Off-Grid Farm Residency – UGC Farm
Last Updated On: March 6th, 2025 at 09:50AM MST
Contact information
Farm Address:9 Kate Yaeger Rd
Saugerties, New York, 12477
Primary Contact: The Underground Center
Secondary Contact: Julia Gloninger
Primary Phone:
Type: Cell
Number: 8455947979
Email: chase@theundergroundcenter.org
Email: julia@theundergroundcenter.org
Website: https://www.theundergroundcenter.org
Internship information
General Farm Description: Shagbark Farm is an off-grid educational community subsistence farm. It is located on 22 acres of mostly forested land with 7 acres of mixed use production. The farm is a demonstration site to explore ethical ways of meeting our community's food and housing needs in a way that nourishes the land we depend on.CRAFT Member Farm? No
Internship Starts: April 7th
Internship Ends: October 15th
Number of Internship Available: 1
Application Deadline: March 15th
Minimum Length of Stay: 28 weeks
Internship Details:
The 2025 UGC Farm Residency is a part-time educational work opportunity offered to aspiring community food growers running from April 7th to October 15th (28 weeks). The residency will take place at our off-grid community subsistence farm located in Saugerties, NY. The Farm Resident will assist in running our Saugerties Free Food program, where we grow free food for our workers and our community in a network of gardens across Saugerties. Additionally, the resident will learn how to care for the collective infrastructure at the farm and learn the basics of living off-grid
Work Requirements:
- One scheduled workday with full crew (5 hours including half hour lunch)
- One scheduled workday with mentors (5 hours including half hour lunch)
- Flexible independent work (seasonal and weather dependent tasks) (0-5 hours depending)
- Approximately 10-15 hours a week total
- One week off (A week of the farm resident’s choosing)
Tasks include:
- Attending weekly planning meeting (at the start of the workday)
- Managing the work at Shagbark farm and our sharing garden network
- Amending beds for planting (mulching, applying compost, planting cover crops, etc)
- Participating in our compost initiative
- Making new garden beds
- Planting crops
- Garden maintenance (watering, weeding, wood chipping paths, succession planting, etc)
- Harvesting
- Putting beds to sleep in the fall
- Coordinate workers/volunteers for community workdays
- Participating in the compost rotation
- Participating in food processing
- Building and maintaining off-grid garden infrastructure (compost bins, raised beds, fencing, etc)
Educational Opportunities: This residency is designed to be a crash-course in community subsistence farming. Some of the skills and ideas you will learn during this time include: Living comfortably off-grid and provide for your own food needs Nourishing subsistence farming practices closed loop soil fertility practices—composting, cover cropping, and sustainable mulching regenerative agriculture practices—poly cultures, perennials, succession and intensive planting, and seed saving off-grid garden infrastructure—compost heated greenhouses, gravity-fed rain water irrigation, and natural fencing food processing—fermenting, canning, drying, and freezing food distribution—community building, food shares, and feeding workers staple crop production—growing all the calories you need from the land: root crops, grains, legumes, and more Radical land stewardship/use/sharing practices Garden Design Leading volunteers and workers for workdays
Skills Desired: Previous growing experience preferred but not necessary.
Meals: Yes The resident will have access to the food grown in our gardens, as well as bulk food items like dry goods, oils, and more. Additionally, lunch is provided for every workday.
Stipend: A $3,500 stipend provided. Given in 4 installments.
Housing: Yes The farm resident will live in the Maya House which is a small off-grid cabin on the farm. The cabin is fitted with solar electricity, propane stove, a rain-catch water system, a compost toilet, and a wood stove.
Preferred method of Contact: email