Educational Opportunity: Volunteer Land Stewardship Position

Join Us in Regenerating Land and Culture

Looking for a hands-on opportunity to learn about agroecology and perennial stewardship? Want to build experience in small-scale regenerative farm work? Curious about what it means to build soil and community through food and cyclical living?

If your answer is yes, then you should apply to be a 2025 DAR Steward!

What is DAR?

At Drylands Agroecology Research (DAR), we believe in the transformative power of agriculture to heal the land, nurture communities, and revitalize ecosystems. Located in the heart of Boulder County, Colorado, DAR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to reversing cultural and ecological degradation through holistic and regenerative practices.

DAR’s mission is simple but ambitious: to regenerate landscapes to improve life on Earth. Our work spans agroecological research, outdoor education, design and implementation of innovative land stewardship models, and community food programs.

We invite you to be part of this mission.

About the Role

This stewardship is an unpaid volunteer position designed for folks looking to engage with our work and expand their own skills beyond the scope of our public volunteer offerings.

No growing experience is required to apply, but any gardening, carpentry, or other hands-on agricultural background is certainly appreciated. The more context you have for this work, the deeper the understanding and broader the skill-set we can build together! At least one hour per week will be dedicated to explicit knowledge sharing and sit-down instruction.

Farming is hard work and requires a consistent, rigorous commitment to timeliness and self-care. If waking up early to spend all day outside performing tasks that require presence, diligence, and manual labor does not appeal to you, please do not apply for this position! We offer numerous other opportunities to participate in our work.

Commitment

We are seeking individuals ready to commit to a regular schedule of one to three days per week. Start and end dates are flexible, anytime mid-April to mid-November, but we ask for a minimum two month commitment.

Areas of Engagement and Education

Depending on the season, stewards can expect to participate in and build skills related to:

● Perennial forest garden planting, maintenance, and harvest

● Production-scale annual vegetable cropping, harvest, wash-pack, and distribution

● Herbal medicine cultivation and processing

● Food processing: canning, fermentation, and dehydration

● Seed-saving and cultivation of dryland heritage grain crops

● Community meals prepared with regeneratively-grown food from our gardens and pastures

● Basics of animal husbandry and rotational grazing

Working closely with our Farm Team, you’ll get to know the in’s and out’s of DAR’s regenerative farming operations, with opportunities to focus your efforts on your own areas of interest.

How to Apply

With the subject line: “2025 Volunteer Land Stewardship Application,” please submit a resume to nicole.goodman@dar.eco as well as a written OR up to three minute video/audio response to ONE of the following prompts:

○ “The name of our organization is Drylands Agroecology Research. Pick one of these three words as the focus of your answer to the question: why do you want to work with us?”

OR

○ “Describe a recent experience that sparked your curiosity about the natural world.”

OR

○ “Tell us a story about your relationship to food or agriculture.”

Please also include your ideal time commitment, including start/end dates as well as number of days per week.

Applications are due by Monday April 1, 2025.

Join us in healing the land, nurturing community, and revitalizing ecosystems. We look forward to the chance to learn and grow together!