys eat and stomp the lower stuff, and dig up the roots and underground runners of invasives like multiflora rose, honeysuckle, autumn olive.
Goats at work. These days we don't have goats year round, just when we need some help with brush control.
Hiking at the Glen Onoko Falls (about an hour from our place).
This is a great area for cycling. This is one of our helpers setting off to continue on her ride accross the US.
We can get lots of snow in the winter!
Host ref number: 14237678444d

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