Work Exchange Program / WWOOF

Earthkeeper Farm welcomes work exchange volunteers who would like to live and work on the farm. These visitors normally stay anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months between April and October. The accommodations are rustic, and some basic staple foods are provided. These visitors work side by side with the farmer or farm interns doing the day-to-day tasks of running the farm, along with animal and household chores. As part of your educational experience at Earthkeeper Farm, we have farm classes every week or two on whatever topic the current group would like. In the past we have covered beekeeping, soil management, seed saving, home gardening, season extension, biodynamic farming, food preserving, and much more. The work exchange program has proved to be a life changing experience for many people. You will certainly never see food the same.
The majority of work exchange volunteers find us through WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). This is a directory of host farms available to folks looking for these types of experience. If you found us through WWOOF, we ask that you do become an official WWOOF member. It is a great organization to support.
If you are interested in the work exchange program at Earthkeeper Farm, please email [email protected]
Earthkeeper Farm WWOOF Description
We are a Certified Naturally Grown/Biodynamic farm. The farm is 20 acres, with land in pasture, cover crop, orchard, wheat and grains, and about 3 acres in vegetables with some fruits and flowers. For the 2019, we will be doing one to three farmers markets per week.
We are located in west Michigan, about 30 min North of Grand Rapids and 30 min East of Lake Michigan, with its sand beaches, in an orchard region know as the Fruit Ridge.
We have a very holistic approach to farming and use many biodynamic methods. Our farm goals include environmental sustainability, creating a full circle farm system, efficiency, making our small farm profitable enough to pay the bills, and enjoying life. We value a peaceful, balanced and harmonious environment, and welcome those who also want to live a peaceful, conflict-free existence.
On the farm there are chickens, bees, a loving farm dog, and pigs sometimes during the summer months. An occasional goat, sheep, donkey, or horse have been know to live on the farm too. The majority of the work will be tending to the vegetable crops, including seeding, planting, cultivating, weeding, irrigation, harvesting, and all other aspects of small-scale veggie production. Other possible types of work include canning and preserving, building, fence and structure maintenance, pruning fruit trees, and watching our three young sons (8yrs, 5yrs, and 1 yr) depending on your interests and skills.
We have found from our WWOOFing experiences, a stay of at least three to four weeks is preferable, but we are open to shorter visits. And if you would like a longer-term visit of three to six months, that is also possible.
We can pick you up in Grand Rapids or Muskegon as long as you are staying more then one week. For shorter stays, please arrange your own transportation. A small town with shops and restaurants is about 4 miles away. There is a nice lake for swimming about 3 miles away, and you are welcome to use one of the many bikes that are in various states of functionality. (If you are good at fixing bikes, please let us know, we would love some help with that!)
Our work expectations are about 25 hours per week. The normal wwoofer schedule is 7 or 8am to 5pm with an hour off for lunch on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Woofers also sometimes help with markets on Wednesdays or Saturdays. You are welcome to take weekend trips, as you will have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off.
For housing, we have a rustic, two-bedroom cabin, a canvas cabin tent, and space for tent camping. It is possible, that you will be sharing a room with someone of the opposite gender. Please feel free to bring a tent and bedding if you would prefer. You will have use of composting toilet, outdoor heated shower, and fully equipped barn kitchen.
In the kitchen, we provide farm produce, basic staple bulk foods (rice, beans, pasta, oatmeal, and so on), and a few other basics. We tend to do lunch together on work days with everyone taking a turn cooking. The rest of the time woofers are preparing their own meals or cooking together depending on what everyone prefers. The majority of our diet is farm produce, beans, grains, and farm produced meat and eggs. Vegetarian and vegan diets easily accommodated. It is absolutely necessary that you come ready to clean up after yourself, wash dishes, and maintain the cleanliness of the kitchen.
We have farm classes 1 to 2 times per month on whatever topic the current group would like. In the past we have talked about soil management, home gardening, seed saving, crop planning, biodynamic farming, and much more. Past farm workers have said this was very valuable to their experience.
There are honey bees on the farm, so if you have an allergy, please bring an epi-pen. There are areas with poison ivy growing. If you have a history of sever reactions, please let us know. Please, no felons, sex offender, drugs, excessive drinking, or smoking indoors. Hateful words or actions are not tolerated on the farm. Wwoofers are welcome from mid-April through October.
We seek honest people who are respectful of our planet and each other that have an easy-going and fun-loving spirit that are ready to learn and teach. We look forward to hearing from you.
The majority of work exchange volunteers find us through WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). This is a directory of host farms available to folks looking for these types of experience. If you found us through WWOOF, we ask that you do become an official WWOOF member. It is a great organization to support.
If you are interested in the work exchange program at Earthkeeper Farm, please email [email protected]
Earthkeeper Farm WWOOF Description
We are a Certified Naturally Grown/Biodynamic farm. The farm is 20 acres, with land in pasture, cover crop, orchard, wheat and grains, and about 3 acres in vegetables with some fruits and flowers. For the 2019, we will be doing one to three farmers markets per week.
We are located in west Michigan, about 30 min North of Grand Rapids and 30 min East of Lake Michigan, with its sand beaches, in an orchard region know as the Fruit Ridge.
We have a very holistic approach to farming and use many biodynamic methods. Our farm goals include environmental sustainability, creating a full circle farm system, efficiency, making our small farm profitable enough to pay the bills, and enjoying life. We value a peaceful, balanced and harmonious environment, and welcome those who also want to live a peaceful, conflict-free existence.
On the farm there are chickens, bees, a loving farm dog, and pigs sometimes during the summer months. An occasional goat, sheep, donkey, or horse have been know to live on the farm too. The majority of the work will be tending to the vegetable crops, including seeding, planting, cultivating, weeding, irrigation, harvesting, and all other aspects of small-scale veggie production. Other possible types of work include canning and preserving, building, fence and structure maintenance, pruning fruit trees, and watching our three young sons (8yrs, 5yrs, and 1 yr) depending on your interests and skills.
We have found from our WWOOFing experiences, a stay of at least three to four weeks is preferable, but we are open to shorter visits. And if you would like a longer-term visit of three to six months, that is also possible.
We can pick you up in Grand Rapids or Muskegon as long as you are staying more then one week. For shorter stays, please arrange your own transportation. A small town with shops and restaurants is about 4 miles away. There is a nice lake for swimming about 3 miles away, and you are welcome to use one of the many bikes that are in various states of functionality. (If you are good at fixing bikes, please let us know, we would love some help with that!)
Our work expectations are about 25 hours per week. The normal wwoofer schedule is 7 or 8am to 5pm with an hour off for lunch on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Woofers also sometimes help with markets on Wednesdays or Saturdays. You are welcome to take weekend trips, as you will have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off.
For housing, we have a rustic, two-bedroom cabin, a canvas cabin tent, and space for tent camping. It is possible, that you will be sharing a room with someone of the opposite gender. Please feel free to bring a tent and bedding if you would prefer. You will have use of composting toilet, outdoor heated shower, and fully equipped barn kitchen.
In the kitchen, we provide farm produce, basic staple bulk foods (rice, beans, pasta, oatmeal, and so on), and a few other basics. We tend to do lunch together on work days with everyone taking a turn cooking. The rest of the time woofers are preparing their own meals or cooking together depending on what everyone prefers. The majority of our diet is farm produce, beans, grains, and farm produced meat and eggs. Vegetarian and vegan diets easily accommodated. It is absolutely necessary that you come ready to clean up after yourself, wash dishes, and maintain the cleanliness of the kitchen.
We have farm classes 1 to 2 times per month on whatever topic the current group would like. In the past we have talked about soil management, home gardening, seed saving, crop planning, biodynamic farming, and much more. Past farm workers have said this was very valuable to their experience.
There are honey bees on the farm, so if you have an allergy, please bring an epi-pen. There are areas with poison ivy growing. If you have a history of sever reactions, please let us know. Please, no felons, sex offender, drugs, excessive drinking, or smoking indoors. Hateful words or actions are not tolerated on the farm. Wwoofers are welcome from mid-April through October.
We seek honest people who are respectful of our planet and each other that have an easy-going and fun-loving spirit that are ready to learn and teach. We look forward to hearing from you.