Help on a nonprofit organic farm in the North Cascade mountains, USA

Details

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  Description

  2024 Update: We are currently booking for the season and prefer stays of 2+ months.
  
  It works great when we can host folks for most or all of the full growing season as these WWOOFers will have additional access to a range of more formal educational opportunities including enrollment in onsite classes as well as offsite workshops or classes offered through other organizations.
  
  2024 season projects include: completion of our outdoor kitchen, upgrade/remodel of our barn addition as a community dining hall, occasional help with campsites (we host through Hipcamp); assistance with rescue poultry (feeding and care, egg collection only as we do not slaughter animals here); assist with events; regular garden related tasks (preparing the soil, digging, planting, seed starting in greenhouses, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, mulching); food preservation (canning, freezing, fermentation, pickling, drying); seed collection, processing, and packaging; general landscaping including mowing, weedwacking, blackberry removal, pruning, mulching; firewood harvest including chopping, stacking, cleanup; and more. When someone brings a skill such as carpentry, or even videography, we try to include other opportunities as well.
  
  We can also offer some formal education opportunities--one of our members works for a university and offers classes and workshops related to food access (including gardening) and food preservation. Helpers can attend these fee-based classes at no charge.
  
  Organic collective farm nestled in the foothills of the North Cascade mountains, looking for help with farm tasks, general landscaping and rural living activities, and occasionally building projects. We are a community devoted to conservation, educational and social outreach. The farm is a non-profit land trust focused on conservation, outreach, and education. We have 100+ acres, mostly wooded with a lovely creek running through our land. We offer a range of outreach programs, the most impactful of which is our seed distro project. We grow, process, and package organic heirloom seeds for schools, food banks, community gardens, and low-income households at no cost-we typically distribute around 10,000 packages each year for free. We sell very little produce, instead using our acreage to provide for residents of the farm and to grow seeds to improve food access in our area. We've been hosts on other sites for over a decade, and have hosted hundreds of folks through those sites. We've met amazing people through hosting and look forward to meeting new friends! We have a detailed info packet that we send prior to applying/booking which should give a good overview of what we have going on here.
  
  We currently have 8 full time adult residents in our collective with 2-3 seasonal helpers. In prior years we had some requirements around Covid safety but no longer have those in place, although all of us have been vaccinated.
  
  Pets: We generally can't host dogs due to the needs of our other pets and animals.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  In addition to organic gardening and farming education, you may also have the opportunity to study: natural building; food preservation (canning, drying, fermentation); conservation practices (riparian planting etc); wildcrafting and native plant ID; pruning; poultry care; permaculture design, layout, implementation; homesteading skills (landscaping, wood harvest, off grid water systems, etc); crafts (woodworking, any fiber related craft like spinning, dyeing, knitting, weaving, and more); herbalism; events management; seed saving/processing/packaging; CSA and produce marketing, and much more. We also do a lot of fun things here-there are several large festivals/gatherings planned (music and educational) and plenty of social gatherings, events, parties, creek swimming, hiking, and more. We do not typically need help with activities such as crafts, but are usually available for folks to learn or try while they are here.

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  Help

  We have been hosting through other websites for over 15 years, and have a pretty good system in place. We ask that people come here with a solid work ethic, good communication skills, and the willingness to learn. Tasks vary greatly depending on season, but can include general gardening, light construction, cleaning, painting, landscaping, firewood harvest, tree planting, poultry care, pruning, food preservation, and more. We meet in the morning to discuss daily tasks and there will be opportunities for both group and independent work. We much prefer longer stays of 2+ months but are willing to host shorter visits (2 weeks or more) for international visitors.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  In 2023, helpers stayed in a 16 foot bell tent with a nearby outdoor kitchen with a covered area. This received positive reviews and we will use this accommodation in 2024. Early or late in the season (April and October), when temperatures drop and a heated space is required, helpers will stay in a shared bedroom in our common house which has wood heat.
  
  The farm primarily uses rainwater collection and usually has gravity fed cold water at various residences. We have one indoor shower for us by the entire community (located in our common house) and a seasonal outdoor heated shower. We have several outdoor composting toilets (in separate buildings from the sleeping quarters), no indoor toilets on the farm. We receive great reviews about the food here--if you visit in the June-November period you'll have access to an abundance of amazing produce! We also do a lot of food preservation here, so we also have many types of dehydrated and canned goods available all year. Our kitchen is primarily vegan, although we do typically have farm eggs from our rescue poultry. We stock with a large inventory of dry goods including various beans/pulses/legumes, grains, flour (although we also have a grinder), pasta, herbs and seasonings, oils, cereals, vegan milk, and a variety of items like coconut milk and coffee. Most of what we purchase is organic. Visitors take turns cooking meals on a rotation schedule with others. There is cell phone reception on the farm although it can be spotty. There is good high speed wifi available in town at the local library for downloads, video etc.
  
  Unfortunately, we cannot host dogs. We do like them, but are maxed out with the number of resident farm dogs.

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  What else ...

  We love hosting international visitors, and can sometimes alter their schedule to allow three days off per week to allow for more sight seeing in the area. The nearest "town" is a village of about 800 people and is located 5 miles away. There is a local bus stop within a half mile of the farm which makes several round trips to a more urban area. About 45 minutes away from the farm, there is a bus/train station. Our residents all work at least part time off site, so there are ample opportunities to carpool into town or to the bus/train station. We are about equal distance between Seattle and Vancouver BC. The ferry to the San Juan Islands is about a 45 minute drive from the farm. We think our place is pretty ideally situated for sight seeing, and for those who like to hike or be in the wilderness, our mountains draw people from all over the world each year.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  While it may be challenging to host a large vehicle such as full sized schoolbus or 30 foot motorhome, we can usually accommodate smaller options.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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