St. Francis Farm - Lacona, NY Lacona - Volunteers Base - Free Volunteering and Work Exchange Opportunities.

Location: Lacona, NY, United States

We're a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group trying to live an alternative to the consumer culture based on sustainable farming and forestry, neighborliness and hospitality, on 180 acres in rural NY, 40 miles north of Syracuse and 10 miles east of Lake Ontario. We raise food for ourselves, our guests and a nearby soup kitchen. Our 50'x 250' organic (non certified) garden is divided into intensively planted low-till beds. Our dairy goats, laying hens and pigs are pastured during the warm season. Fruit comes from a rhubarb patch, an old orchard and wild berries. Our 110 acres of woods provide firewood to heat buildings and hot water year-round as well as logs for our band saw mill. We cut lumber for ourselves, a neighboring nonprofit and paying customers. We tap maples and make syrup, and we grow shiitake mushrooms on oak logs from our woods. We offer opportunities for our neighbors to explore the natural world and learn about sustainable agriculture and woodworking. During July and August we run a summer program for local children. Work and learning opportunities for volunteers include gardening, food preservation (canning, freezing, drying, root cellaring), vermicomposting and regular composting, goat milking and care, cheese making, basic seed saving, farm building construction, forest management, saw milling, growing mushrooms, haying, woodworking, and farm machinery repair and maintenance. Volunteers are welcome from April through October. There is no minimum time commitment, but we don't schedule short visits over Sunday. Anyone wanting a longer stay should start with a Monday to Saturday commitment which can be extended if desirable. All of us at the farm are volunteers. volunteers will have private rooms in the farmhouse with shared bathroom. volunteers have access to phone and email. They eat with the core community, are asked to help with cleanup and may help cook if so inclined. Most vegetables, fruit, eggs, meat, milk and cheese come from the farm. Other food is bought in bulk through a co-op or in smaller quantities at a food bank or local stores. We can feed vegetarians; vegans need to take responsibility for their own dietary needs. volunteers are asked to work along with the core community; this means 6-8 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, depending on weather and pressure of work. Previous experience is not required. Persistence, attentiveness, health and stamina are important, as is the ability to interact constructively with people with various opinions, backgrounds and abilities. When tensions or conflicts arise we acknowledge them and try to work through them. We have set boundaries that help us to model an alternative and to welcome guests in without unnecessary tension or confusion. Volunteers are expected to abstain from alcohol, drugs, and sexual activity outside marriage during their time with us. The current core community is a family, a mother and grown son and daughter. The farm is part of the Catholic Worker movement, but we are Quaker. We start each day with silent prayer and reflection. This isn't mandatory, but anyone is welcome to join us. We have developed some forest trails and will be working on more. There are two streams and several ponds (none fit for swimming). We enjoy hiking, bird watching, stargazing and campfires. The farm has a wide variety of art materials and musical instruments, and we enjoy singing together. Bicycles are available and the roads around us have little traffic. We are a long way from theaters, malls and other things to which city dwellers may be accustomed. A bus runs twice daily from Syracuse to Pulaski where we can pick people up. We all speak English and one of us has some Spanish. We'd need to discuss hosting families with children. We do not host pets.

We ask volunteers to read the full text of our Volunteers page, http://stfrancisfarm.org/Volunteers.html , and write us a letter as described there. I hope you'll find a compatible place at which to volunteer.