Do you want to learn how to grow your own food for free and help feed your community?

We are looking for people interested in joining our growing team to help us manage our network of sharing gardens. As part of our team, you will have access to a free community garden at Shagbark Farm where you can grow your own food and grow food to share with your community. 

This opportunity is for people at any skill level, age, and ability. The only requirement is a commitment to doing your part. There are many different tasks that go into our regenerative style of agriculture. Some examples are planting, harvesting, composting, weeding, starting seeds, food processing, weighing crops, cooking, garden design, building garden beds and many more!

This opportunity is for people who want:

• access to growing space with all of the tools, seeds, soil and infrastructure necessary to grow vegetables
• to learn how to grow food without pesticides, chemicals, fossil fuels and plastics
• to be part of a team and support each other in growing
• to practice eating what they grow and learn how to preserve food with fermentation, canning, drying and more
• to spend more time outdoors
• more exercise, but can’t afford a gym
• to give back to their community

How does it work?

We are looking for people to help grow food for our Saugerties Free Food program. Our growing space includes Shagbark Farm in West Saugerties, a network of smaller sharing gardens around the neighborhood, and our educational Re:seed garden in the village of Saugerties. These farms are not commercial farms. All of the food is shared for free—shared with the people growing it and shared at the Saugerties Boys & Girls club. 

We want to expand our network so that more people can have access to the nutritious and delicious food that we grow. The more farmers we have, the larger our program can grow and the more food there is to share for free! We can create a truly viable alternative to industrial agriculture.

This is a diverse growing space that grows lots of different crops. By helping out with a variety of tasks, you get access to the many different things we can grow. 

This opportunity is like a free community garden, but differs from the traditional community garden in some ways. Instead of paying for access to your own garden bed(s) you are getting access to a collectively managed farm.

How to get involved

We are looking for a group of people willing to commit 5 hours a week from March to October to manage our network of gardens. These five hours can be flexible to accommodate your schedule. The tasks are varied but are all essential to growing, processing and distributing food.

This commitment will give you access to:

• A large “kitchen garden” specifically for the growing team. This will be for growing summer crops like tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens, string beans etc. 
• staple beds: large garden mounds to grow crops like potatoes, corn, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, grains etc. 
• processing parties to make preserved foods like hot sauce, pickles, sauerkraut, tomato sauce etc.
• All the seeds, soil, compost, mulch, irrigation, tools, raised beds and infrastructure needed for food growing.

You and the people in the growing team will decide what you want to plant with the guidance and support of our experienced resident farmers. 

What if I can’t commit 5 hours a week?

What if I want more?

This opportunity is designed for people who can’t commit fully to growing all of their own food. If you are interested in giving more time to meeting your food needs, we would be happy to integrate you more into our farming initiatives. If you are able to offer more time, have experience growing food or can work independently managing one of our sharing gardens, you can get more access to the food we grow. Reach out to us if this applies to you! We are also offering a farm residency position that is an intensive educational and off-grid housing opportunity.