Help on a non-profit organic farm in the North Cascade mountains, USA

Details

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  Description

  Currently booking for the 2026 season!!!
  
  We prefer stays of 2 months or longer. Ideally, we host 2 people from April or May through the end of the season (early November). It works great when we can host folks for most or all of the full growing season as these volunteers 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.
  
  We are looking for volunteers to help with our non-profit seed distro activities.
  
  We can also offer some 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 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. Our seed distro is also a non-profit, a separate entity than our land trust. We are 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.
  
  Pets: We unfortunately can't host helpers with 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

  House & pet sitting
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  Interests

  

  Events & social

  

  Politics / Social justice

  

  Vegetarian or vegan

  

  Sustainability

  

  LGBTQ

  

  Culture

  

  Farming

  

  Charity work

  

  Gardening

  

  Writing

  

  Carpentry

  

  Music

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Books

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Mountain

  

  Nature
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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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; chicken care; permaculture design, layout, implementation; homesteading skills (landscaping, wood harvest, off grid water systems, etc); crafts (any fiber related craft like spinning, dyeing, knitting, weaving, and more); herbalism; events; seed saving/processing/packaging. 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.

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  Registered charity

  This host is a registered charity in their country and is looking for volunteers to help with their project(s).

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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 ethic, good communication skills, and the willingness to learn. Tasks vary greatly depending on season. We meet in the morning to discuss daily tasks and there will be opportunities for both group and independent tasks. 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

  Beginning in 2023, helpers stayed in a 16 foot bell tent with a nearby outdoor kitchen with a covered area. We have twin beds on frames in the bell tent. This received positive reviews and we will use this accommodation in 2025. 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.
  
  Our living arrangements are intentionally low tech and focus on conservation, most of our systems are full or partially off grid. We have one indoor shower located in our common house that is shared by some of the residents and a seasonal outdoor shower. We have several outdoor composting toilets (in separate buildings from the sleeping quarters), no flush 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

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  We have chickens and ducks onsite, a flock of approx 20 birds. We do not keep roosters or breed poultry, we do not butcher, we primarily take in rescued poultry.

  We have 6 farm cats onsite.

  We have two dogs onsite

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