Volunteer with Prescott Farm
Our volunteers are the heart of Prescott Farm, helping us grow our educational programs for the Lakes Region community and beyond. Whether you prefer hands-on work—like trail maintenance, gardening, and maple sugaring—or behind-the-scenes work through advisory teams and administration, there is a place for you here.
As a volunteer, you’ll enjoy a great sense of community, shared accomplishment, and invitations to exclusive appreciation events.
Ready to get involved? Explore our opportunities below and fill out our volunteer form to get started.
Overview of Volunteer Opportunities:
The Heritage, Perennial, and Learning Gardens help Prescott Farm engage children, adults, and families in learning about where their food comes from. Prescott Farm gardens grew almost 200 pounds of produce in 2021, all thanks to our dedicated garden volunteers. Garden volunteers spend time caring for the gardens May-October, weekly. Whether you have had a green thumb all your life or you’re just starting out, joining our garden team is sure to be a fun learning experience!Garden Team Click to Expand
Gardening Team
In March it’s all about maple sugaring at Prescott Farm! Our sugar maple bush at Prescott Farm provides the perfect resource for visitors to learn about what it takes to make the iconic (and delicious!) maple syrup. Our Maple Sugaring volunteers help throughout March in our Tap into Maple Programs by engaging program participants, keeping our sugarhouse running, and helping out with special projects.Maple Sugaring Team Click to Expand
Maple Sugaring Team
Trail Maintenance Work Days: If you love hiking and are handy with a pair of clippers, our trails need you! Tackle different projects throughout the year, helping to maintain our 160-acre property. This team is active when projects are available, examples of past projects include removing invasive plant species and fortifying our fencing to keep digging critters out of the gardens. In the Winter enjoy free snowshoe rentals to walk your trails and pack down the snow. Click Here for More Info!Click Here Nature Observation: Sharpen your identification skills and become a citizen scientist! Using your smartphone and the iNaturalist app you can photograph and post nature observations you see at Prescott Farm. Enjoy a worldwide, online community that will help to verify your observations. Our Nature Observation volunteers help improve our programs and give educators a resource for additional educational materials.Trail Team Click to Expand
Trail Team
Help us bring our yearly special events to life! We’re looking for hands-on volunteers to help with set-up, manning a table or station, and guest support. It’s a great way to spend time in nature while giving back to your community. Click here to learn more about our Special Events Volunteer Team. Help us host our Community Connections and Polliwog Programs. You’ll play a key role in creating memorable, hands-on experiences for our guests while enjoying the beauty of our property. Join us today to help us provide a great guest experience. Click here to learn more about our Program Support Volunteer Team. Help Prescott Farm create natural, handcrafted items to be sold at our annual Harvest Fest and throughout the year in our gift shop with the proceeds directly supporting our programs while also enjoying a community of other crafters. Click here to learn more about our Prescott Farm Crafters Volunteer Team. Spend time in nature and help Prescott Farm capture the joy brought by our camps, Community Connection Programs, and so much more! Photograph various events on the property to assist in marketing and outreach for Prescott Farm. Click here to learn more about our Volunteer Photography Team. The Camp Tractor Driver assists in our 9 weeks of summer camp by bringing each camp group on a tractor ride around the property. The volunteer is responsible for running and maintaining the tractor used during camp and supporting the overall mission of our WildQuest Camp. Email Miranda Benson if interested and to learn more about our Tractor Driver Volunteer Team.Special Events Team Click to Expand
Special Events
Program Support
Prescott Farm Crafters
Photography
Tractor Driver
Compass Advisory Teams include community members who share a commitment to Prescott Farm’s mission and volunteer their time and expertise in an advisory capacity. The Education Compass Advisory Team includes community members who share a commitment to Prescott Farm’s mission and volunteer their time and expertise in an advisory capacity. The team is primarily tasked with helping to navigate a sustainable future for Prescott Farm by focusing on enhancing our current programs and creating new educational opportunities for the community all while staying on mission. Education CAT members represent an array of professional backgrounds and provide the expertise necessary to help Prescott Farm enhance our current programs by delivering on key goals. The current goals of the Education CAT include: Description coming soon. The Finance & Risk Compass Advisory Team includes community members who share a commitment to Prescott Farm’s mission and volunteer their time and expertise in an advisory capacity. The team is primarily tasked with helping to navigate a sustainable future for Prescott Farm by focusing on the fiscal health of the organization and threats that could compromise its mission and legal standing. Finance & Risk CAT members represent an array of professional backgrounds and provide the expertise necessary to help Prescott Farm mitigate financial risks, compliance and legal risks, internal control and fraud risks, and strategic and reputational risks. Description coming soon.Compass Advisory Teams Click to Expand
Education Team
Learn More!Click Here
Community Team
Finance & Risk Team
Property Team
Our turtle care volunteers help to care for our resident box turtle, Bucky! Bucky is used in multiple programs at Prescott Farm and even travels to local schools to teach children all about turtles. Our volunteers sign up for a weekly care shift to clean Bucky’s tank and feed her. We are not currently accepting volunteer applications for this team, please check back later. Participate in participatory science here at Prescott Farm through NestWatch, a project led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that tracks the reproductive biology of birds. Monitor and track nesting occurrences, clutch sizes, hatching success, and the number of surviving fledglings to help researchers understand how environmental changes and habitat loss affect breeding bird populations. Are you passionate about pollinators and love spending time outdoors? And do you have prior beekeeping experience? Prescott Farm is seeking dedicated volunteer Beekeepers to help manage our onsite apiary. In this role, you will work closely with our team to ensure our honeybee colonies stay healthy, productive, and safe. Your efforts will directly support our vital environmental education programs and local biodiversity. Chickens and goats have been a staple of farm life since humans started farming and they continue to play a large part on many small farms throughout New England. This legacy is carried on here at Prescott Farm through our Chicken and Goat Care Team. Gain first-hand knowledge or put existing experience to work caring for Prescott Farm’s livestock on a weekly basis. Chickens and goats are integrated into our educational programs at every phase of the life cycle. By hatching chicks, feeding chickens our food waste, collecting eggs, and incorporating waste into the compost cycle, we can learn a lot from them!Animal Team Click to Expand
Turtle Care Team
Bird Team
Beekeeping Team
Chicken & Goat Care Team
Prescott Farm can accommodate various group volunteers throughout the year and work individually with each group to best match the needs of our organization and group goals. Previous group volunteers have assisted in seed starting in the gardens, cleaning and organizing our basement, Spring clean-up, stacking wood for maple sugaring programs, and other special projects.Group Volunteer Opportunities Click to Expand
Group Volunteer Opportunities
Have a special skill that you think could contribute to our volunteer program? Let us know!
Prescott Farm is always looking for ways to engage our community. If you have an idea of ways that you, your employer or another group can help out at the Farm, please let us know. Volunteering is a great way to get outdoors and get active.