Farm Worker on Veggie + Pizza Farm Fireside Farm
- Date Posted January 30, 2024
- Location Purcellville, VA
- Category Agriculture / Culinary
- Job type Full-Time
We are passionate about soil health, inspiring new growers and sharing food with our community. We enjoy growing high quality produce for our crew, customers and local community. We sell the majority of our produce through 2 farmer's markets, wholesale relationships with a few excellent restaurants in DC and to neighboring CSAs. In 2021, we started making pizzas with our veggies and grains to help our customers connect to the importance (and superior taste) of local food and farmland preservation.
We are striving to create more permanent jobs on our farm for more than one season. We are looking for workers to join our farm family and all the ups and downs it may hold for the growing season. If you like it here and we like you, there are opportunities to stay for multiple years with added benefits (including retirement and educational opportunities). (If you have already tried farming and know you like it - let's see if you like it here!)
About the managers: Stacey and Casey have been farming for 17 years. They both have ecology/biology backgrounds and found farming to be a career that meshes with their desire to improve the environment. They were managers at Potomac Vegetable Farms for 4 years and The Farm at Sunnyside for 6 years. Stacey loves creating beautiful market displays, coming up with more efficient farm systems and training new workers. Casey loves growing a wide diversity of crops (especially hot peppers and radicchio), cooking and investigating ways to improve soil health.
It is the intention of the managers to steward the land and our employees to the best of our abilities. More information on our website. Job description --> We are looking for 1 more worker for 2024 <--
You will join our staff of 2 managers, 3 full-time workers and a rotating cast of part-time characters.
About the job: Workers will be involved in most aspects of farm work, including planting, weeding, harvesting, processing and marketing vegetables. These are back straining, sometimes tedious jobs, done in all kinds of weather. Interested employees can also help with bimonthly pizza events.
Our hours are typically 8 or 8:30 until 4 or 5 with a 30-45 minute lunch break. Workers are on the farm Mondays-Fridays with a half day on Wednesdays. Saturday market coverage is determined a couple of weeks in advance for interested employees. Seasonal farm workers have unpaid vacation time and can request time off for vacation or special occasions. (We don't want you to miss your best friend's wedding!)
First year workers receive some individual areas of responsibility which may include: high tunnel management, wholesale packing, wash and pack room oversight, golf cart maintenance. Returning workers receive more responsibilities including market management, wholesale management, tractor driving and field management.
Compensation: Hourly pay. $15 with experience. Access to vegetables and pizzas. We will pay for returning employees to attend a farm conference or other relevant educational opportunity. After 3 seasons, employees are eligible for retirement benefits.
Please visit our website for more details about the job.
Ideal candidates need not have farm experience, though it is ok if you do. Some of our best employees are those that have done some physical labor in the past, have worked in team settings before (i.e. restaurant jobs, trail crews, camp counselors, etc.) or have played team sports.
Key qualities include:
- ability to follow instructions even if you have other ideas about how to do a job
- a positive attitude and commitment to doing good work (asking "what else can I do?")
- enjoyment in working as part of a team (in sports or in previous jobs)
- experience working outdoors or doing physical labor
- desire to learn about agriculture and why we've chosen our methods
- patience for some unpredictability in your routine (Mother Nature does what she wants.)
- willingness to unplug a bit (if you need to 'gram every hour, this is not the job for you.)
- excitement to be part of an eventful farm community
- making time to take care of yourself (you know: eating well, hydrating, sleeping, journaling, playing music, yoga, doing your laundry, taking a vacation)
About the surroundings: Loudoun County is at the intersection growing development from the DC area and a vibrant rural agricultural community. We're fortunate to rent land from Potomac Vegetable Farms and border 4 other farms. We're also friendly with our local brewers, flower growers, cooks and caterers and bread bakers. There is plenty to do around here. We suggest bringing a car for getting off the farm and running errands, but you can probably hitch a ride with someone else if you're carless. We are about an hour from DC if there isn't traffic.
What should I expect? We have 15 years experience of managing crews and think we are humane bosses. If it's going to be super hot and muggy, we try to do the harder tasks in the morning. If it's going to rain cats and dogs, we try to harvest before the deluge. HOWEVER, this is a farm job - and you should be prepared to be out in all weather conditions to help the team finish its tasks.
We anticipate a learning curve – and you will get better, more efficient and more confident as the season progresses. It can be humbling to not immediately be great at a task. We will correct you and teach you so the team can be more efficient overall. We don't want to waste your time or ours.
Typical weekly routine:
Mondays - AM start wholesale harvest, PM plantings or field work
Tuesdays - AM continue wholesale harvest, PM finish packing wholesale, some crew members do field work
Wednesdays - 1 person delivers to DC, others work AM on greenhouse work or tomato trellising, squash + cuke harvest when in season, PM off
Thursdays - AM market harvest, PM - market harvest, pizza prep on pizza weeks
Fridays - AM finish harvest if needed, PM - pack market trucks, finish weekly field work jobs, pizza prep on pizza weeks
Saturdays - attend 2 markets