- How do I get to the farm?
- What's on U-Pick?
- How do I join the CSA?
- How can I get a job with Clagett?
- Can I get a tour of the farm?
- How can I volunteer or do a workshare?
- Can I bring my dogs to the farm?
- Can I throw a wedding at the farm?
- Can the CSA deliver to my workplace?
How Do I Get to the Farm?
Here are directions to Clagett Farm, 11904 Old Marlboro Pike, Upper Marlboro MD 20772
- FROM 395 OR 295 IN D.C.: From 395 North, follow signs onto 295 South. Take exit 3A onto Suitland Parkway. After 9 miles, turn right onto Route 4 South (Pennsylvania Ave). Continue 5 miles. Take the exit on your left Ritchie Marlboro Rd. At the stop sign turn left, and then at your first stop light, turn left onto Old Marlboro Pike. The farm is one mile down the road on your right. Look for the sign “Clagett Farm; Chesapeake Bay Foundation”.
- FROM 495: Take exit 11A, Route 4 South (which is Pennsylvania Ave. running out of SE DC) and continue 5.7 miles. (DO NOT take the Old Marlboro Pike exit from Route 4.) Take the exit on your left Ritchie Marlboro Rd. At the stop sign turn left, and then at your first stop light, turn left onto Old Marlboro Pike. The farm is one mile down the road on your right. Look for the sign “Clagett Farm; Chesapeake Bay Foundation”.
- FROM BALTIMORE AND POINTS NORTH AND EAST: Take Route 301 south and then Rte. 4 north (towards Washington) for 2 miles. Take the Ritchie Marlboro Road exit. At your first stop light, turn left onto Old Marlboro Pike. The farm is one mile down the road on your right. Look for the sign “Clagett Farm; Chesapeake Bay Foundation”.
- ONCE ON THE FARM: Follow the drive around to the first fork and turn left. Pass the barns on your right and park at the top of the hill; a shed will be on your left and a large field with a greenhouse will be in front of your parked car. Please turn around and walk to the washing station directly behind you (opposite direction of the field) to pick up your share.
What's on U-Pick?
You can check our latest Share Updates for information about u-pick at the farm.
How do I join the CSA?
Click here to sign up for notification when we begin signing up new members for 2014.
January and February we allow our returning members to renew their memberships for the coming season. On one day in March, we will sign up new members. If you have told us you are interested in becoming a new member, we will send you an e-mail in January telling you when the new member sign-up day will be, and in March we will remind you that the day is approaching, and tell you which web site to enter your information. If you sign up in time, and you are one of the lucky new members, we will then ask you to pay for your share.
You can find details about what it means to be a "shareholder" in our vegetable CSA by visiting www.cbf.org/csa.
How can I get a job with Clagett?
Send us an e-mail to clagettfarm@cbf.org telling us you are interested in working here at our farm. We begin interviews each year in February and hire people to work from March, April or May through October or November. Once we have hired our team for the season, we do not normally have more job openings until the following year.
We pay $10/hour for first year staff, and we have both part-time and full-time positions. We do not offer housing. We highly recommend that anyone interested in working here should try their hand as a worksharer or volunteer first. And tell us while you're here that you might apply to work here the following season. We appreciate having the chance to get to know someone in the field before we hire them, so people who have worked with us in the past get special preference when we are hiring.
Can I get a tour of the farm?
Thanks for your interest in taking a tour of the farm. Here are your options:
- The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has an exceptional educational field trip program, and one of their sites is our farm. You can check out www.cbf.org/programs for details, or contact the coordinator at Educationcoordinator@cbf.org or 301-261-2350.
- We can take groups of motivated adults and/or kids to volunteer, and we are happy to give a 15-minute introduction about the farm before we begin. The focus of the experience is on helping us with whatever hot, dirty work we’re doing, and it’s absolutely free. We take groups of up to 30 people. Check out www.cbf.org/csa-volunteer for more information, or call 301-537-3038 to schedule.
- We offer a hayride tour of the farm for $100 that lasts 45-minutes to one hour. The hay wagon can take up to 30 people. We can give tours Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Call 301-537-3038 to schedule.
How can I volunteer or do a workshare?
Below is some general information about volunteering and working for produce.
Clagett Farm offers volunteer opportunities predominately during the spring, summer and fall months. We accept individuals Monday - Saturday and groups Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from approximately 9AM -3PM. If you or your group would like to schedule a trip outside of the days and hours mentioned, please call us to see if we can make an exception. To schedule a specific date and time to come out to the farm please call (301) 537-3038. That is the cell phone number carried by staff in the field at Clagett Farm.
Clagett offers a workshare program to individual adults who may exchange four hours of farm work for one portion of our harvest. This program is not available to minors or groups, and cannot count towards any community service hour requirements. If you have questions or would like to sign up for a morning of work, please call the farm staff at (301) 537-3038.
In addition to volunteering, we also offer educational hayride tours of the farm Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 9AM -3PM. Tours typically last between 45 minutes and 1 hour, and cost $100. This is a great option for groups looking to learn about what we do at Clagett without getting too dirty or sweaty.
Send us an e-mail to request the Volunteer Information Packet, which includes information that all volunteers in a group will need prior to arriving at the farm: information about what we do, what to wear, what to bring, rules, directions to the farm, and the Health Form. The health form should be completed prior to arriving at the farm; you can hand it in to a staff member when you arrive on the farm. Minors must have a guardian fill out the form on their behalf. If necessary, adults may fill out the form when they get here.
Volunteering is hard work and can include any number of labor intensive tasks, for example: weeding, mulching, transplanting, harvesting, working in a greenhouse, etc. Please be prepared for the weather conditions by dressing appropriately.
Volunteers make it possible for us to donate 40-50% of our harvest to people of low-income--thank you for your interest! If you have more specific questions about our programs or Clagett Farm, please call the number above. Hope to see you on the farm!
Can I bring my dogs to the farm?
Dogs are welcome on the farm. Our preference is that you keep your dog on a leash whenever you are near food, other people (since some are afraid of dogs), or other dogs. Also, the washing station can get crowded on pick-up days, so it’s better to pick up your food first, leave the food in your car, and then take out the dog for playtime. Dogs are never, ever allowed in the herb beds or vegetable fields.
There’s always plenty of pasture where a dog can run around off a leash and have fun. The electric fences are only turned on around the pastures where the herd is grazing on a given day. Incidentally, if you bring a dog near the cows, the cows will walk briskly toward the dog and chase it out of the pasture to protect their calves. No one ever seems to get hurt in these encounters, but usually the dog is pretty intimidated.
Can I throw a wedding at the farm?
Congratulations!
We have a lovely view but imperfect facilities for a wedding. There’s a nice big barn and some reasonably flat area around it in the middle of the farm. But there is no power or water there. So you should consider what you might need to rent:
- Generator (for lights and music)
- Tent? (depending on how many guests you have, there’s a good chance the whole event won’t fit into one barn)
- Lights (unless it’s all during the day)
- Tables
- Chairs
- Tablecloths?
- Dishes?
- Untensils?
- Toilets? (we only have two rather un-festive porta-johns there)
- Dance floor (or make your own)?
We have a cooler with limited space, and plenty of water up at the washing station.
We have no restrictions about which caterers you use.
Most people will be expected to trek through some grass, at minimum, to get to wherever you want to hold the party. So this has to be a rustic event.
We charge a fee of $2,000. The money is used entirely to help us donate more food to low-income families and soup kitchens.
We would require that you purchase event insurance, which you can get it through a homeowners insurance policy if you have one of those.
We would clean the area before your event and allow you to set up the area ahead of time, but you would be in charge of everything else.
Saturday afternoons until 4:30pm between May and November are a really difficult time for us to have events, since that is when our members are here to pick up their share.
We hope that gives you some things to think about. Let us know if you’re still interested.
Can the CSA deliver to my workplace?
No, we only offer two locations for pick-up: Dupont Circle on Wednesdays and at the farm on Wednesdays or Saturdays.
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