Teaching and practicing sustainable skills

Education & Research

What We Do

For 10 years, Unadilla Community Farm has run a variety of education programs, offering an immersion into a rural, off-grid sustainable way of life. Through a mix of hands-on experience and classroom hours, participants have learned skills related to no-till organic farming, regenerative agroforestry, permaculture design, natural building, foraging, herbalism, plant-based cooking, food preservation, food safety, conscious communication, fundraising, and more. Our current education work includes a seasonal paid Fellowship, a Volunteer Program open to the public, and on-site Research. Scroll down for details.

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Testimonials

Volunteer Program

Come help out on the farm, learn new gardening skills, and assist with our food access and herbal aid work!

Throughout the growing seasion from May-October, we welcome volunteers to assist with production and harvesting for our food access and herbal aid work. Tasks include seeding; transplanting; plant propagation; harvesting; garlic cleaning; and more.

Visit our Events Calendar to learn more and sign up for Community Volunteer Days.

In addition to our monthly volunteer days, contact us at info[at]unadillacommunityfarm.org if you’d like to volunteer at other times. We welcome one-time volunteers as well as returning volunteers who commit to a recurring volunteer schedule.

Participants in our volunteer program can count their hours towards experiential course credit requirements, community service requirements, and volunteer paid time off programs for corporate employees.

Fellowship

*Please check back in January 2024 for details about the 2024 Fellowship.*

Unadilla Community Farm’s Fellowship offers a paid season-long opportunity for beginning farmers with at least one season of farming experience under their belt to skill up and deepen their farming knowledge. Fellows will learn the day-to-day operations of a non-profit farm focused on increasing food access and access to herbalism through partnerships with local food pantries, mutual aid groups, and herbal clinics.

Under the mentorship of Unadilla Community Farm’s Project Manager, fellows will learn how to:

  • manage a food forest by applying principles of no-till organic farming, regenerative agroforestry, and permaculture design, with a focus on tending perennial fruits & herbs, cover crops, and garlic
  • run the farm’s Food Access & Herbal Aid Programs, with a focus on harvesting and delivering crops to food pantries, mutual aid groups, and herbal clinics in the region
  • manage volunteer days by leading crews of volunteers from the surrounding community in tasks such as harvesting and wash & pack
Interns putting row cover on raised bed

Research

As an education center, Unadilla Community Farm is a site for experimentation and learning. We showcase a wide variety of sustainable farming techniques and conduct on-farm research to trial new methods, offer recommendations, and provide replicable models.

We have been the recipient of two Northeast SARE Farmer grants to conduct original research on-site. The first in 2020-2021 involved on-farm trials of dynamic accumulator plants and the second in 2022, carried out by Unadilla intern alumnus Matt Bedeaux, studied indigenous microorganisms (IMO). Read more about Unadilla Community Farm’s research and findings!

Off-Grid Accommodations

Our farm is entirely off-grid and is transitioning off of fossil fuels. We now rely 100% on off-grid solar for all of our lighting, charging electronics, landscaping tools, irrigation, and some power tools. For fellows who apply to live on-site, sleeping accommodations include 2 double bedrooms in the skoolie (converted school bus) or camping (bring your own camper, tent, or other camping gear). For fellows who live on-site, all organic vegetarian/vegan meals and snacks are provided. The farm is a substance-free space (we do not allow alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or other drugs on-site). We have both indoor and outdoor kitchens, indoor and outdoor compost toilets, and a gravity-fed unheated shower as well as access to the Unadilla River. We don’t have wifi, but do have good cell phone reception with Verizon.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

Unadilla Community Farm is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity and to providing a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All hiring decisions are based on organizational needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race/color, religion or belief, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations where we operate. We encourage fellows of all backgrounds to apply to our program. For the past 10 seasons, our education program has welcomed participants from a diversity of backgrounds and racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities from across 6 continents.

As first-generation farmers who met through the WWOOF network, accessibility to us also means that the practices we teach are intentionally designed to be easily replicable and financially accessible for fellow young and beginning farmers. Our volunteers, interns, fellows, staff, and board members come from all walks of life and apply these practices in a variety of ways — from market gardening and garden therapy, to environmental advocacy and natural resource conservation, to plant-based cooking, intentional living, and so much more — but what unites us is a shared desire for sustainability in all its forms.

Beyond our community on-site, making our work accessible extends outward by providing free nutrient-dense fruits, vegetables, and culinary and medicinal herbs to a range of historically underserved communities, including low-income, low-access rural and urban populations, BIPOC communities, the unhoused, and refugees.

Watering the tomatoes in the high tunnel
Shiitake mushroom cultivation on logs in the forest