Thanks for your interest in volunteering!

We welcome volunteers to help us fulfill the Silverwood mission.

Volunteers are the foundation of the Friends of Silverwood Park. They care about the land, our community, and being of service. Everything we’ve been able to accomplish is due to volunteer efforts. If you are a volunteer, I give great thanks for your support! I invite others who are interested in Silverwood and our mission to join our team. You’ll find much of what you need to get started here and on our announcements page. Please join us, we’d love to have you!

– Sarah Barlow, volunteer coordinator

Contact Sarah at

volunteer@silverwoodpark.org

See our Announcements page for up-to-date volunteer opportunities and upcoming workdays.

Stay in the loop! To sign up for our e-letters, where we announce volunteer opportunities, and other fun happenings at the park, click here.

Ready to get started?

Fill out and return our application, and Dane County Parks waiver to volunteer@silverwoodpark.org
Create your account at Track It Forward, our volunteer management platform. Click here to get started.
Attend an upcoming volunteer orientation.

Immediate volunteer needs:

Spade the edges of our pollinator demonstration garden, then add mulch to minimize encroaching weeds
Use a weedeater 1-2 times/week in our tasting orchard near the parking lot
Use a push mower on our labyrinth (between the South Shed and Pig Barn) 1-2 times/week
Water and weed our herb garden, and/or planters
Labeling species of plants in our pollinator demonstration garden

Ongoing Opportunities

Organic gardening – grow health food
Invasive species management – diversify the park’s species
Oak savanna restoration – assist with conservation
Farmstead buildings cleaning & maintenance – make the park look good
Friends of Silverwood Board membership – help us steer the park

View or download the Volunteer Handbook here.

We hope to see you at the park soon!

This is a picture of three Silverwood Park volunteers at a public event.

Friends of Silverwood Park volunteers staff the Information Table for a public event.

Volunteer Spotlight

A big thank you to all our volunteers who helped during this year’s Mushroom Inoculating Workshop!

Over the two weeks in April, we sold over 100 logs, and raised over $1,000. These funds will support the Friends of Silverwood Park in embodying our mission of education and regenerative agriculture.

We couldn’t have accomplished this without the help of each of our volunteers. Hearty thanks to Rita Fox who coordinated this event without whom this fun learning experience would not have been possible. The oak savanna restoration team got the ball rolling in the winter by cutting, and then later bringing in the logs that would be used from the woods to the north shed. Local mushroom experts Tom Northey and Ingrid West shared so much of their knowledge, experience, and goodies to help us all learn more about growing our own shiitake and oyster mushrooms. We are also so grateful for the volunteers who helped customers pre-inoculate logs, set up and cleaned up the event. We hope you all had fun!

First, logs are cut and seasoned over winter…

In preparation for the workshop, volunteers bring the logs to the North Shed.

At the workshop, Tom Northey teaches how to inoculate a log.

Participants have fun while investing in “mushroom futures”!

I would especially like to shine a light on volunteer Tom Northey, who not only helped and taught during every day of the workshop, but also donated all of the mushroom spawn, wax, many logs, as well as fresh shiitakes, and maple pecan ice cream with morel and bacon topping for volunteers to enjoy. Tom Northey, your generosity is so appreciated and made for such a delightful experience!

We hope you all will consider volunteering with us again for future mushroom workshops!

Did you miss out on getting an inoculated log during the workshop? There are still pre-inoculated logs available for purchase for $25-30/log. Reach out to Rita Fox and she’ll get you set up.