LIVE & LEARN

Along with our seasonal internships throughout the year, we have many opportunities for folks to come and volunteer on the farm on a short-term basis. Volunteers can do farm service and receive Berry Collective membership, produce credit, physical gratification and our sincere gratitude. To see what Farm Service opportunities are available, view the calendar.

Read below to find out about our Intern-Volunteer & WWOOF Opportunities

INTERN-VOLUNTEERS

9 Month stay approx. March 1-November 30. Designed for those who really want to experience a full growing season. Here you will begin to understand what is involved in operating a small scale organic farm.

Option 2:

3-4 Month stay approx. June-August/Sept.

We are flexible with start and ending dates.

Accomodation:

A small and simple cabin or tent cabin with access to port-o-potty, outdoor shower, and outdoor kitchen.

Volunteer Work load:

We ask 30-40 hrs in a 5-6 day week.

Provided:

We offer housing, utlities, good hard work, food staples and goods from the garden, hands-on learning, a lively community experience, and the opportunity to operate your own farm project.  Grocery stipends are negotiable.

The internship is a live and learn opporunity, during which you work alongside farmers and independently in a wide variety of farm tasks-- from planting seeds to fencing pastures to mending irrigation pipe to staffing the market booth to harvesting berries.  By choosing to volunteer at Finnriver for the season, you have the chance to witness and experience the real challenges and joys of a working farm.

In order to keep your knowledge growing too, we give you an informative Intern Manual with thorough outlines on a diverse array of topics, as well as supplemntary readings.  We host occasional Farm Films and encourage attendance at local conferences, lectures and farm events.  And we support our interns in trading work days at other local farms so they may learn from others in the field.  You will learn by doing, as well as by asking questions, observing, and conversing during farm meals. We also offer a summer-season weekly Mind Mulch session in which Keith and other local farmers share their expertise and experience in various topics, inlcuding:

• Seed-Saving
• Welding
• Grafting and Pruning
• Bee-keeping
• Animal Care
• Cider-making
• Farm Carpentry
• Machine Maintenance
• Composting etc.

Expectations:

A great work ethic that gets you through 30-40 hours per week of focused farming.  Both our intern-volunteer and wwoof positions are a vital component to the mission of our farm, and both are very important in creating a sense of community on the land. We work together closely for months and appreciate intern-volunteers and wwoofers with maturity, a healthy sense of humor, and open-mindedness. A willingness to go with the flow is crucial. The work is quite physical, tedious at times, and can involve long hours, especially during harvest days. Because of this we expect our volunteers to have a serious interest in organic agriculture.

We invite those who are: conscientious, reliable, communicative, self-motivated, physically sound, and willing to work hard. We expect you to be positive and proactive.  Also, we work in close-quarters sometimes and we have many farm visitors, we ask you to keep up a reasonable standard of cleanliness, hygeine and appearance.

With our strong community-building component, this is a place for those who enjoy humanity and are willing to be service-oriented to all who come to the farm or market.  People want to know their farmers.  We love what we do and this land we steward-- and we want to share that enthusiasm with others.

WWOOFer

*One week minimum stay.
*We only take wwoofers who are genuinely interested in organic agriculture, not those seeking an inexpensive way to travel.  Please read "Expectations" section above.

Accomodation: Campsite or intern housing when available. Access to bath-house, and outdoor kitchen.

Work Load: We ask 30-40 hrs in a 5-6 day week and we'll provide food staples and produce from the garden.

IN GENERAL

We offer a varied work experience. The farm can use your help in many ways, some traditional, some less so, but still a necessary part of maintaining a farm. Certain times of year the work will be predominantly one task: harvest, pruning, etc. But we believe in making work, even repetitive work, fun through many hands, lively conversation, and gorging on fresh berries. You will also get to experience different types of marketing.   As past wwoofers and interns ourselves, we are sensitive to the needs and desires of our volunteers and try to be fair and fun and honest.

We eat farm lunches together on certain work days, but breakfast and dinner are prepared on your own with the use of food staples and garden veggies. We have community potlucks every other week and there is a weekly meditation group on Sunday, totally optional of course. Evenings and non-work days we ask you to respect our privacy in and around our homes.

Being in a remote rural area means that people who stay here must be able to entertain themselves and/or have transportation. It's an easy 2.5 mile bike ride to public transportation which goes into Port Townsend, an artsy and entertaining community. The farm is 12 miles from Port Townsend, 3 miles from the closest small town (Chimacum), and a 1 hour drive to Seattle.

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

• Nearby swimming lakes
• Miles of beaches at local state parks
  
• Nearby access to Olympic Mountains
• Port Townsend entertainment such as summer festivals, yoga, lectures, mountain biking, sea-kayaking and sailing, fabulous coffee houses, and numerous restaurants.
• Seattle

AS A GENERAL POLICY WE DON'T ALLOW CIGARETTE SMOKING ON THE FARM, NOR DO WE TOLERATE EXCESSIVE OR ABUSIVE DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE.  With many small children in the neighborhood, we also ask you to be healthy and friendly role-models.  If this becomes a problem during your stay you will be asked to leave immediately without question.

THINGS TO BRING

Part A The things you will need during your stay.

• Rubber boots
• Rain jacket and pants, heavy duty
• Flashlight
• Toiletries
• Warm clothes (including summer workers' nights are cool)
• Sleeping bag or linens and warm comforter
• Work gloves
• Hats - wool and straw
• Bath towel
• Water bottle
• One respectable outfit to wear to Farmers Market
• Rugged work clothes
• Alarm clock

Part B Things we highly recommend but aren't essential.

• Wool sweaters
• Books
• Hobbies
• Sandals
• Bathing suit
• Walkman or stereo
• Bike
• Recreational gear

NOTE: Interns and WWOOFers are volunteers who come to the farm to learn and participate as we go about our farming. They are not paid employees.

SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT YOU:

Please send us some information about yourself. We are interested in the following:

• A short biography of your life - where you are from, age, schooling, experiences
• Your level of interest in organic farming
• Your experience in farming, gardening, landscaping, building or other physical work
• Hobbies, interests, etc.
• Your comfort level with living in rustic, isolated situations
• Special diets?
• Ability to work long hours, long days, long weeks outdoors rain or shine
• Experiences living independently (away from parents) or in community
• A couple of character references
• Any questions you may have for us to address