Volunteer — GROW

First, fill out our interest form above. Next, you will need to watch our pre-orientation video. Finally, you will join us on the farm for your first day.

We welcome ages six and up to volunteer at Grow. However, all minors must be accompanied and work alongside an adult guardian. We also ask that you email us ahead of time to ensure we have kid-friendly tasks your child can complete on the day you would like to volunteer, as some of our tasks aren’t suitable for young kids.

Keep in mind that we are a working farm, but our staff love to see young people learn about all the food we grow while they help us tend to and harvest veggies.

For larger groups, we recommend signing up for our Can You Dig It program!

Our parking area is located just west of the silo. Refer to the pre-orientation video to see a map.

Please wear close-toe shoes, remove any jewelry, and pull your hair back. We work around heavy machinery and work in all weather conditions throughout the growing season (rain, heat, and snow!). Wear weather appropriate and comfortable clothing that you don’t mind getting dirty.

Depending on the time of year and what farm tasks we are working on, you may be working in the greenhouse, the Cultivation Station, or in our farm fields. We recommend dressing in layers as the temperature difference in these three locations can be quite different.

Be aware that you may be working in fields with thistles, so you can bring weed-resistant gloves, although we do have gloves available for use at the farm.

We do almost all of our work outside and in direct sunlight, we highly recommend you bring your own sunscreen.

Yes, we recommend that you bring a reusable water bottle with you. Grow has two water fountains to refill your water bottle throughout your time at the farm. We recommend staying hydrated through your volunteer service and to take as many water breaks as you need.

Due to food safety standards glass is not permitted outside of the Grow break room.

If you have a glass water bottle you will need to keep it in the break room and away from our food harvesting and processing areas. Plastic reusable and disposable water bottles are permitted in the field and in processing areas.

There is no need to bring any gardening tools with you, we have everything you will need available on the farm.

You may bring your own gardening gloves but we also have a few pairs on hand for you to borrow.

On your first day, you will meet with our Education and Outreach Coordinator Lisa Stark. She will give you a site tour, and walk you through our hand-washing and sign-in policies, and through our food safety training. You’ll then join the crew harvesting in the field and/or greenhouse or washing produce in the Cultivation Station.

We prefer if folks can volunteer on a regular basis but it’s okay if you cannot. It matters because consistency is very valuable to us. Training our new volunteers takes time and time is the most valuable resource we have.

We understand that not every volunteer is able to volunteer three times each week but we prefer you are at least able to volunteer on a monthly basis.

If you can only volunteer once or twice in a season, your help is still welcome. However, please do not fill out the contact form above. Click here to fill out an alternative form so we know to contact you when opportunities become available.