Builder Series: NEFOC x The Underground Center

 Natural Building Builder Series | Spring 2026

NEFOC will sponsor a Natural Building Builder Series workshop to equip the NEFOC Network with practical construction skills and help close the housing gap in our agricultural and community spaces.

We’re now accepting applications for a hands-on natural building construction training in Saugerties, NY and Ancram, NY, running from Memorial Day Weekend through June 2026.

Apply by April 11, 2026 | Register for Virtual Info Session (March 20, 6:00–6:45 PM)

Apply Here
 
 
 

Build Skills. Build Housing. Build Community.

This immersive experience is designed for farmers, land stewards, and community builders who want to learn by doing, gaining skills to create sustainable, affordable housing and resilient spaces that strengthen our collective future.

 

Purpose + Context

To address the housing crisis facing our communities, farmers, and land stewards, UALP is practicing alternative housing arrangements, housing structures, and building techniques that prioritizes non-transactional care of the community and the land. In 2025, our paths crossed with The Underground Center and felt kinship in the shared vision for alternative pathways. We attended various building workshops that gave us the opportunity to practice the gift of learning, skill-sharing, housing, and community.  As we bring the vision of UALP further into fruition during tumultuous times, we are hosting a natural building series to offer free sustainable building skills while helping build real infrastructure that is helpful to UALP land stewards and the community. This structure will initially house UALP land stewards as they build out their community subsistence farm and additional off-grid sustainable community infrastructures. This structure will also be used to house community members in the future.

 

Why Natural Building, Why Now

  • Practical construction training for land-based communities

  • Affordable, durable housing solutions that support long-term stewardship

  • Sustainable building techniques and materials promote personal and ecosystem health and well-being

  • Strengthening shared capacity across the NEFOC Network

Info Session

Friday, March 20 | 6:00–6:45 PM

Register for Info Session
 

What You’ll Learn

  • Basic carpentry and construction skills

  • Design and sustainability principles

  • Teamwork, safety, and site management

 

What NEFOC Provides

  • All building materials and safety gear

  • Shared meals

  • Tents and sleeping bags

Eligibility + Commitment

  • Must be a NEFOC network member for at least 6 months

  • Must commit to all three weekends

  • Must be able to camp outdoors

  • Workdays run 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Saturday & Sunday)

    Weekend blocks

    Weekend 1 — Saugerties, NY | May 22–25, 2026 - Camping outdoors

    • Friday, May 22: Arrival

    • Saturday–Sunday, May 23–24: Workdays

    • Monday, May 25: Depart

    Weekend 2 — Ancram, NY | June 5–8, 2026 – Housing Accommodations Available 

    • Friday, June 5: Arrival

    • Saturday–Sunday, June 6–7: Workdays

    • Monday, June 8: Depart

    Weekend 3 — Ancram, NY | June 19–22, 2026 – Housing Accommodations Available 

    • Friday, June 19: Arrival

    • Saturday–Sunday, June 20–21: Workdays

    • Monday, June 22: Depart

    • Clothing & Footwear

      • Comfortable clothing for warm days and cooler evenings (layers recommended)

      • Work clothes that you can move in and don’t mind getting dirty

      • Light jacket or warm layer for evenings

      • Comfortable clothes for relaxing after workdays

      • Sleepwear

      • Underwear

      • Warm socks

      • Shorts and/or pants

      • Optional: hiking clothes and hiking shoes

    • Bathroom & Personal Care

      • Towel and washcloth

      • Toiletries (eco-compatible products encouraged)

      • Personal medications (if needed)

      • Contacts / contact solution or glasses

    • Camping & Personal Items

      • Tent (if bringing your own)

      • Flashlight or headlamp

      • Reusable water bottle

      • Ear plugs or sleep mask (optional but recommended)

    • Personal & Community Items

      • Notebook or journal

      • Pen or pencil

      • Book, craft, or small activity for evening downtime

      • Snacks or specific food items you may need (in sealed containers)

 
 

Meet Our Partners

The Underground Center

The Underground Center (UGC) is an educational non-profit dedicated to addressing issues of environmental and economic justice through the creation of collectively managed sustainable infrastructure. We are creating localized food systems, housing systems and models of land use that do not depend on exploiting people or the land we use to meet our needs. We train economically disadvantaged people, prioritizing youth to become leaders through skill-building, education and community organizing. Our work addresses immediate food and housing needs, while training people to create long term alternative economies to meet everyone’s needs in our communities without destroying natural systems. We are organizing an intergenerational and multiethnic collective that prefigures what ethical living can look like through community subsistence farming, composting, natural building, sustainable forest management, off-grid infrastructure, and more. Learn more about UGC>>>

The Unshackled Alchemy Land Project

“The Unshackled Alchemy Land Project (UALP) is committed to community-centered solutions to the emergent and urgent needs facing our communities and humanity today. Our work centers free access to nutrient dense culturally relevant foods, skill building, and regenerative agroecological workshops focused on themes such as food production, soil health, and Afro-Indigenous permaculture principles. The intention of this work is to equip our communities and address critical gaps that create barriers to thriving. 

The UA Community Subsistence Farm (UA CSF) is the cornerstone of UALP. Through perennial & annual food growing, UA CSF seeks to fill critical gaps in food access within the Hudson Valley and beyond. Food grown will be distributed to the local community at no cost through local food fridges, food donations to local CSAs and food sovereignty projects, and free produce stands.

UALP embodies collective care through intentional non-hierarchical community collaboration, mutual aid, and affirming healing spaces. We remain committed to community, curiosity, openness and authenticity so we may learn, collaborate, create, heal and play together.

We do not have to wait for others to choose the right relationship with humanity and to reclaim the liberation that is our birthright.” Learn more about UALP >>>

 
 

Apply by April 11, 2026

Limited to 6–8 participants

Apply Now
 

Questions? Email blacklandstewarsdship@nefoclandtrust.org for more information.