Six Circles Farm - Lodi, NY Lodi - Volunteers Base - Free Volunteering and Work Exchange Opportunities.

Location: Lodi, NY, United States

We are on 40 acres of beautiful nature, nestled in NY's Finger Lakes wine growing region. We are nearby to and overlook Seneca Lake, who's water provides a wonderful microclimate for growing on our fertile land as well as gorgeous sunsets! We feel extremely thankful to be living and exploring on this piece of beauty. We have 4-5 acres in production, growing diverse vegetables with garlic as our main crop. We are a young farm still in the process of defining our niche and priorities, but for now we sell to 3 farmers' markets, a couple of restaurants, have a small CSA, and have begun exploring the realms of value-added products. We are very interested in permaculture and working towards applying these ideas to our property, and this year that will mean planting lots of berry bushes, integrating more perennials into our annual vegetable production set-up (herbs, hops, rhubarb) and identifying how we can move towards a more self sustaining ecological growing system. Our projects this year also include setting up an irrigation system, a few possible construction projects (outdoor shower, deck, cabin, tent platforms etc.), and taking advantage of the knowledgeable people in our area to provide more educational opportunities for ourselves, our volunteers, and our greater community here. Stays of 2 weeks minimum suggested, but we are flexible. May - October. We have accommodations for 2-3 people, consisting of plenty of beautiful acres on which you can find your sanctuary spot and set up tent, or rustic living in our barn. Full access to fully equipped outdoor kitchen, outhouse and indoor bathroom is available. Lake access for swimming. High quality foods (from our gardens and local natural foods stores) for 3 meals daily, of vegetarian/vegan cuisine. Besides farming, we do food preservation-canning, freezing, fermenting, herb drying. Construction-outdoor shower, tent platforms, deck. We are very open to discussing your ideas for projects. Cob oven? Bicycle grinder? We strive to find balance in our daily lives to create an enjoyable, rich life. There is work to be done, and we find satisfaction in that work and doing it well, but we also value time for preparing and eating food, play, exercise, breathing, music, creativity. Though we try to plan our days around Mother Nature and with efficiency in mind, physical labor in a variety of weather conditions is a most basic ingredient of farming. We therefore look for volunteers who possess a positive and open attitude and a strong work ethic. We would like volunteers to help primarily with our vegetable production, which means weeding, watering, planting, and harvesting. Tasks will also include preserving, freezing and fermenting excess produce for our later consumption, and possibly some light construction. We expect volunteers will work for 5 hours a day in farm related chores for 5-6 days a week, and then help out with basic communal tasks, such as cooking lunch and dinner, and cleaning. We are eager to learn more about all sorts of things, and happy to share with you what we have been taught from our experiences in organic small scale agriculture and beyond. We are very close to not only Seneca Lake, but the waterfalls and creeks that feed into it. The lake is surrounding my many wineries and seasonal restaurants. Just 25 miles away is the fun, young, nature-loving, music-concentrated, progressive small city of Ithaca. Venture into town for music and socializing - we go in regularly. Here at the farm we love to make music, art, do yoga, read, converse and craft. There is a local airport and bus station from where we can pick you up. Currently, English and some Spanish, but we very much enjoy learning new languages! Children and pets possible. Please describe and we will talk about it. Generally, we eat a vegetarian/vegan diet. Volunteers are welcome to eat how they please, we supply tons of veggies, fruits in season, grains, dried goods, bread, eggs, cheese and baking supplies, but ask volunteers to buy meats, chocolate, alcohol and other special items for their own consumption.

We take people as early as april and as late as november. we have a few questions we ask everyone who applies,
1.What do You hope to gain from your experience at Six Circles Farm?
2. Have you ever worked on a farm or outdoors before? If so what kind of work?
3. Have you ever lived in common spaces before? (communally)
4.Do you have any physical, emotional, or mental conditions we should be aware of?
5. Do you have any allergies?
6. How old are you?
7. What are your interests in the realm of sustainable agriculture?
8. What dates can you commit to staying?

Thank you!!