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“Just Show Up” Volunteer Wednesdays at Rushton Farm

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This is an opportunity to work in the fields with the farmers. You can just show up at the farm from 9 am-4 pm on any Wednesday during the season and spend the whole day or just an hour. Any amount of time you spend with us on the land contributes to our efforts and is greatly appreciated!

What is the work like? 

Farm tasks vary depending on the season but include planting, transplanting, weeding, trellising, mulching, harvesting, and fall clean up. Farm work can be physically challenging and volunteers should be prepared to get dirty. Volunteer days at Rushton Farm provide opportunities for individuals from multiple generations and backgrounds to interact and have fun while they work together as a team to accomplish a task. 

What do I need to bring? 

Work gloves, a water bottle, sunscreen, sun hat, and rain gear (depending on the weather). If you have a medical condition such as asthma or anaphylaxis (the farm does have honey bees) please bring your inhaler, epi-pen, or other pertinent medical supplies. 

What should I wear? 

Comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. Recommended attire includes long pants, a t-shirt, and a hat. All volunteers are required to wear closed toed shoes because you may be working with sharp tools. Bring extra layers and rain gear so you are comfortable working in most weather conditions. 

Do we still work when it rains?

The farm staff works in most weather conditions including rain. If field conditions become unworkable or unsafe due to weather the field managers will tell volunteers and their group leaders to stop work. 

What about lunch and water? 

The farm staff breaks for lunch between 12 pm – 1 pm. Volunteers are welcome to bring their lunch and enjoy it in the farm shed. There are sinks in the farm shed with filtered water which participants can use to fill their water bottles. 

Plants Want to Live

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(Excerpt from The Wild Carrot, April 3, 2020, a weekly newsletter from staff to Rushton Farm CSA members.)

Molly seeding away in the greenhouse, day after day. Photo by Fred de Long/Staff

Plants want to live. It is a simple statement said to a 17-year-old teen named Freddy de Long when he forgot to turn on the fans in a greenhouse on a warm spring day. The greenhouse manager had walked in to find 40,000 seedlings in various stages of wilt in a 120-degree atmosphere. Freddy was summoned from the field and was apoplectic at the sight. Sure that he had ruined the season he apologized deeply and prepared to pack up his things and head home. That is when Marley, the greenhouse manager, said, “Relax Freddy, plants want to live. Turn on the fans, soak them with water, and don’t ever let it (expletive) happen again”. I watered and it worked, the plants were revived. What looked like the end of a season was the beginning of a great one as the revived plants made for a very productive season.

I have been thinking of that experience as we enter a new season at an uncertain time. Over 30,000 plants are growing in the greenhouse as we plant the first peas in the field. The garlic in the field looks great as the first carrots break through the cool soil. Lettuce, greens, broccoli and cabbage stretch as they prepare their trip from greenhouse to soil next week. It is a time of rebirth and the sight of it all is calming in this stressful period. It revives your spirit and makes you appreciate life around you.

I say all of this because Molly, Noah and I are thinking of our Rushton family as we work to grow food for the upcoming season. Our CSA members and Rushton Farm volunteers are deeply missed and we look forward to the end of May and the start of the season when we once again can gather and share in a glorious season of food, friends, and family. We all want to live as we lived before. It will take some time, but soon we will be sharing the bounty of Rushton Farm as a community. Until then we will be sharing what is going on at Rushton Farm through our weekly edition of The Wild Carrot every Tuesday. I hope that this will help our community share in the farm experience as the farm awakens and a new season is born.

Summer is coming. 

-Fred

First pea sprouts emerging from the soil. Photo by Fred de Long/Staff

“Just Show Up” Volunteer Wednesdays at Rushton Farm

By

This is an opportunity to work in the fields with the farmers. You can just show up at the farm from 9 am-4 pm on any Wednesday during the season and check-in and fill out a waiver with a member of the farm staff. You can spend the whole day or just an hour. Any amount of time you spend with us on the land contributes to our efforts and is greatly appreciated! 

Please pre-arrange with Fred de Long cfd@wctrust.org). Volunteers should bring a mask.

 

What is the work like? 

Farm tasks vary depending on the season but include planting, transplanting, weeding, trellising, mulching, harvesting, and fall clean up. Farm work can be physically challenging and volunteers should be prepared to get dirty. Volunteer days at Rushton Farm provide opportunities for individuals from multiple generations and backgrounds to interact and have fun while they work together as a team to accomplish a task. 

What do I need to bring? 

Work gloves, a water bottle, sunscreen, sun hat, and rain gear (depending on the weather). If you have a medical condition such as asthma or anaphylaxis (the farm does have honey bees) please bring your inhaler, epi-pen, or other pertinent medical supplies. 

What should I wear? 

Comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. Recommended attire includes long pants, a t-shirt, and a hat. All volunteers are required to wear closed toed shoes because you may be working with sharp tools. Bring extra layers and rain gear so you are comfortable working in most weather conditions. 

Do we still work when it rains?

The farm staff works in most weather conditions including rain. If field conditions become unworkable or unsafe due to weather the field managers will tell volunteers and their group leaders to stop work. 

What about lunch and water? 

The farm staff breaks for lunch between 12 pm – 1 pm. Volunteers are welcome to bring their lunch and enjoy it in the farm shed. There are sinks in the farm shed with filtered water which participants can use to fill their water bottles. 

Lunch and Learn, Seed to Sunflower

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BYO Lunch. Join the staff of Rushton Farm for an in-depth talk about the planning and planting process at Rushton Farm. Fred De Long, Director of the Community Farm Program at the Trust, will talk about seed selection, crop rotation and planning, and how agroecology informs the layout and structure of Rushton Farm. We will walk across the fields to the greenhouse to see this year’s newly planted seeds, so please bring your own lunch and dress for the weather.

See our FAQs for important and helpful information.

Biergarten at Rushton Farm – Featuring Deer Creek Malthouse’s Malt-a-Palooza

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We are excited to announce that Rushton Farm will be partnering with Deer Creek Malthouse to present the first annual Rushton Farm Biergarten on October 26th from 1 to 5 pm. This event will feature Deer Creek Malthouse’s “Maltapalooza” with 16 beers to sample from breweries that use their malt. There will also be food from Lost Bread featuring ingredients from Rushton Farm.
 
For entertainment, we are excited to have the band The Sin Brothers featuring WCT’s own Eric Hetzel. There will be free face painting for the kids and outdoor games. There will be non-alcoholic options as well.
 
Tickets are $50 per person (includes beer and a food voucher for the Lost Bread food truck). Kids are free! The event will take place in the lovely fields of Rushton Farm. We are limiting tickets since this is a first-time event so we expect to sell out quickly. For tickets and more information click the registration button.
 
Wir werden viel Spass haben! (We will have lots of fun!)