Company description

Caswell Farm is a BIPOC, woman-owned diverse farm in Gray, Maine producing mixed vegetables, herbs, and flowers for its on-site farm stand, catering company Barn & Table Catering, and a few wholesale accounts. The property also hosts weddings though Caswell Farm & Wedding Barn and community classes such as foraging and floral design through Come on up to The Farm. Our goal is to invite people to interact with the farm in order to promote sustainable farm practices, land stewardship, and offer a space for gathering.

Job description

We are seeking a seasonal Farm Manager to oversee the production of veggies, herbs, and flowers!

Caswell Farm is a BIPOC, woman-owned diverse farm in Gray, Maine producing mixed vegetables, herbs, and flowers for its on-site farm stand, catering company Barn & Table Catering, and a few wholesale accounts. The property also hosts weddings though Caswell Farm & Wedding Barn and community classes such as foraging and floral design through Come on up to The Farm. Our goal is to invite people to interact with the farm in order to promote sustainable farm practices, land stewardship, and offer a space for gathering.

Caswell Farm is situated on 50 acres with a little over an acre in production at the moment. Though we have mostly focused on annuals, we are actively incorporating perennials into the mix and planted raspberries this year. We are an ecologically minded bunch of people using organic farming practices, but are not certified. We use a no/low- till system using broadforks and permanent beds as well as focus on soil regeneration with crop rotation, cover crops, and applications of goat manure from a farm just down the road.

Through the past 5 years farming the land has taken on many forms but in 2020 we were able to refocus and create a formal vision for the years to come. Since then we established a farm stand and small CSA, were granted high tunnels and a new irrigation system with NRCS, invited volunteer farmers to help with day-to-day tasks through WWOOF, and have increased outreach to our community. The Farm Manager will also have a hand in directing operations by seeking out opportunities for partnerships with other local farms and producers.

This job includes, but is not limited to crop planning/seed ordering in the winter and planting, cultivating, harvesting, filling orders, recordkeeping, and overseeing WWOOFers, and organizing/executing COUTTF events from April-October.

We are looking for someone who has had a full season in the field under their belt. This is a great opportunity for a beginning farmer who is ready for more hands-on responsibility and business experience by providing a space and land to learn and grow with relatively low-stakes. The bones of the operation are already in place; the Farm Manager is able to take that framework and develop it alongside the current Farm Manager (who will still be nearby but has recently purchased their own farm!), property owner, and Catering Manager.

We are offering $15/hr as well as housing on property with an average of 20 hours/week with more hours in the spring/early summer (25/30), but less in late summer/fall. We do have additional hours available through our catering and bar company if it’s a good fit. This position is conducive to having a part-time job off site should you want to do that as well.

Catherine Caswell- Owner

Kristen Walker- Current Farm Manager

Compensation

this position is: hourly, $15-20/hr

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline