Year-round farm is a 20 acre peri-urban organic farm 4 miles north of Springfield, in SW MO. We have a diverse operation, including seasonal pigs, 6,000 s.f. greenhouse, 5,000 s.f. of solar heated hoop houses, 3 acres of vegetables, a wood-fired pizza oven, an orchard, forest, ponds, flowers, etc.. The farm is managed organically, meaning we focus on soil health, using compost, cover crops, and manure as our primary fertility sources, and avoid the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
Our farm is located close enough to a metropolitan area that we get to host many tours a year, from beginning farmers to preschools, and education is a big part of the reason we do what we do. We believe that it's important for eaters to re-connect with the source of their food, and that's what we're here for.
We sell our produce through our 100+ member Community Supported Agriculture program, an on-farm market, FMO- our farmers market, and a weekly pizza night.
We have a large and busy family with 10 kids. Community is also a big part of what we do here on the farm; at any given time we have at least 3 families living on the farm, and we hope in the long term to have at least 4 families in full-time residency. In addition to these permanent residents, we host a number of guest workers and volunteers through the season, including WWOOFers from all over the world, interns and apprentices, and daily volunteers from the Springfield metro area. Our community pizza nights are also part of the way we foster community, by having up to 150 people out to the farm to eat, socialize, enjoy the farm, and get to know each other. This tends to be a focal point here week to week. Live local music really brings it all together.
We are currently working on many projects involving a 45 member winter CSA and several farmers markets, along with seeding, transplanting, weeding and pest control. Animal care includes feeding, watering, fencing, butchering (poultry), and record keeping. Construction and tractor work include construction of a hoop house, field renovation, cutting firewood, clearing trees, orchard planting, and animal housing. Marketing involves our CSA (community supported agriculture) program, our on-farm produce stand, and several farmers markets a week.
We have a green "Tiny House" on farm that functions as an Air BnB. We are always working on high tunnels, low tunnels or green houses. We expect WWOOfers to work with us a minimum of 6 hours per day, 5 days a week. We also put on farm-to-table pizza dinners. We have a number of housing situations, long-term apprentice housing is in the "Stuga", a small cabin with full facilities, near the main farm house. Summer housing is in the "Chateau", a two bedroom shack in the woods, with no electricity or running water. The kitchen, laundry, and bath are in the community space of the farm house.
Breakfast and supper are on your own, with full access to the farm house pantry, freezers, etc. Lunch is shared at the farm house, eating with our farm community. On occasion wwoofers have stayed in a hammock in the woods, in a tent, or even in a travel trailer. Couples and families are welcome, depending on housing availability.
We take WWOOFers year round, and love having you stay, learn and work. We have learned so much from our WWOOFers, it is a delight to think back at all the wonderful people we have gotten to know through this.
We can pick you up, locally at the greyhound, or we have had a few hitch hikers which we have picked up where ever they had gotten dropped off.
Our longest woofer family has been with us for about 2 years, and the shortest stay has been a few days, we find that 2 weeks gives you a chance to really understand what we are doing here, but we are flexible; before we farmed we loved to travel, now we love that the world comes to us through our wwoofers! We speak English.
There is a cave that give tours within walking distance, a couple of lakes, we have been known to take volunteers with us camping or canoeing, and you get to experience life in the Ozarks with the Millsap's. We have a bike available if you want to ride in the area. If you need a special diet, please let us know before you come and we will try and accommodate. The # of wwoofers at a time depends of housing, but we love hosting you, and love what you bring to our family and community. Apprenticeships or internships are also a possibility, check out our apprentice program at www.ozarkscraft.wordpress.com
Check out our video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5jf-lGH3HI&list=PLIvvsYkwPjbbFgTEi_b4gC6pgtXAytRqq
Organic methods: We grow 2 acres of vegetables using intensive production methods; we are minimum tillage, heavy compost application,
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Pig farming
Flower farming
Seed saving or production
Methods or systems
Holistic management
No-till farming
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Production farm
19
Hectares
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47
Acres
