Volunteers can enhance their outdoor cooking skills by learning techniques and recipes from the 19th century while helping visitors experience this unique program. This demonstration program will involve preparing a simple meal cooked over a small fire with 19th-century stoves and modern firebox stoves. Volunteers will support the 2nd Saturday Cookery activites at the Historic Farm. Each month, the demonstrations will feature different items, but all recipes are from a 19th-century resource - Camp Cookery and Marion Harlan's recipes. These skills can be valuable during power outages, camping trips, hiking excursions, and emergencies. The cooking will take place near the summer kitchen on the historic farm grounds. Volunteers will participate in the upcoming month's meal plan and assist with preparing the current meal.
Program Support Volunteers at the Historic Farm contribute their time and talents, adding an extra layer of engagement to activities and enhancing the visitor experience. Program Support Volunteers are welcome and can participate in various entry-level opportunities to support our programs—typically, no expert knowledge is required. However, volunteers who support the cookery programs should have some culinary experience. This opportunity will focus on a 19th-century interpretive demonstration using recipes from the 1878 cookbook "Camp Cookery."
Impact
Volunteers enable us to accomplish so much more by lending a hand in simple activities, allowing demonstrators to take a break, or talking with the visitors about the activities while allowing the tasks to be completed.
Tasks
- Assist the staff lead with setup and teardown of the program or demonstration.
- Welcome and greet visitors at the activity station
- Gather and distribute materials as needed
- Assist with simple, but essential, culinary tasks
- May assist with documenting the event through photos.
- Encourage volunteerism, and help direct to the website for information
Eligibilit
This opportunity is open to individual long-Term volunteers, ages 18 and up.
- GET STARTED: This opportunity requires Volunteer Onboarding (Profile, Volunteer Handbook Signature, and, for those 18 and up, an eligible background check). Simply click the blue RESPOND button to begin completing the required qualifications, or click here to learn more about becoming a volunteer.
Additional Notes
- Parking & Meeting Instructions: Click here for a map of Carriage Hill MetroPark. Volunteers are scheduled to arrive 30 minutes before the start of the program. Staff leads will orient volunteers to the day's agenda and other important information.
- Environment & Physical Demands: This program takes place outdoors. Volunteers may participate in some bending, kneeling, reaching, and lifting objects to 10 lbs or more. There will be sharp objects and other items that require you to be careful and work safely in a small space.
- Dress: No Period Apparel Required! Volunteers should dress for the weather, wear their MetroParks name badge, and a volunteer vest will be available upon arrival. Please remember to bring leather gloves.
- Visit the Historic Interpreter page in our Training Library to see what training is required to become part of the Historic Interpreter volunteers.
Learn more about the Programming opportunities with us on the Volunteer Position page! Have questions or need help getting started? Contact Volunteer Services at volunteer.services@metroparks.org or #937-275-7275 or join us at a Volunteer Open House.
Want to Branch Out? Exploring multiple opportunities is a great way to stay involved, build n
ew skills, and experience different parts of the parks! Consider this opportunity:
