Therapy-Work Barter-Let's Learn from Each Other

Valley Brook Farms Therapy and/or Work Barter Program

• Do you enjoy being around animals?
• Do you believe that the outside of an animal is good for the inside of a person?
• Do you enjoy being outdoors?
• Are you looking for an outlet for your anxious energy?
• Would you like to learn more about livestock, farming or gardening?
• Like most things in life, you get what you put into it.
• Are you are an eager-beaver, teachable, honest, dependable, perseverant and not afraid of hard work we'd love to meet you!

 
Can you provide the following:

• Desire, boots or enclosed shoes (preferably only to be worn at our farm) [keep in mind if it rains we have lots of mud] as well as work clothes, work gloves & own lunch 

 
We can accommodate flexible work hours, so contact us today to find out more or schedule an interview.We'll coordinate a schedule that'd work for both of us. There's always lots to be done. If you're not familiar with the "task", it takes time to show you how it's done. 
Contact us to schedule a day & time to help: If you have to cancel, please call or email us to let us know!
 
Each situation will be arranged individually.
If you would like to garden in exchange for produce, super.
If you would like to tend livestock in exchange for eggs, or livestock wonderful.
If you would just like to spend time unwinding, you could try socializing and grooming animals, that is great too.
If you would like to work for hay to feed your animals that works also.
Possibilities are unlimited.
 
 What are the Choices of Work to Do?

• Sowing seeds, transplanting, watering, weeding, mulching, harvesting,
• Daily Farm Chores - food/fresh water, collecting & washing eggs, cleaning barn, cleaning barn yard, grooming animals, cleaning buckets, tanks and feeders
• Farm Maintenance - painting, fixing fences or aviary netting, re-seeding grass paddocks, repairing buildings, etc
• Plowing, planting, making hay,

 
Learn all aspects of handling, husbandry and care of the following livestock:
Alpaca, cattle, sheep, poultry, goats, pigs, llama, camel and yaks
 
What Do You Get in Exchange for your Volunteer Work?

• you learn hard-work, valuable life skills and teamwork.
• Second, you're surrounded by nature and animals, learning how to grow your own food.
  
• Third, you will receive either a discount or free farm "products", based on the hours worked 

In addition to hands-on training in small-scale farming, gardening or livestock husbandry you could receive:

1. Produce from the garden
2. Eggs for eating
3. Vegetables, herbs, fresh-picked flowers
4. Compost for your own garden - required to help bag the said compost (or delivery with enough hours "credit" or $2/mile)
5. Hatching eggs or chicks
6. Started pullets, laying hens, lambs, piglets, ponies or other livestock
7. Hay to feed you livestock

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For 4-H groups, families with children, or a group for community service, we can also accommodate them with various age-appropriate tasks and educational hands-on programs.
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If interested, please send us an email: [email protected]
 

Who are we and why should you think you might be able to learn from us
 
Kevin Burnside
35 years as manager of the NY division of the world famous Southwind Farms Standardbred nursery.  Two years as caretaker of Valley Brook Farms.
Kevin has experience as a leader of a crew at Southwind Farms.  He can utilize tractors and all sorts of farm equipment.  He typically put up 10000 square bales of top quality grass hay for the future race horses in our care. In 2016 he put up 900 round bales.  He was the top shipper of the horses for Southwind Farms.  He is also an accomplished carpenter and built many of the buildings on the NY farm.

Laura Burnside
Laura has an AAS degree in equine science with a Standardbred tilt, from SUNY Morrisville.  For over 35 years she produced world class yearlings which were sold by Southwind Farms.  Although she no longer rides, Laura does enjoy driving horses.  In addition to horses Laura started and co-owned Jacob sheep as part of the Southwind Farms Jacob Sheep flock since 1989.  This flock sold sheep all over the US and into Canada.  Laura was instrumental in helping to bring Golden Guernsey Goats to the US in 1998.  She developed and co-owned the Swind flock of Golden Guernsey goats while also raising Boer, fainting and pygmy goats.  Southwind Farms always had beef cattle as well including at one point being certified organic in the 1980s and early 1990’s.   We had up to 120 head of beef at one time and also concentrated on purebred polled Hereford cattle, which we dabbled at showing.  Laura served as VP of the NY Hereford Assoc. during this time period.   We also did some grass fed beef with Scottish Highlands.

In 2008 the focus at Southwind Farms, NY switched to food production.  As part of this new focus Laura developed an on farm store as well as flocks of poultry for both meat and egg production.  The store was used to sell farm produced beef, chicken, quail, pheasant, turkey, lamb, goat, rabbit, pork, (aquaponic) tilapia, and more.  We also sold greenhouse and farm raised, sprouts, greens, tomatoes cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, asparagus, and much more.  All of this as well as the supervision of all the livestock fell under Laura’s direction.  Laura also took care of the marketing and advertising, attending the local farmers market and much more.  There is a lot in there if you would like to pick our brains.