Company description

Front Porch Farm is a 110-acre diverse organic farm situated on the Russian River just 10 minutes from downtown Healdsburg in Northern California. Each year we grow roughly 10 acres of vegetables and berries, 5 acres of cut flowers, 2 acres of Floriani flint corn, 15 acres of wine grapes, and maintain a plethora of fruit trees. With ecological farming principles at the heart of what we do, we strive to be responsible stewards of the land.

At the height of the season the days are long and tasks can be strenuous, so we aim to build a team with a strong work ethic that supports each other in maintaining a positive & healthy working environment. We strive to find the delicate balance between working hard and having fun. Our community is bilingual and multicultural, and some of our farm’s core values are inclusivity and connection across these lines. We work 40-50 hours per week on the farm with occasional weekend responsibilities.

Our 5-acre flower operation churns out blooms from February to November which supply 3 farmers markets, two weekly deliveries to the Bay Area, a handful of local florists and small groceries and feed into our in-house floral design studio. We grow over 300 varieties of flowers. It’s hard to pick a few favorites, but some main characters through the season include ranunculus, anemones, sweet peas and peonies in the spring, garden roses and dahlias in the summer and chrysanthemums and specialty marigolds in the fall.

Job description

The Flower Production Assistant is a vital member of the Front Porch Farm team that oversees the farm’s greenhouse production and supports the Flower Program Manager in the care of field crops. This is a year-round, hourly position with a 5-day work week and variable, sometimes long, hours depending on time of year. Hours fluctuate with the season with reduced hours in the shoulder seasons.

Primary Responsibilities:

Greenhouse Oversight

• Implement weekly seeding schedules provided by farm managers.
• Train and manage any assisting crew members on seeding techniques and standards.
• Keep up-to-date records of sowings, prick-outs, disposals and sprays.
• Monitor germination and pest and disease pressure and communicate observations to farm managers.
• Pay attention to when trays need to be re-sown, thinned, reorganized, moved outside to harden off or dumped and respond accordingly and swiftly, enlisting the help of other team members as necessary.
• Manage the heating, cooling, venting and lighting of the greenhouse to achieve ideal growing conditions throughout the year.
• Keep greenhouse optimally irrigated so as to avoid plant stress and mitigate pests and disease.
• Ensure transplants are well-irrigated at the time of planting.
• Spray greenhouse periodically for pest and disease pressure.
• Administer weekly fertigation in the hardening-off zone.
• Maintain cleanliness and organization of greenhouse and seed storage area.
• Communicate foreseen shortages of seeds, potting soil and other materials to farm managers promptly.

Fieldwork/Harvest

• Weeding, staking, pruning, mulching and processing flowers. Sometimes working solo, sometimes with a partner and sometimes in a group.

• In absence of Flower Manager, lead crew in weekly flower plant-outs.

• While there will be a designated harvest crew who will often be sufficient to bring in the harvest, there will be times when the person will be called to join.

General

• Act as a team leader, motivating and supporting co-workers and provide training and guidance when necessary.
• Fill other roles as necessary to support the entire organization, particularly in the shoulder seasons, including but not limited to, staffing the farmers market, delivering orders, harvesting/processing vegetables and pruning fruit trees.

Desired Skills & Experience:

❏ Minimum 2 years experience on a production farm.

❏ Experience working in a greenhouse.

❏ Experience working with cut flowers.

❏ Able to work well alone and in a team environment.

❏ Innate attention to detail.

❏ Excellent communication skills.

❏ Physical ability to harvest for up to 9 hours per day in inclement weather and lift up to 50 lbs.

❏ Excellent work ethic— prompt, communicative, takes initiative, self-motivated.

❏ Ability to speak Spanish highly valued.

❏ Seeking team players who are generally easy-going by nature and who are motivated by a fast-paced environment.

Compensation:

• Hourly rate of $20/hour
• Health, Dental and Vision insurance
• Housing on the farm in the form of an airstream trailer may be available. If not, a monthly housing stipend of $500/month will be offered to offset the cost of housing in the area.

Compensation

this position is: hourly, $20/hr +

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline