Volunteer Opportunities

Come WWOOF with us!

You and your family can come and learn about raising horses and goats.  Come help with various farm projects like cleaning animal pens, building fences, brushing animals and more.  In exchange, we teach you and offer you free time to enjoy the goats or horses.  Finally, you get free admission to our popular Playtime With Goats tour (see terms and conditions below)!

Be prepared to work and get dirty.  This is not a suitable activity for younger children, and all minors must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times.  If your child is too young to do chores at home, your child is too young for the volunteer program.  Anyone present on the volunteer day should be there to participate; we ask that parents not entertain younger children by visiting animals while the rest of the family works.  This is for your and our and our animals’ safety.

Plan on a half hour meeting and orientation to determine if the volunteer program is a good fit for you.  After that, you schedule a trial work session through wwwoof.  If all goes well, you will be invited into the volunteer program.

We were previously a small sustainable regenerative grazing self-sufficiency agritourism farm. With our move to South Carolina we have scaled back and focused in on our key projects as follows:

-heritage rare Golden Guernsey and Fainting goats

-ancient farming techniques like tree hay, pollarding & coppicing

-natural horse care and riding

-educational agritourism

-internships and teaching

We are currently based on a 250 acre farm, shared with a conventional farmer and a hunting club. Our portion of the farm is managed with sustainable and regenerative principles. Our gardens and rabbits have been moved to our private home. We breed and sell Fainting Goats and Golden Guernsey goats, and offer educational and fun agritourism activities with the goats. In addition, we do very small-scale Arabian horse breeding with some old bloodlines, and focus on humane conscious horsemanship, treating the horses as sentient co-workers while working with the public to teach about horse language and horsemanship. We do not provide housing, but can accommodate someone bringing their own camper/tent, and can suggest nearby campgrounds. Your primary host and teacher will be Carrie Eastman, author of The Energetic Goat and The Healing Of Horses, published by Acres USA. Carrie is a lifelong horsewoman, and has been raising heritage goats for 15 years. Please see the farm website at barakah.farm for the full history of the farm.

Note: You MUST be in the USA to apply, either a citizen or with correct paperwork already in place. We do not offer any paperwork assistance for overseas volunteers.

WHO WE ARE A GOOD FIT FOR: We are looking for volunteers who:

– are motivated and honest

– have a generally positive attitude

– pay attention to detail and can follow directions

– are committed to finishing what they start

– are respectful of others’ views, religion and culture and able to comfortably work with other volunteers and the public

– are willing to learn, and share what they know (every day we try to learn something new)

WHAT WE OFFER: We offer a variety of projects such as short and long term volunteer positions.

Steps to apply:

1) Message us with your plans and goals

2) We will together schedule an in-person, Skype or WhatsApp meeting for further discussion

3) Onsite meeting plus farm tour to discuss details.

4) Join WWOOF USA ($40**) and schedule your trial work project

5) After successful completion of trial project, you are invited into the volunteer program

Organic methods: Our private gardens are being developed upon biointensive agriculture methods along with broader permaculture methods. We practice intensive rotational regenerative grazing for the goats. Paddock/track system for equines. Animals are as chemical-free as is practically possible. We work with goats and horses at the farm, and maintain rabbits and gardens at our nearby private home.

No unaccompanied minors, no pets, service animals by prior arrangements only.

No smoking, drinking, drugs, music (for safety reasons, earbuds are not a workaround), profanity. No strong perfume or aftershave.

We prefer modest dress.  We ask that tops cover the shoulders, shorts reach the knees, no bare midriffs. If you wear leggings, riding breeches, or bike shorts please wear an untucked top long enough to reach your thighs.  No political/social statements on your clothing please.  If volunteer time overlaps with a booked tour, the modest dress requirement becomes mandatory.

*Terms and conditions for free admission to Playtime With Goats:  You must have successfully completed the trial work project to earn free admission for 2 people to an already-booked session with open seats.  Confirmed volunteers earn additional admission for up to 4 people every quarter.  Admission is good for already-booked sessions with open seats.  To attend your volunteer Playtime With Goats tour, you must still book via AirBnB Animal Experiences and will receive a full admission rebate, minus any mandatory AirBnB fees that cannot be rebated.  Typical tour value starts at $39 plus fees.

.**WWOOF USA charges $40 to join for a year.  This fee covers liability insurance and basic security.  Your WWOOF membership is offset by the value of the free admission to Playtime With Goats.