Volunteer vision
Many hands, light work
If the garden goes ahead, volunteers would do much of the day-to-day care, alongside a faculty advisor, a program home, and Facilities or a grounds contractor.
Possible roles and quick guides
Each role would have a quick guide that fits on one screen: what you do, who can do it, the training, the safety rules, the shift, what “done” looks like, and who to ask.
- Open role: Anyone could start after a short welcome and safety briefing, plus anything the university’s own rules require.
- Trained: For people who have finished a short training for the role.
- Qualified: Licensed or certified staff of the responsible employer. Machine mowing and any power tools would stay with Facilities or its grounds contractor.
Safety comes first in every role. Food handling would follow a named, qualified food-safety lead and the written food-safety protocol. On hot days, no one would work alone, and there would be water and shade.
Bed stewards
Open role
Care for a raised bed or row through a season: watering, weeding, harvesting.
Quick guide for Bed stewards
- What you do
- You would look after one raised bed or row: watering, weeding, and picking with a harvest & safety lead.
- Who can do it
- Anyone, within the university’s rules for volunteers.
- Training
- A short welcome and safety briefing on your first day.
- Safety
- Hand tools only. Machine mowing and any power tools would stay with Facilities or its grounds contractor.
- Wash your hands after work and before eating.
- On hot days, no one would work alone, and there would be water and shade.
- Shift
- 2 hours at most, outdoors.
- What “done” looks like
- The bed is weeded and watered, the tools are clean and put back, and anything the next person should know is passed on.
- Who to ask
- The garden coordinator, once there is one.
Meadow keepers
Open role
Help with seeding, edge mowing support, invasive-plant removal and seed collecting.
Quick guide for Meadow keepers
- What you do
- You would care for the meadow by hand: sowing seed, pulling invasive plants, collecting seed and marking edges before Facilities or its grounds contractor mows.
- Who can do it
- Anyone, within the university’s rules for volunteers.
- Training
- The welcome briefing, plus a short walk to learn which plants to pull and which to keep.
- Safety
- Hand tools only. Machine mowing and any power tools would stay with Facilities or its grounds contractor.
- Gloves, long sleeves and closed shoes. Check for ticks afterwards.
- Pull only plants you were shown. Some, such as wild parsnip and poison ivy, can burn or irritate skin.
- On hot days, no one would work alone, and there would be water and shade.
- Shift
- 2 hours at most, outdoors.
- What “done” looks like
- Your patch is sown or cleared, pulled plants are bagged, and the edge markers are in place.
- Who to ask
- The garden coordinator, once there is one.
Monitors
Trained
Run pollinator counts, bird surveys and iNaturalist observations.
Quick guide for Monitors
- What you do
- You would count pollinators or birds along a set route, or add observations to iNaturalist, the same way each time.
- Who can do it
- Trained: anyone who has done the short session on the counting method.
- Training
- A short session on the counting method and how to fill in the record sheet.
- Safety
- Stay on the paths, and don’t handle animals or nests.
- Take photos of plants and animals, not people.
- On hot days, no one would work alone, and there would be water and shade.
- Shift
- 2 hours at most, outdoors.
- What “done” looks like
- The count is finished for its set place and time, and the record sheet is filled in and handed in.
- Who to ask
- The garden coordinator, once there is one.
Guides & educators
Trained
Lead short tours and help with outdoor classes and interpretive signs.
Quick guide for Guides & educators
- What you do
- You would lead short tours and help with outdoor classes, using the garden’s signs and facts.
- Who can do it
- Trained: anyone who has done guide training.
- Training
- Guide training: the route, the key facts, and what to do if someone is hurt or lost.
- Safety
- Keep groups on accessible paths, and know where the nearest water and restrooms are.
- Follow the university’s rules on working with minors.
- On hot days, no one would work alone, and there would be water and shade.
- Shift
- 2 hours at most, outdoors.
- What “done” looks like
- The group is back where it started, on time, and any question you couldn’t answer is passed on.
- Who to ask
- The garden coordinator, once there is one.
Harvest & safety leads
Trained
Keep the harvest log and follow the food-safety protocol, if a sharing program goes ahead.
Quick guide for Harvest & safety leads
- What you do
- If a sharing program goes ahead, you would lead the picking, keep the harvest log and make sure food is handled safely.
- Who can do it
- Trained: anyone who has done food-safety training, a supervised first session and a sign-off.
- Training
- Food-safety training, then a supervised first session and a sign-off.
- Safety
- Food handling would follow a named, qualified food-safety lead and the written food-safety protocol, every time.
- Clean hands and clean containers, and food labelled and kept cool.
- On hot days, no one would work alone, and there would be water and shade.
- Shift
- 2 hours at most, outdoors.
- What “done” looks like
- The harvest is logged, labelled and stored the way the protocol says, and the area is clean.
- Who to ask
- The garden coordinator, once there is one.
Compost crew
Open role
Turn and monitor the enclosed bins and keep the yard tidy and rodent-proof.
Quick guide for Compost crew
- What you do
- You would turn and check the enclosed compost bins, and keep the compost yard tidy and rodent-proof.
- Who can do it
- Anyone, within the university’s rules for volunteers.
- Training
- The welcome briefing, plus someone showing you how to turn a bin safely.
- Safety
- Gloves and closed shoes. Lift and turn with care.
- Put in only the materials listed on the bin’s sign.
- On hot days, no one would work alone, and there would be water and shade.
- Shift
- 2 hours at most, outdoors.
- What “done” looks like
- The bins are turned or checked, the lids are shut, and the yard is tidy.
- Who to ask
- The garden coordinator, once there is one.
Quests, paths and badges
The work could feel a little like a game. These are examples only.
Quests
A task would show as a quest, with a clear goal, place and time.
- Weed and water bed 3 before noon.
- Count bees along the meadow edge on Saturday morning.
- Turn compost bin 2 on Tuesday afternoon, then shut the lid.
Paths
Training would unlock new roles, one step at a time.
- Bed steward → food-safety training, a supervised first session and a sign-off → harvest & safety lead
- Meadow keeper → counting-method session → monitor
- Any open role → guide training → guide & educator
Badges
Badges would mark finishing, learning and helping others.
- Finishing: Cared for a bed through a whole season.
- Learning: Finished a training, such as food safety.
- Helping others: Showed a new volunteer how things work.
Fair play
- Nothing would reward hours worked, speed on safety-critical work, or risk-taking.
- Any leaderboards would be seasonal and by category, such as quests finished or help given, set by each project. People would choose whether to appear.
- Volunteer shifts would last 2 hours at most. No one would work more than 10 hours a day across all projects, plus at most 2 bonus hours a week. Lower limits from law or employers would always win.
- Safety rules are never a challenge.
If the garden goes ahead, joining could happen through Project OS, a shared coordination system that is also in its planning phase, but only after the university’s written authorization and a privacy review. There is nothing to sign up for yet.
Who would do what (proposed)
- Student garden club + faculty advisor
- Beds, harvest, volunteer days, monitoring.
- Program home
- For example the Office of Sustainability, which manages the existing Lehigh Community Garden with a gardener steering committee: scheduling, volunteers, outreach.
- Facilities / grounds contractor
- Mowing edges and trails, hardscape, water tie-in; snow clearing of the loop or a seasonal closure.
- Paid summer intern(s)
- Cover the summer break.
- Pests
- Deer fence, enclosed rodent-resistant compost (no meat or dairy), integrated pest management.
- Winter
- Meadow left standing until a late-winter mow; season extension in the high tunnel.
This split is a proposal for discussion. Who sponsors, owns and maintains the garden is a decision for the university.
Idea: choosing and switching roles
The idea is that people would choose how they take part, and could change roles whenever they like. Nobody would be ranked against anyone else.
- Many roles would need no special training: a short welcome and safety briefing on the first day, plus anything the university's own rules require, and then people could start.
- A few roles would carry more responsibility, such as handling food to be shared, if a sharing program ever starts. These would need training, a supervised first session and a sign-off. Machine mowing and any power tools would stay with Facilities or its grounds contractor.
- Discoveries: what people observe and learn, such as species seen and which crops grew well, could be recorded and shared. Soil test results would be shared only if the university agrees.
- Hours and credit: hours could be logged from confirmed check-ins and shown to each volunteer, but never ranked or used for prizes. People who contribute would be credited by name and role, in the way each person chooses, or not at all.
None of this exists yet. This website has no accounts and records nothing. Any sign-up or tracking would need written university authorization and a privacy review first.
How volunteering would work
- Volunteers would follow the university's policies on safety, insurance and working with minors, as set by the university.
- Paid summer intern(s) are proposed to cover the summer break, if funding is found, so the garden would rely less on volunteers over the summer.
- Raised beds, wide paths and adaptive tools so people of all abilities can take part.
- Flexible shifts and clear tasks, so an hour helps.
- A later idea, not in the plan PDF: shifts would be short and outdoors, 2 hours at most.
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