Company description Kiss the Cow Farm is an organic, grass-based dairy selling farmstead ice cream and raw milk from our herd of Jersey and Normandie cows. We also raise pastured eggs, chickens, ducks, and turkeys. We sell our products through a farm store, seasonal CSA, weekly farmers’ markets and area restaurants and coops. Internship description If you are serious about learning, this is immersion experience may be what you are looking for. You will experience first-hand what it takes to run a diverse, organic farm.  Apprenticeships are not easy as the hours are long and the work is physical.  However, there is no better way to learn the craft of small-scale agriculture than to roll up your sleeves and do it.  The primary goal of our apprenticeship program is to teach you what you need to know and give you plenty of practice and the confidence to pursue your own farm dream.   

We share a 500 acre, historic farm with other ag enterprises (veggies, beef cows, hard cider).  Lots of farming activity and other younger and older, like-minded people to interact with.  Near Silver Lake State Park and lots of hiking trails.  And we co-host a weekly farmers’ market with local vendors, awesome bands, tacos, hard cider, kombucha & ice cream for a few hundred people.  It is a very cool time.  This is a typical, rural Vermont experience.  Life’s great here.  Come experience it yourself! 

Our internships focus on three areas, dairy herd management, pastured poultry management and ice cream making.  Depending on your interest, you may focus on one area, but will still be involved in all aspects of managing a small, grass-based farm, including: milking, feeding, moving animals to new pastures, the installation and maintenance of fence and water systems, calf care, herd health and nutrition, safety, dairy protocols and processes.  You will be raising poultry from day-old chicks, feeding, watering, moving field pens, tracking batches, processing, packaging, and delivering to customers.  You will not only learn to make ice cream, but help us create the processes for this new adventure.  You will participate at farmers markets and enterprise brainstorming, assist with marketing, cleaning, repairs, maintenance, and construction projects. 

Days are physically demanding with hard work and long hours filled with chores, projects, customers and laughter!  We take plenty of breaks –chatting, reading, and catching some vitamin D sunrays.  Our standards are high and necessarily so as we are entrusting you to prepare dairy and poultry products for safe human consumption.  Please consider this commitment before applying.  However, we find the work is enjoyable and the animals provide lots of entertainment.  This is really your experience, not ours.  While working closely with us some of the time, you will also have independent responsibilities.  So let us know what you want to learn, what you want to be able to competently do when you move on.  We will try to incorporate your goals into the experience you have with us.

You need to have a positive-can-do attitude, be self-motivated, hard-working, inquisitive, and a good communicator.  If you have the courage to try things and you smile at bad jokes in spite of yourself, then you’ll probably fit in.  This is a learning experience:  you need to want to learn.  You will need to be reasonably fit and able to lift 50lbs regularly.  You should also be able to work outside in all weather conditions from rain to mid-summer heat.  Please no smoking, drug use, excessive alcohol consumption, or pets.  A valid driver’s license is required. 

Must have some experience farming and working with animals.  You must take direction and feedback, be able to work on your own and with minimal direction once you’ve been taught how to do a task.  We do not expect you to know everything or be perfect.  We do expect you to be willing to learn and to work honestly and conscientiously.

Both Lisa and Randy are educators with master's degrees in education. Most learning is experiential and one-on-one, plus what topics and questions come out of daily conversations. We typically teach by example. 

Our farm journey is still a surprise to us. It all started years age with 6 chickens. We now have 450 layer hens, several hundred meat birds and a dozen or so cows. So basically, it is out of control! Thank God we love this life, the land, our animals and friends. Why do we do this? Easy peasy: we want to grow good food for our friends and neighbors, teach something meaningful to others, and leave things in better shape than we found them. Compensation this position is : stipend / non-monetary compensation
Application instructions Deadlineno deadline