NuMundo - Unadilla Community Farm

About.

*Now accepting intern applications for the 2021 season (May 2-October 4, 2021)!*

COVID Update: We were able to safely carry out our internship last season and host 25 interns throughout the pandemic, by implementing a number of safety protocols. Interns are required to quarantine for 2 weeks prior to arrival, and upon arrival, to have their temperature checked using a non-contact thermometer. At the farm, we all quarantine on-site together.

Unadilla Community Farm is a non-profit off-grid solar-powered education center following the principles of organic agriculture, regenerative agroforestry, and permaculture design. The farm was founded in 2014 by a group of WWOOFers (volunteers working on organic farms) dedicated to the goals of the back-to-the-land movement. We are situated on 12 acres of field and forest, located alongside a growing Amish community, in central New York State. Our mission is to provide a space for the teaching and practice of sustainable skills.

Additional Information about Accommodations:

2021 will be our 8th season hosting interns for our beginning farmer training program. This seasonal accredited internship has attracted interns from North & South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and New Zealand. University students in the U.S. & abroad have earned course credits for our internship program (ask your advisor if you are eligible to earn credit too!). Interns gain hands-on experience in no-till farming, regenerative agroforestry, permaculture design, natural building, and food preservation. We also run a weekly veggie box delivery program, from June to October, providing fresh, seasonal, organically-grown fruits and veggies on a sliding scale to Edmeston families in a USDA low-income, low-access rural food desert.

As a center for sustainable education, we showcase a wide range of regenerative agroforestry techniques aimed at increasing agriculture’s capacity for carbon sequestration, soil building, and ecosystem stewardship. In 2020, we were accepted into USDA's Conservation Stewardship Program. We teach a diversity of USDA recommended conservation practices, such as rainwater collection, multi-story and alley cropping, no-till management, wildlife habitat planting, mulching, on-site composting, crop rotation, and high tunnels. We are now showcasing 200+ varieties of organic annual and perennial vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, fruits, nuts, and berries.

Our internship is more than just a beginning farmer training program. It is an immersion into a rural, sustainable way of life. We are seeking interns interested in disconnecting from the mainstream, learning to support ourselves by growing our own organic produce, utilizing natural building methods to construct our barn and dwelling structures, making our own household products like soap and shampoo, reviving traditional agricultural and lifestyle practices, and living in community.

We are using natural building methods, as well as local and salvaged materials, to construct our farm’s infrastructure. Our completed projects include a skoolie (converted school bus), chicken tractor, high tunnel, and an off-grid tiny home with solar panels, rainwater collection, and wood-burning stove. We are in the process of completing a traditional New England timber framed barn on a rammed tire “Earthship” foundation and a 4-season skoolie.

Sleeping accommodations include 2 single bedrooms in the barn loft, 2 double bedrooms in the skoolie (converted school bus), and 1 large tent on a platform. You are also welcome to pitch your own tent on various tent platforms and camp spots around the property. All organic gourmet vegetarian/vegan meals and unlimited snacks are provided, and typically eaten communally.