Join the Challenge, Gain a Mastery and Make a Contribution by Volunteering!
(To skip the details and see how to apply: Click here)
Every Sunday and Monday are Volunteer Days at Hummingbird Farm. These are days open to Registered Volunteers only. Volunteers may show up between 10am and Sunset and pick up an activity with other Volunteers or for the more experienced, lead their own activity.
We understand part of the fun of working at Hummingbird Farm is showing it off. Four times a year we invite Volunteers to bring their family/friends over for a potluck picnic. Please remember to carpool if you use a gas powered car.
Part of the fun of volunteering at our Farm is the chance to be in charge of something and gain a Mastery!
(Lisa, our Garden Manager, leading a team in the garden)
We are currently looking for the following positions to be filled:
- Brewmaster’s Assistants – Duties would include: Weighing hops/seasonings, prepping brew equipment, aiding with kegging/bottling, racking, general clean-up. You must be available during the weekdays if you wish to aid in brewing; however we sometimes bottle/keg/rack on Sunday or Monday.
- Gym Memberships (Save yourself $50+/month) – Give up going to a gym each month and start eating free veggies and eggs along with drinking free beer. You will be expected to be able to do hard farm work; such as: dig, cut, chop, haul, climb, laugh, smile in the sun, chat with friends while they work, eat great meals made from the land you worked…Sundays and Mondays our main work days. If you really want to get into shape, Dave will meet with you three times a week for 2-3 hours per visit. Your workout will be shifted among different chores requiring different muscle groups, allowing you to get 2-3 hours of activity.
- Chefs – If you have some kind of specialty or formal training, please share. Cooking is a wide subject and we do not want to limit what kind of skills we are looking for. We have a great Baker/Pastry Chef who does so much more than dough. You are expected to be available on the first and third Saturday of the month to help with our Farm to Picnics.
- Grain Field Manager (investment/barter required) – Lead teams of people in the sowing/harvest of wheat and barley. You may start out by managing the small amounts of seed we have with small 10×4 foot patches between our baby orchard trees. We would like to use hand tools, not a tractor. If you want to really get the fields of grain going, a donation of $2000 will get enough fencing and irrigation for an acre of our undeveloped land. Moving forward, we plan to secure contracts with our neighbors unused land and expand.
- Yeast Master (investment/barter required) – Duties would include owning a yeast kit and keeping various strains of brewing yeast alive and clean (at your house or the Farm). This job could be combined with the Bakery Manager or even a Cheese/Yogurt Maker if you like. There are many parallels between all these jobs
- Food Dehydrating Master – We want to build a food dehydrator for all our great veggies, fruit, and spent grain. Help us build it and become the expert on how we should dehydrate each food.
- Pickler/Canner – Know how to pickle or can? Join us! Get veggies to pickle and teach others how it’s done.
- Wood Fired Oven Crafter – Wood fired pizza anyone? If you are good at sculpting and would like a new medium or if you would like to become an expert on this ancient craft, then this would be a good fit for you. Because we plan on using resources around the Farm (straw/mud), there is no cost to fund this.
- Maltster (investment/barter required) – Take our barely and wheat from our fields and malt it! Build an innovative system for the Farm that sprouts and turns seeds. From there we will move it to our pizza oven (see above) and kiln it. You would be expected to do some research on how malting is done before starting. To make sure you don’t go over budget with the design, you are required to fund the project.
- >>Choose your own adventure – we can’t list all the jobs there are to do and we don’t want you to feel like these are the only jobs. Many people just come out for the fun of helping other people’s projects!
For those interested in internship, apprenticeship, resume building, yes we gladly write letters and answer reference request calls for people who served as an intern, apprentice, farm hand, manager of Brewing Yeast operations(we don’t yet have this person, is it you?) – provided you actually did a satisfactory job with your respective position on the Farm.
Many people came to the Farm without a paying job and now have one. They still come back to our Farm! Proof that money isn’t everything!
Please see our “Meet the Staff” page to view the current list of volunteers and the things they are helping out with.
How to apply to be a volunteer:
Must be 18 or older to join in the fun of volunteering! 21 or older to drink the beer.
Children are welcome at Farm Tours, Volunteer Parties, and Farm to Picnics.
Step 1: Send an email to us:
Please send an email to humbirdfarm@gmail.com. Please include the following things within your cover letter:
a) Name
b) Farm activities that interest you, even better share some those you have experience with
c) Days of the week you are available to help out at our Farm. Volunteer days are Sundays and Mondays, and Brewing Assistants are asked to come during a weekday if they wish to aid in brewing.
d) Some Educational/Work Background
e) Phone number and a good time you may be reached. We require a phone interview before a face to face.
f) *optional/helpful* Attach your resume (pdf preferred)
Step 2: Have a phone interview:
Lasts about 5min-30min depending on how many questions you have.
Step 3: Have a face to face interview:
4 hours of time: Hour tour of the Farm, then you work on the farm for at least a couple hours to get acquainted with some staff/volunteers.
Step 4: Come back on Sundays and/or Mondays…
If you pass your interview, return, without a reservation, to enjoy the Farm as a Volunteer. We are open from 10am till Sunset on Sundays and Mondays for registered volunteers to show up at anytime they like. Don’t forget to “Like” us on facebook.com/HummingbirdFarm to stay up to date with what is in season and free for Volunteers at the Farm.
Join us!!! 