UW Farm

This April, there are many opportunities to volunteer on campus. Both the UW Farm and Society for Ecological Restoration have multiple volunteer sessions each week providing opportunities to get your hands in the dirt. The UW Botanic Gardens are co-hosting the annual Arboretum Earth Day restoration event, and you can also find many other organizations throughout Seattle and our region hosting volunteer events as well.

Here are a few of the ways to volunteer this month at the UW:

Join Campus Rx, a joint collaboration between UW Nature and Health, UW Botanic Gardens, the UW Farm and UW Sustainability, for a volunteer work party and lunch on August 19 at 9-11 a.m.

The work party and lunch are intended to build community around spending time outdoors. Whether you're a student, faculty member, staff, or community member, join us to learn more about sustainable agriculture, food systems, and our role in the community! Space is limited to 30 people so please register early!

There are two volunteer opportunities at the Center for Urban Horticulture this Monday, January 17, as part of the MLK Day of Service. Anyone with proof of vaccination can volunteer with the UW Farm from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. UW students also have the chance to volunteer with the Society for Ecological Restoration's Native Plant Nursery from 12 p.m. - 2 p.m.

Join gardeners from UW's Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses on April 14 at 12:30 p.m. for a fun and informative event. Learn tips for gardening at home, as well as information about our campus gardens. We will have brief presentations followed by a Q&A session with the gardeners.

The gardening experts include:

The UW Farm is looking for undergraduate students to join the farm staff for the 2021 growing season (mid January through mid December). This student position offers the opportunity to work at farm sites on campus while developing real-life work skills in project management, team work, leadership, communication, volunteer management, food production, food safety, organic practices, and small farm business management. The deadline to apply is December 28.

The UW Farm has held an annual Farm to Table dinner for about a decade, to highlight the roles of the Farm at UW and serve as a major fundraising event. This year, the dinner cannot be held. The UW Farm has been hit hard as funding from Housing and Food Services is lower than usual as demand for Farm produce is down, and the UW Farm relies on fundraising even in good years to operate.

Guest post by UW Farm manager Perry Acworth

Wearing calf-high rubber boots, knit hats, gloves and full foul weather gear - overalls and hooded jackets - two farmers, keeping 6 feet apart if not more, commence transplanting hardened-off, 2-inch high multi-colored Swiss chard. Rain, and then hail, falls the entire day from gray, swiftly moving, cloudy skies. Two times the sun managed to come out, offering a brief break in the downpour.

The UW Farm is seeking undergraduate student staff members for the 2020 growing season (mid January through mid December). This position offers opportunities to work at three unique farm sites on campus as well as opportunities to develop real-life work skills in project management, team work, leadership, communication, volunteer management, food production, food safety, organic practices, and small farm business management.

How often do you sit down to a meal and think about the journey it took to arrive in front of you? Like most of us, probably not that often. In the age of take-out meals and cheap frozen dinners, it’s easy to disregard thinking about where your food comes from, where it goes, and who it affects.

As food moves from farm to table, it affects everyone in the system. From the farmers to the consumers, and everyone else along the way, issues of food justice and food sovereignty greatly impact communities all around the world.