VOLUNTEERING
on Dandelion:
Volunteers from around the world join the farm family for 4 days
to many months or more, sharing their energy, enthusiasm and skills
to help move Dandelion toward becoming a uniquely beautiful sustainable
living institute.. Volunteers work in exchange for room a minimum
of 5hrs a day, 5 days a week at a variety of tasks, from gardening
activities, to natural building, farm maintenance, etc, to numerous
art forms. A small volunteer kitchen is stocked with some bulk basics
like beans, rice, whole wheat floor, uncracked walnuts, etc, and vegies
from the garden are available. Volunteers of longer than 1 month will
recieve a food allowance. All residents share meals off and on as
well as desert and movie evenings and a rich social sharing. Space
is limited so previous volunteer and work experience, needed skills,
and long stay potentials have priority. Your special talents, whatever
they are, will help our projects as we work with you. Great skill
is not essential for short or long stays. Most valued is the spirit
of service, or self giving in help to the world while here on Dandelion,
through every task. This attitude is similar to the practice tradtionally
called "karma yoga". In helping others we are enriched.
PLEASE email info@dandelionfarm.org
for our volunteer information/ application.
We will have work/parties monthly when its not toooooooo hot or cold
work and have fun.. They will run 4 days, starting on Monday or Tuesday
for any given event, ending Thurs/Friday. We ask $25. ($35/ couple)
for this period to help with expenses. We will consider together with
you if a longer stay would work for all sides and make plans with
you for space available in your time frame. But it is important to
have other options for after the work/party. Do let us know which
dates are best for you! Skilled volunteers may also request a intro/trial
time without waiting for a work/party.
Volunteer long stays with skills and or experience are a special
boon to Dandelion and we give these priority. If we are able to host
you after a work/party or you return for longer stay of a month or
more, your expense for the work/party goes toward our one time $50.
deposit/donation for a longer stay. This will be returned to you at
the end of the first month. If the stay is shorter than 1 month your
$50. will become a donation towards improving volunteer intrastucture.
But you will be invited to return again and again to Dandelion as
part of the Farm Family without further deposit/donation requests.
In 2010 we will be focused on furthering Enchanted Encampment, a
mini educational eco village campground of wildly creative natural
and recycled structures. Building these and using them for camp living
is an on going fun sustainable education process for all. We will
also continiue to expand and diversify our NO Till gardening/permaculture/forest
gardening and unusual food plants in several areas of the farm, hopefully
get some nice paths/trails laid with the TONS of pavers we gathered
in '09....and always more ART to inspire the heart. There is lots
of wonderful physical work and play to go!
QUALIFICATIONS:
At least one farm volunteer experience (or other
volunteer
service experience in some area) previous to Dandelion is important
so that you know what its all about.
Volunteers agree to take turns cooking and cleaning the shared living
space.
Volunteers agree to be tobacco, drug and alcohol free
while on the farm.
The SPIRIT of volunteering is the essential qualification
for happy participation at Dandelion...
This is a project created altogether in the spirit of self-giving
at a time when the world needs each person's help.
LONG STAY VOLUNTEERS:
Internships...As
a non profit we are unable to offer stipends, however we do return
the donation to volunteers who stay a minimum of one month. Grants
and other creative options will be considered to support long stay/residential
volunteers to make it worth staying a LONG time on Dandelion.
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Here are some of the
needed skills we are looking for:
garden manager and other hands on/manigerial skills
natural builder
computer help for the web
(note all the glitches!)
handyman-fixer
vegan cook ( needs also art &/or garden skills)
wood working- construction
metal working - mig welding
trained permacultureist
painting and art skills
legal advisor
grant writer
camcorder photographer for documentary
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WISH
LIST for donation items:
Recycled building materials are greatly
needed for Enchanted Encampment (mini educational ecovilliage
campground with highly creative design):
Wood, any kind, Used or New
Windows, preferably double glazed
Roofing Materials
Pavers, Bricks, Tile, Wood Rounds
Greenhouse glazings
Gravel, Sand, Cement broken chunks ("urbanite") and
other clean "fill"
Asphalt "Chippings" for parking space
Paint
Rice Straw for Cob, other mulch materials for gardens
The list is long ...so please let us know what you have to offer!
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Learn
Sustainability by Living on Dandelion: Here
you find a detailed list of most of the sustainably realated things
you will experience and can learn about first hand on Dandelion:
-Resource Conservation is Primary here . We live in close relationship
with the land that provides so much of our sustenence on Dandelion.
We depend on our personal work and the farm's resources to provide much
of what we eat, drink, and use for heat, cook with and run our kitchen.
In so living we are connected with sustainable future of the world.
Living thus is a HUGE goad to responsible resource use and management.
We are always aware of the need to CONSERVE all our resources,
from water, firewood, toilet paper, food, fuels, electricity, etc. We
constantly remind ourselves and others here of the urgent need to conserve
and minimise our footprint on Dandelion and the world in our every day
living. This is a learning challenge and opportunity for all Dandelion
participants short or long, to gain green habbits now and forever, and
to pass these habbits to others in service of our shared planet, earth.
-Housing: All living spaces large and small are of passive
solar design, save the original ranch house (Huge Happening) and
have natural wood heat. At 2 people per room/space there is sufficient
year round living space for 20+.
-Natural buildings We are working on our 3rd natural cob building
and will be experimenting further with recycled and natural materials
as Enchanted Encampment,
our mini educational ecovilliage campground continues to develop
in 2010.
-Repair shop: Being able to make, maintain and fix machiney and
other useful things on the farm is another part of our efforts at sustainability.
Over 30 years we have collected tools and equipment that are frequently
used for these purposes.
-Alternative energies: There are photovoteyic solar energy
systems for the host house and water pumping for drinking and irrigation
systems for the whole farm. Wind power via our old Jacob wind
generator will be resurected for additional power. We are slowly moving
entirely away from the grid, propane/natural gass use starting with
the volunteer host house. We expect to experiment with methane generation
for cooking and growing algae fuel. We plan to obtain or build our own
bio-char cook stoves.
-Heating for Spaces and Water: Passive solar building
design is the case for all buildings save the old original house. The
pasive solar heat is helped greatly by insulation and augmented by wood
heat, burning prunings and fire reduction/harvested wood. This is
for heating both living space and water through the use of interal coils
or "heatilator" in the wood stove fire chamber for hot water.
We enjoy this extremely effecient solar/fireplace hot water system in
the host house. A solar/demand hot water system is installed on "Reign
of Grace" Bath house.
-Free and Low Energy Refrigeration/ Cooling of Foods: In the
host kitchen and in several other locations on Dandelion, north exposure
- vented cool storage areas serve as refrigreration in winter
or coolers in the summer for food storage. We also use a solar PVextremely
efficient refrigerator in the warm months for garden produce. This chest
style fridge can convert to a freezer in the winter when our larger
pantry/coolers double as refridgerators. This fridge runs on 75 watts...unbelievable!
-Cooking: Although we use propane still, in cold weather we also
cook and dry on an "airtight", effecient wood stove
that provides heating, cooking and hot water simultaneously and is fueled
by on site sustainably harvested renewable firewood. The sun
is generally abundant often even in the winter. When the sun is out
for long we use our solar Photovolteic system to power electric
cooking using a small electric oven, electric burners and other
electric kitchen aids. We also enjoy cooking in a Sun Oven and a larger
home made solar oven/solar drying combo made by great volunteers who
were solar cooking fans.
-Food Preservation: Since we live almost exclusively from our
gardens and orchards year around, we use cool vented storages areas
for holding fruits and some vegetables that will keep for long season
fresh eating, fresh cooking, and fresh juicing. Root vegetables are
stored mostely outdoors in garden beds with heavy mulch protection
from freezing, We preserve excess perishable summer food for off season
ise by freezing, canning, drying and fermenting.
-Fermentations and other cultures for preservation/food/health:
Fermented foods is an art we have been developing for many years on
Dandelion. Most foods want to ferment, and if not previously fermented
before eating they often do that in the stomach. Fermenting food boosts
digestablility, while helping preserve the food naturally as the ancients
did. Use of fermented foods adds more probiotics for immune system resiliance,
production and absorbtion of enzymes, and some vitamines, plus wonderful
flavors. The list of fermented, cultured foods we make and enjoy is
constantly growing. Amongst others it includes: slow/cool sourdough
for optimally digetable bready foods, kombucha, kimchi, rejuvalac, koji
for making miso, misos-various long and short non soy ( makes salt more
digestable, adding vitas, enzymens and serves as a vegitable bullion),
non soy tempeh, non soy natto, (an anti cancer, anti heart disease or
stroke fermented legume dish),and occassional raw goat milk buttermilk.
-Greenhouse 60x30ft. "Chanting Frog"...with a cystern/
pool/heat sink, grows mostly fruit trees, spring starts, some
vegies, Oyster and shitaki mushrooms....hopefully spiralina soon!
-Greenhouse (small) is used for starting garden seedlings and
propagating unusual perennials using mist and other techniques.
The small GH also provides solar heat gain into the host house.
-Nursery: In "Plant Lust" nursery we propagate larger
plants, fruit trees, nut trees, vines and bushes. All new plants in
the last many years have been carefully researched and selected for
hardiness and desease resistence, for specific micro climates and permaculture
niches on Dandelion. We layer, take cuttings, grow seedlings and later
graft where necessary to constantly increase our perennial food production
capacity,
-Gardens are varied and many here. We live as much as possible
from the main gardens "Not Two is Green", and "Vanished
Gardens" that are deer fenced permanent bed, NO TILL/ bio-dynamic
demonstration in progress. These contain besides vegetables and
some unusuals, many grapes (yearly juice pressing, concentrate and
rasin making), apples and pear trees (yearly juice pressing, concentrate
and drying), gojis (fresh and dried), cane berry patch, benificial
insect garden, medicinal and culinary herbs, new plantings
for developing stable humus, carbon sequestration, and
our own nutrient rich herbal plant fertilizers. We are also beginning
to use bio-dynamic preparations. Permaculture principles are also used
as we deveope grouping of plants (guilds) that serve each other, and
the forest garden several stories for production approach.
-Seed Saving: We have, for many years, saved much of our own
seed for many of our food staples and unusuals including some herbs.
This is almost always visably happening on the farm. We get abundant
extra vigrous seed this way that are aleady, by having grown here, adapted
to our micro climates/growing conditions. Another fun part of seed saving
is that we are able, over years to develop our own verieties of plants
specificly to meet our needs. Tomatoes and squash are in the front in
this area..
-Walnut Orchard: Walnuts are used liberally in our diet, especially
soaked and then dehydrated for yumminess and extra good digestability.
Producing trees are almost yearly increased by grafting older established
black walnut trees to English Walnut in June.
-Apple, Pear, Plum Trees, and Grapes as well as other unusual pernnial
edibles: We have taken advantage of different micro climates on
the farm to grow many kinds of apples pears, plums, and grapes, guarenteeing
yearly production. Each year we work on orchard improvements with hardier,
more disease resistent and tasty variety additions to our plantings.
These are acquired by purchacing, trading scion wood or other starts,
and grafting in Feb-April.
-Olive Orchard: We planted 27 olive trees in '06. Between them
in the large spacing we added Jujubee trees (Chinese Dates) and Goji
berries (in production '08) and some of the other unusuals, below. Open
areas are no-till, cover cropped with experimental dry farmed staples.
-Unusual Food Trees and Shrubs: To incresase food production,
to learn and educate others about more food growing options, we constantly
experiment with what we can grow here that will make Dandelion more
sustainable. Some of our more unusual perennials include: Seaberries,
Gooseberries and Currents, Goldenberry, Gumi, Autumn Olive, Trebazond
Date, Jujubees/Chinese Dates, Russian Quince, Strawberry Tree, Aronia,
improved Elderberries, Japanese Rasin Trees, Cornelian Cherries, Hardy
Kiwi, Fuzzy Kiwi, Palmogranite, Barberry, Vegitable Bamboo and (and
timber varieties), Prinscepia, Korean Cherry, Saskatoons/Juneberries,
Honeyberries, Origan Grape, Siberian Pea Tree, Pawpaw, Chinese Haw,
Medlar, Manchurian Peach, Korean cherry, everbearing Mulberries, Highbush
Cranberry, fruiting Viburnums, Yellowhorn nuts, etc.
- Water, is becoming a serious issue for Calfi. We have reworked
our water catchment system 2 times since first digging. We have 2 large
ponds, several vernal ponds and swales for rapid charging
of the water table, many shallow wells, solar powered
water pumping to houses, gardens, orchards, and large water storage
tanks. Rain Water from roofs to cistern/catchments provide
rain water year around for drinking. Ponds are stocked with fish
and have a very healthy frog and crawfish population too, which all
reserved for use ONLY in dire emergency. We eschew killing creatures
and attempt to serve the natural balance of Dandelion via biodiversity.
-Wood land areas are thinned carefully to reduce the fuel density
for fire safety on Dandelion. This is a sustainable way of providing
wood for heat and cooking. Much of the farm, flat land and wooded, are
left untouched as wildlife habitat. We will soon also be starting wood
lots for extra firewood.
- Flatland Acreage/Grain Production/Dry Farming:: Spring, and
into winter 2010, we will be doing experiments with growing high carb/starchy
foods. These will be small plots of many grains and tubers, etc, grown
to familiarize ourselves with what can be grown here to feed large numbers
of people in an emergency situation. These experiments will also enable
us to acquire our own extra hardy, micro climate adpted bulk seed to
plant large areas in case this is necessary. We will begin to familiarize
ourselves with "dry farming" that has been practiced in this
location by the early settlers until recently. We will also begin growing
our own fertilizer/biomass to maintain soil fertility should we not
be able to bring in outside improvements like manure.
Much experimenting in these areas has already been done over the years
with many grains, tubers, legumes, and seeds for emergency mass production
on Dandelion. Examples of susistence starches/proteins, we have experimented
with so far: drought tollerant non hybrid corn, quinoa, millet, sorgum,
barley, potatoes, jeruselum artichokes, yacon, oca, sacred water lily,
desert tepary beans, field peas, vetch, seseme seed, chia seed, flax
seed, sunflower seed, styrian hulless pumpkin seed, indian rice grass,
and perenial seed producers such as mesquite and siberian pea tree.
-Native Food: Over the years we have experimented with eating
and using some of the native plants growing on Dandelion. These include
several attempts at treating and using acorns, soap root, grey pine
buds, manzanita berries (ripe and green), miner's lettuce, dandelions,
plantain, cattails (tuber/rizomes, pollen, shoots), wild grasses, and
oyster plant, to name a few. We have planted a tanin free burr oak we
hope to graft onto older oaks for better acorns. The other wild food
are a delightful addition to our gardened foods.
Art to Inspire: Much of the art on Dandelion, created to inspire
higher, sustainable living choices is made of recycled metal, wood,
paint and tile.
- Future projects need your help: Grey water systems, methane
generation, algae growing for food and fuel...(we are getting
close to starting this one), biochar cooking and heating stoves,
unique architectureal designs for very small cob cabins and much more!
Improving natural pests control with more bird/owl houses and pollination
with orchard bee nests, and any other sustainable improvement you
might think of!
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