Depending on the time of year, we’ll be weeding, preparing beds for planting, harvesting food for local food banks, caring for natural areas and more! No experience necessary, and gloves and tools provided.
Learn by doing as you work alongside Tilth Alliance’s staff and other community members at one of our garden locations at the Good Shepherd Center in North Seattle, Bradner Gardens and Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands in South Seattle or at McAuliffe Park in Kirkland. Volunteer opportunities are tailored for each site.
The Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle 98103
During weekly work parties, small groups of volunteers help to prepare and maintain annual and perennial garden beds, tend to fruit trees, harvest produce, weed and mulch this special community learning garden in Wallingford, adjacent to Meridian Playground and just beyond our Children’s Learning Garden.
Community Volunteer Work Parties
Children’s Garden Work Parties
The Children’s Learning Garden at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford features perennial beds with native, edible, and pollinator-friendly plants; fruit trees; annual beds with rotating crops; and container gardens.
Help with the projects of the day: planting, weeding, digging, mulching, watering, harvesting, pathway maintenance, compost bin maintenance, garden bed design and preparation, and trellis building! All ages and skill levels welcome: learn by doing!
If you would like to volunteer in the Children’s Garden with our Natural Yard Care team but don’t see a shift that works for you, please email Melissa at melissamcginn@tilthalliance.org. Availability on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays; 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands
5513 S Cloverdale St, Seattle 98118
During weekly and monthly work parties, groups of volunteers help with a wide variety of projects at Seattle’s largest urban farm. This unique location provides opportunities to tend native and beneficial plants on the Pollinator Hillside, plant and harvest crops in the production farm and U-Pick areas, remove aggressive plant species in the wetlands, tend to the children’s garden, and lend a hand in the greenhouses.
Volunteer work parties are held year-round, typically on Fridays and two Saturdays each month. The Dandelion Club is a monthly Saturday volunteer opportunity for all experience levels to learn about, weed, prune and harvest medicine plants. During the height of the growing season, additional weekday work parties help us keep up with the harvest. Check here for additional pop-up work parties and special events at the farm!
Community Volunteer Work Parties
Learn by doing as you gain hands-on experience related to urban agriculture and environmental stewardship.
Youth & Families Work Party
Spring is upon us, and we’d like to welcome children and youth of all ages to join us for Youth and Families work parties on the first and third Fridays of the month at Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands. We will tend the garden and steward the land while engaging in a variety of playful activities such as arts, crafts and food. Bring a snack and water. We welcome youth volunteers and children with their families.
Youth ages 13 and older are welcome to attend on their own. Youth ages 12 and younger with supervision.
Bradner Gardens Park
1730 Bradner Pl S, Seattle 98144
Tilth Alliance’s learning garden at Bradner Gardens Park features annual and perennial plants grown in raised beds and swale gardens. Weekly volunteer opportunities are scheduled during the growing season, roughly April-October, with a limited number of spots available each week. Many volunteers at this location return on a regular basis, forming a crew that works throughout the season, but one-time volunteers are welcome. Please contact us to get connected with staff and schedule your first volunteer shift.
McAuliffe Park
10824 NE 116th St, Kirkland 98034
Several organizations partner in their work at McAuliffe Park, which features historic buildings, a community P-Patch, and an urban forest. Tilth Alliance’s community learning garden features gardens built using permaculture design principles, a rain garden and cistern and a composting area. Small groups of Tilth Alliance volunteers tend to annual vegetable crops and perennial plantings, learning how to grow food, harvest rainwater and conserve water and other resources. Weekly volunteer opportunities are scheduled during the growing season, roughly April-October. Check here for additional pop-up work parties during the fall and winter.