Company description

Common Ground CSA is a small vegetable CSA farm in Rochester, WA entering our 32nd season. We provide weekly CSA shares to 100 families in our community for 25+ weeks of the year. All shares are priced on a sliding scale to make good food accessible to more people. We grow vegetables intensively on about 2 acres, while managing another 2 acres in fallow. We grow organically but are not certified.

We strive to create a CSA that is truly a community and to find customers whose lives and kitchen habits fit well with a weekly box of mixed vegetables. We have a very high retention rate and many of our customers have been with us more than ten years, and a few for all thirty two years! Once or twice a year we have an on farm potluck/party and we write a newsletter monthly to let our members know what’s going on in the fields. We pride ourselves on the freshest produce that you can get, in a quantity that satisfies an active cook who loves vegetables. We have been called ‘the ex-farmers CSA’ by members who have farmed previously and now choose us to provide their vegetables.

Our team includes farm owners/managers Julie and Tierney, who together have a total of 50 years of vegetable farming experience; as well as one returning crew member and several work traders who join us on harvest mornings throughout the season. We use tractors mainly for our primary tillage and initial field prep, and then most of our cultivation and field management is by hand, with hand tools or with BCS tillers.

This year we broke ground on new land that adjoins our farm and that we lease through our local Community Farmland Trust. After spending most of the season in cover crop, we are so excited to start planting vegetables there this spring. Throughout this winter and spring we are working on field planning, systems planning, getting irrigation in place once the well is dug, putting up a new hoop house, and more. We see these new fields as an opportunity to better steward the land by allowing us to give a full year fallow to up to one third of our land at a time, as well as a chance to increase efficiency by moving all our crops into one main location. We will still have one satellite field about 20 minutes away that will require occasional work days.

Job description

We are looking for someone with full-time availability, but may consider someone who could work 3-4 days a week. This job involves being a part of all aspects of small scale vegetable production: seed starting, field prep, transplanting, cultivating, basic irrigation tasks, compost, harvest, and wash and pack. You will be asked to use a rototiller, weedwacker and possibly a mower (training provided).

We start work in earnest in April and provide full time employment through October. We work five, eight-hour days a week with a one hour lunch break, and take weekends off. In the shoulder seasons, particularly April and October, there may be days where it is just too wet to work but we do our best to keep hours consistent. Our week includes two weekly harvest mornings, Tuesdays and Fridays, where we are joined by a small group of work traders to focus on harvesting, washing and packing the vegetables that will then be delivered to customers that afternoon. The remainder of the week is spent on field tasks.

We intentionally create a work culture that is inclusive and supportive to women, trans and non-binary folks, as well as people of all races, because we recognize that these people have not traditionally been encouraged to join, or been provided support within, many agricultural jobs. As women farmers ourselves we feel very strongly about providing a place that provides a safe, supportive and empowering place to learn, practice and continue to hone these skills. We also value a culture that acknowledges that work/life balance is important – we work hard while we’re at work, we are absolutely committed to our jobs and the success of our farm, and we expect those who work with us to show up excited each day to give it their all. But we know to be sustainable we need to build a system that allows us to rest, spend time with our families and pursue other activities that bring us joy, even during the growing season.

Working and farming as a team is one thing that drives us, and we are on the lookout for employees who have interest in the possibility of continuing to farm with us and evolving into co-management and possibly even co-ownership roles. With our new leased land comes a large lower pasture that will continue to be in hay production for this coming year, but represents a future opportunity for someone who works with us that has other farm interests to have space to pursue those projects.

Our ideal candidate:

• Has a joyful attitude towards work, ability to lift up to 50 lbs and work in both cold/wet and hot/dry weather.
• Is a quick learner, curious, not afraid to ask for help/clarification
• Is fully committed to their job but able to recognize their personal needs/balance
• Is detail oriented
• Loves plants, vegetables and cooking!
• Enjoys working with others as well as independently.

These things are great too!

• Farm experience, especially vegetable production.
• Machine operation and maintenance: Experience with rototiller, weedwacker, tractor, ability to drive a manual is a plus!
• Knowledge of vegetable pests and diseases.
• Interest in the possibility of multiple seasons, co-management, co-ownership
• Other farm adjacent skills like marketing, accounting, etc.

COMPENSATION

This is an hourly position, $15-$17/hr, depending on experience. In addition you will receive a large share of vegetables throughout the CSA season, as well as access to any seconds.

Compensation

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

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline