Farm Apprenticeship Program
About our Farm Apprenticeship Program
Come join the Blackberry Meadows Crew 2024! We’re looking for folks that would like to have a hands-on experience growing food.
We’ve grown organic veggies and meats since 2007 (and before), and have adapted our techniques, practices, and philosophies to the changing climate, economics, and labor. We intensively grow 2 acres of fruits and vegetables, with the goal to transition to a no-till market garden system. We also raise pastured pork and poultry, and operate a CSA, market stand, and a farm-to-hand food grill.
We’re looking to fill 2 seasonal positions:
(2) Farm Laborers:
We can house two laborers per month. $800/month stipend and canvas tent cabin ($400/mo value). Meals and snacks included ($800/mo value). This position provides a rudimentary understanding of farm labor, and the efficiency required to grow food, and will serve as a working education.
A two-week trial period is required for accepted applicants. It’s important to ensure our expectations are equally met.
Description of Duties
Hours typically hover around 50 hours over a 6 day work week (roughly 200 hours/month).
Various Farm tasks may include:
- Animal husbandry (swine, poultry)
- Vegetable/fruit production (3 acres)
- Kitchen work (Grill at farmers markets, Value added food production)
- Attend events and sell farm products.
- Nursery/seedling production
- Various seasonal maintenance jobs
- Janitorial work
- Firewood, woodchip, and lumber production
- Farm construction
- Farm mechanical repairs
As a working community farm, life gets very busy over the summer. We operate a Hamburger grill over the weekends while farming and cooking throughout the week, and squeezing in days off/side quests whenever we can.
Comfort food, cold drinks and desserts are staples on the daily meal schedules. Because we raise and consume meats, we cannot ensure regular diverse vegan meals. Vegans will need to make an extra effort to help us in the kitchen to ensure we can meet their dietary needs.
For meat eaters, this is paradise. We partner with local cheese producers, bread companies and barter with other farmers to ensure we can sample the abundance of delicious foods from our region. We’ve often said that we only farm between meals!
Since we raise a wide diversity of foods, the experience of living and working here will reward anyone with a significantly deeper understanding of how to grow and prepare food, including wood fired cooking and food preservation. Owners Jen and Greg, have Masters Degrees in Sustainable Systems, focusing on Green Building performance, Biofuels and Food Production. So, there is far more to learn at Blackberry Meadows Farm than just farming.
Policies and Procedure
Apply Here!
To apply, please attach a resume, cover letter, and one business and personal reference. Alternatively, you may email us with your application details or with any questions.
The deadline for Farm Lead applications is April 30, while Farm Laborers may apply on a rolling basis.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
