Volunteer Workday
On each workday we do tasks such as planting, weeding, composting, harvesting, and more. You don’t have to have any previous gardening experience, we will show you what to do. If you do have gardening experience, we would love to learn from you!
All volunteers are encouraged to take home some food, up to one grocery bag per person. Work In = Food Out. If you are a community service learner (receiving credit for school) we ask a small donation for any produce you take from the farm. The rest of the produce is distributed through our various programs, or sold at our low cost Farmstand. There is no need to sign up, and all ages are welcome.
RAIN POLICY: We will cancel workdays for heavy rain, but not for light on and off rain. Cancellations will be posted on the main page of our website and our facebook page at least an hour before the start of the workday.
Learn about:
Workday Schedule
Saturday Potluck Lunch
Community Service Hours
What to Wear and Bring for Workdays
How to Find Us
Group Visits
Workday Leaders
Workday Schedule
Tuesdays and Thursdays – 8:30 am – 12:30 pm
Wednesday and Friday morning workdays (8:30-12:30) will resume on April 1st, 2012
Join us for harvesting and other morning farm work. It’s great if you can stay the entire morning, but we always welcome 1-2 hours of help. If you cannot stay for the entire work period let us know when you need to leave, so we can make sure to get you out of the fields on time. Generally we will harvest and do some farmwork on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with a full morning of just farm maintenance work (compost, greenhouse, weeding, pruning, planting and seeding, bed preparation) on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Wednesday Afternoons (Sept. 1 – July 1) 2 – sunset
This is our popular afternoon workday that runs during the cooler part of the year while most schools are in session. Be prepared with sun protection and water if it’s a warm day. We love it when we have a big group of volunteers ready to work on Wednesday afternoons.
Saturdays
10:00a – 12:30p
12:30p – 1:30p: Potluck Lunch
This is our most popular workday. Please make an effort to arrive on time. Sometimes we do big jobs that need a lot of hands at the same time, and other times we do lots of smaller tasks in small groups. You can try your hand at many different aspects of the farm, and there is always something new happening out here.
Saturday Potluck Lunch
After the Saturday workday, stay and unwind at the potluck lunch and get to know your fellow farmers. Please bring something to share so there is enough food for everyone. What to bring? You can bring something as simple as a few pieces of fruit or chips and salsa, or get as ambitious as you like with a home cooked main dish. We are all about healthy food, so please leave the junk food at home and bring some apples or oranges instead!
Community Service Hours
Many High School and College/University students attend our workdays to satisfy their community service requirements. If you are planning to do this, please bring whatever paperwork you need signed as we will only sign off on hours the same day they were completed. Also note that lunch does not count for service hours, though we highly encourage you to stay and enjoy it. If you are a community service learner (receiving credit for school) we ask a small donation for any produce you take from the farm.
RAIN POLICY: If it is raining heavily we will cancel the workday. If it is on and off rain we are still on. We will post all rain cancellations on the front page of the website by 8am.
What to Wear/Bring
For your safety and comfort, it is important that you bring certain things when participating in a workday:
- Mandatory: Closed-toe shoes or boots
- A hat and sunscreen
- Water bottle
- Recommended: Long sleeved shirts, long pants, a bag to bring food home in
- For the potluck: Food to share
- If you are under 18, bring a signed Volunteer Liability Waiver. Adults can bring one or sign at the workday.
You can also bring your kitchen scraps to feed our worm bins. Our worms like to eat veggie scraps, with no meat or dairy.
Farm Tours
1st Saturday of the Month, 10a
This tour is for new volunteers, or anyone who would like to learn more about Veggielution and what we do. You will get to see many different parts of the farm, as you learn about the history, programs, and vision of our organization.
How to Find Us
Click here to see a map of our location in the park. (Thanks Nick!)
The address of Emma Prusch Park is:
647 South King Road
San Jose CA 95116
Get directions here.
When you first enter the park, you will see community gardens on each side. This is not where we are, so keep going down the long driveway. At the back right corner of the main parking lot, there is another road that keeps going. If you are driving, you can park there along the fence. At the end of the parking spaces by the grey building there is a gate. Go through it and look for us on the right side of the grey building. If you get lost at anytime on the way to a workday, call us at (408) 634-FARM (3276).
Groups
Groups of 8 or less are welcome to join our workdays without notice. If you have 8 or more people in your group you are welcome to schedule a workday with us. We generally limit groups to working during our regular workdays. Groups can expect to get an orientation, then work on a variety of tasks around the farm. If you would like to join our potluck lunch, please be sure to bring enough food to share. Groups of youth must be above age 12. Please email info@veggielution.org to schedule.
Workday Leaders
The next Workday Leader class will run from 1:30-3:30 Saturdays from February 18 to March 24. Email mark@veggielution.org for more information and to sign up
Workday Leaders help Veggielution plan larger and more productive workdays with large groups of volunteers. We encourage leadership in all volunteers, but Farm Workday Leaders are asked to commit to an ongoing role and become a more experienced member of the farming team. You will help facilitate the involvement of other volunteers from diverse backgrounds and ensure that workdays run smoothly. You will also participate in monthly trainings to build your leadership and agricultural skills. Bi-lingual ability (Spanish / Vietnamese / Tagalog / etc.) is strongly desired, as we are part of a large immigrant community that are reaching out to for more farm involvement. Read the full Workday Leader description here. To join, email Mark Anthony Medeiros.
See our Volunteer Teams page for even more ways to help.
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