Meaningful Work | Cultural and Spiritual Life | Life at Camphill
Meaningful Work at Camphill Village:
Camphill Village offers a variety of meaningful work and training options. “Meaningful work” is work that meets real needs and—equally important—offers both the challenge of acquiring new skills and the satisfaction of a job well done.
We practice respect for the workplace, our tools and materials, and for the work itself. Even the smallest task has dignity and value, and contributes to the well-being of others.
Craft Workshops and The Bakery:
Craft workshops in Camphill Village produce items of value and beauty which are used in the community and sold in the Village Green, the Camphill Village Gift Shop.
Villagers and co-workers work side by side making a variety of products including hand-crafted wood toys, trivets and cutting boards; beautiful woven vests, scarves and placemats; 100 percent pure beeswax candles and stained glass.
Our products are available from Nova Natural Toys & Crafts.
Woodworking Workshop
The Wood Shop makes fine toy trucks and blocks suitable for children of every age. Our craftspeople also produce cutting boards, music stands, and furniture for Village houses. Go to Nova Natural Toys & Crafts to purchase our excellent wood products.
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The Bakery
The Bakery produces delicious breads, cookies, pizza and rolls using organic ingredients whenever possible. 
The best part is all bakery items are also available in the new Village Green Cafe, adjacent to the Bakery.
The Weavery
The Weavery recycles plastic bags into durable woven shopping bags. Our weavers also make area rugs from old clothes. Additionally, woven scarves, placemats, napkins, handbags, hats, and other items are created in the workshop and are available in the Gift Shop.
Candle Shop
The Candle workshop makes hand dipped 100% beeswax candles that are available for purchase at our Gift shop and online at Nova Natural Toys & Crafts.
Stained Glass
The Stained Glass workshop accepts commissioned work such as windows for churches and other buildings as well as stained glass designs to hang in your window. These works of art are inspirational and beautiful, and a fine addition to any home.
Agriculture and Land Work:
In Camphill Village we practice sustainable agriculture through biodynamic and organic methods to help bring healing to the earth.
In common with organic methods, biodynamics avoids the use of pesticides, chemicals or hormones and uses such techniques as crop rotation and green manuring. In addition, biodynamics actively seeks to restore vitality to the soil through the use of special compost preparations and timing of sowing and harvesting to planetary rhythms.
The principles and practice of biodynamic agriculture recognize the earth as a living organism in which each farm has its own identity. A biodynamic farm works towards the ideal of becoming a self-sustaining organism, with a 
balance of plants and animals, of pasture, woodlands and tilled fields. These elements work together to nourish and build the soil. Compost is made and nutrients circulate. Wildlife and native landscape are essential elements. All these together build up a farm with individuality and character, a place with a special atmosphere and quality.
Incorporated as a prominent, essential part of Village life, biodynamic agriculture has become more than a method of farming. It has provided a pathway of service to care for and heal the earth.
The Farm:
The Camphill Village farm provides a healing landscape and therapeutic work. The rhythm of work, the cycles of the seasons, the care and attention given the plants and animals, the daily encounter with the wisdom and beauty of nature—all these are healing for body, soul and spirit.
Villagers who have worked on the farm crew for many years have become responsible, dependable farmers. They are proud to consider farming their vocation, and they enjoy a well-deserved special status within the Village.
Turtle Tree Seed:
The mission of Turtle Tree Seed is to preserve genetic diversity in vegetable, herb, grain and flower seeds by growing and distributing biodynamic seed to customers through catalog sales. The seed is grown in Turtle Tree Seed’s gardens in Camphill Village and by 35 other biodynamic growers in the U.S. and Europe. During the winter months a crew of 6 to 8 villagers, co-workers and volunteers from the surrounding community sorts, dries and stores the seed, and then fills orders. You can visit the Turtle Tree Seed website at www.turtletreeseed.com.
Click here for more Turtle Tree Seed info, a Photo Gallery and PowerPoint
T
he Healing Plant:
The mission of The Healing Plant is to bring people and plants closer together. It is a two-acre herb garden and a year-round workshop that provides high quality biodynamically-grown medicinal and culinary herbs and herbal products (teas, ointments, seasonings) to Camphill Village and local customers.
The Estate:
The estate crew works year round keeping the grounds of the Village safe and beautiful. They mow grass, rake leaves, plow snow, weed flower gardens, trim hedges, prune trees—whatever needs care and tending!
Late every winter we tap 700 maple trees, collect sap for processing in the sugar house and produce maple syrup for the Village and for sale in the Gift Shop.
Maple Syruping as Explained by a Villager:
At this time of the year, when life forces are most active in the earth, the sap begins to flow in the trees. Sap is the water, minerals, and oxygen flowing in the trees. The sap rises and falls in the trees -- coming up from the tap root to the warmed branches by day and falling back by night.
The flow is different in different seasons of the year. The tree heals itself gradually after a tap has been drilled, but you can only use a tap for one season. Once sap is collected, the boiling process begins. The maples that we get our syrup from are Sugar Maples.
Click here to view more Sap Collecting Photos.
Click below to learn more about Camphill Village Work.
Meaningful Work | Cultural and Spiritual Life | Life at Camphill