Our Apprenticeship Program

Please read about our farm history and growing methods before continuing

Farm History and Growing Methods

Why Apprentice?

In the past five years of running our apprentice program many people have come to our farm with a wide variety of backgrounds and educational agendas. They experienced a season (or more) on our small diversified farm and developed the skills needed to grow food for their own nourishment and livelihood. They also gained insights and experiences that are sometimes hard to come by in our modern world. We hope that by spending a year at Huasna Valley Farm our apprentices:

- Develop some basic country-living skills like preserving food, milking a cow, making cheese, heating a house with a wood stove, etc...

- Explore and enhance their love of cooking and eating good food and gain some insight into their own body's nutritional needs.

- Acquire the skills and knowledge needed to start their own organic farm and run a profitable and sustainable business.

- Learn to love that feeling at the end of a long, hard day's work, when your body is tired, but your mind is satisfied, knowing that growing healthy food in harmony with nature is a very worthwhile endeavor.

We hope that at the end of a full-season apprenticeship, having experienced all aspects of our CSA farming operation, the Guiding Philosophy and How We Farm paragraphs (located on the Farm History and Growing Methods page) will make perfect sense to you. In addition, we hope that you will be able to fill in the details we have left out, and perhaps have added some of your own insight or perspective that will ultimately help us to farm better.

Learning to farm is a long process and occurs best through the repetition of tasks and observations throughout a season (preferably many seasons). Although much valuable information can be learned from books, there is no substitute for being out in the field. As such, most of an apprentice’s time is spent in the field, packing shed or greenhouse learning through practical experience and observation with some time allotted each month for more formal education, including discussions, reading, and visits to other farms. We also have an extensive library of written material available on sustainable farming.

Apprentices are expected to work Monday-Friday 40-45 hours per week depending on the seasonal schedule as well as be available one weekend each month to cover the farm chores. Workday hours will vary according to the weather and work load. We provide housing in an old farmhouse, yurt or trailer, farm produce, bulk ordered food, and a $400 monthly stipend. We cannot provide health insurance, but all apprentices are covered by Workman’s Compensation insurance for any work-related injuries. A mid-day vegetarian meal is shared Monday - Friday, taking an hour to eat, relax, and talk. Responsibilities for cooking lunch and creating new recipes for the newsletter are rotated. Other responsibilities may include writing for the weekly newsletter, helping in the office with bookkeeping, and being involved with farm events, school groups, and tours.

In addition to day-to-day farm work, once-a-week farm chores (milking, collecting eggs, feeding animals), and once-a-month weekend farm sitting, each apprentice is given a monthly rotation assignment. Apprentices receive one-on-one instruction and then have responsibility for managing the tasks associated with the rotation for the entire month. These rotations include:

HARVEST: Monday morning field walk with Ron or Jenn to assess the harvest, management of crew and materials to bring in the crops, record keeping of quantities harvested.

PACKING SHED: Management of crew and materials to clean, prep, cool, and pack harvested crops, record keeping of CSA box distributions.

IRRIGATION: Monitoring soil moisture, maintenance and application of drip, micro sprinkler, or sprinkler irrigation to achieve optimum soil moisture, record keeping of soil moisture and irrigations (Note: this rotation requires after-hours work as irrigating is best done in the evening or on weekends when the cost of electricity and evaporation rates are lowest).

PEST CONTROL: Regular monitoring and trapping of gophers, moving bird scare devices around sensitive crops, maintaining deer fencing and bird and owl nesting boxes, scouting vegetable and fruit crops for insect pest problems.

LIVESTOCK: Most livestock care is done during daily chores. This rotation involves more the assessment of livestock feed, including pasture growth measurement, moving electric fences and animals to new pasture, and growing and storing hay and grain.

GREENHOUSE: Management of greenhouse planting, maintenance of automated systems, monitoring plant health, moisture, and insect pressure.

HEDGEROW: Monitoring our newly installed mile of native shrubs for plant health, gopher or insect pressure, and soil moisture.

MAINTENANCE: There are about a million things to keep maintained!

FARMER FOR THE WEEK: Later in the season, each apprentice will get a chance to be in charge for a week, managing the flow of tasks from a to-do list created on a Sunday afternoon farm walk with Ron and Jenn, who will gladly switch places and do the apprentice's chores and rotation for the week (Note: Being the farmer definitely requires some after-hours work!)

We expect apprentices to commit to a full season. Anything less would be a fractured view of life on our farm. Apprentices serious about starting their own farm can stay on for a second year as a crew leader with more responsibilities and a higher stipend.

Policies

At the beginning of the program we will conduct an orientation covering farm policies, safety procedures, and the names and location of buildings and equipment on the farm. We will set up a schedule for rotations, daily chores, weekend chores, lunch cooking duties, extracurricular educational activities, and vacation times.

Each apprentice can take a one-week paid vacation during the period between July 1 and Aug 15, to be scheduled in April according to everyone’s needs. In addition each apprentice is allotted 2 personal days (18 hours). It is expected that ample notice will be given and that personal time will be used, when possible, at times convenient for the farm schedule. We expect apprentices to be in good health, but invariably people do get sick. You may miss up to 5 workdays due to illness without having to make up work. In the event of an after-hours farm emergency (deer inside the deer fence, escaped livestock, broken water pipes) you may be asked to help until the situation is corrected.

We require that apprentices be prompt, dress appropriately for work, and be professional and polite to all who work on or visit the farm. The farm will provide all necessary tools, harvest knives, and gloves. Apprentices are expected to provide adequate clothes, footwear, and hat.

Huasna Valley Farm has a no smoking policy and will not tolerate smoking anywhere on the farm. Illegal drugs are not permitted anywhere on the farm and will be cause for immediate dismissal from the program. Farm safety procedures will be discussed during the orientation. Failure to follow safety procedures will result in immediate dismissal from the program.

Working visitors are welcome at the farm for up to one week. They will be expected to work on our schedule and are welcome to share meals with us. Non-working visitors may stay for up to two days and may also share meals with us. Pets are not allowed on the farm. We have had several bad experiences with dogs and local wildlife likes to eat cats. Our friendly yellow labs, Maya and Taz, and four barn cats will be glad to have your attention.

How To Apply

Anyone with a serious interest in Organic Farming and the physical ability to work the long hard hours required by a farm will be considered for our apprentice program. Please submit a resume and cover letter answering the questions below. All perspective applicants are encouraged to visit the farm and spend time working with us to insure a good fit with our program.

1) Have you had any experience working on a farm? Have you had experience with organic gardening? What is the hardest physical labor you have done for an extended period?

2) What skills, experience, or personal qualities do you hope to acquire through our apprentice program? What skills, experience, or personal qualities do you have to offer our farm?

3) Do you have any future plans involving agriculture or food?

4) Have you had any physical injuries? Do you have any health problems or physical limitations?

5) Do you like to cook? Have you had any experience cooking?

6) Do you possess a valid driver’s license? Have you had any accidents or violations in the past 5 years? Do you own a vehicle?

7) Do you smoke? Do you have any dietary restrictions, including strong dislikes?

8) What sort of activities do you like to do to keep yourself physically fit? Have you ever participated in team sports?

9) Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself?

To learn more about the apprenticeship program or to submit an application to be an apprentice, please email Ron at: ron@huasnavalleyfarm.com