Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK
You don’t have to have a bad experience with volunteers. They can be very productive if managed properly. The key is to use them in focused work sessions of around 3 hours. Many volunteers are willing to participate once a week with that type of commitment. I use volunteers when I go to one of my two peri-urban sites. If I go with say, two volunteers for three hours, that means I get nine man hours of work done, instead of just three man hours if I went myself.
Good types of work to assign them is rototiller work which keeps them focused. This allows me to do other tasks, such as hand weeding. Volunteers seem to like being challenged with serious farm tasks, such as off loading and starting a rototiller. This is something they have not been taught at home or at school – how to work physically.
It is also good to have a pool of volunteers, at least five people, that you can rely on for consistent weekly commitment. Some volunteers might not be available some weeks so it is best to have a pool. Volunteers can be rewarded with produce from your market stand.
More tips for managing volunteers and interns for maximum productivity are available in the latest Dig Deeper guide in the SPIN-Farming learning series.
Also see James Kalin’s post on US Regs on Unpaid Labor. Â Â Â
