Company description

Broadfork Farm is a small, intentionally multi-generational, family operated, full time Certified Naturally Grown vegetable farm (plus a part time old-world style woodfired bakery specializing in Organic, naturally leavened bread). Since 2011, we have intensively cultivated just a few acres in order to grow abundant food for our nearby community, whom we reach through our 230-member Farm Share, on-site FarmStand, farmers market, and select grocery stores. We grow 50 different vegetables each season. We use only biological/ecological farming methods – no chemical fertilizers or pesticides ever.

We love delicious, nutritious food, and we love community. We combine these two passions through our vibrant, fun-loving, and very hard-working farm business. We live with our four children on our farm, a quarter of our Farm Share members pick up their shares at our farm, and we host numerous events throughout each season. We are an oasis of old tyme, rural goodness…right on the outskirts of suburbia, and in close proximity to the city of Richmond and all the cultural opportunities it offers.

Farm owners/operators Dan and Janet have extensive backgrounds in biology, education, and business management, providing a well-rounded experience for motivated organic farming apprentices. We love organic food, positive people, and the satisfaction of honest, hard work.

More about us…

• We are professional but not corporate.
• We teach and guide through gentle and patient explanation, but we also show how and when to move fast.
• We are soil nerds and business nerds. We’ll show you how to be smart about both.
• We stress kindness and hard work above most all else.
• We’re a family friendly farm and business.
• We are a no smoking/no vaping/ drug free farm

Job description

We seek three enthusiastic and hard working individuals to join us as full time farmers, March through November, 40 hours/week (likely 50 hrs/week in July). Two positions are Monday through Friday, and one position is Tuesday through Saturday. We offer housing in a gorgeous, newly built house surrounded by our abundant fields of vegetables and flowers that you’re helping to tend.

An average day on the farm has about 8 of us here working.

Your work will include:
– Soil amending
– Seed starting & greenhouse propagation
– High tunnel and greenhouse growing; Season extension
– Transplanting and direct seeding more than 50 different crops
– Permanent raised bed management
– Irrigation and related management; drip tape and wobblers
– Intensive crop-management and rotation in a double & triple cropping bed system
– Harvest & Post-harvest handling
– Direct marketing products (through customizable Farm Share, an on-site FarmStand, and Saturday farmers’ market)
– Business strategies for small, diversified, organic vegetable farm providing a living for a family, including start-up logistics and growth considerations
…and more, experiencing the distinct seasons of a farm year in the central VA climate.

Requirements for all Farmers at our farm:

– Ability to lift and carry 50 pounds, repeatedly squat and bend, moving your body in a coordinated fashion most if not all of the day, regardless of weather. (But we adjust schedule and task list as able to avoid the very worst weather. We are practical people.)

– Relevant farm work experience preferred.

– Must be able to follow directions well and balance ‘carefully-enough’ with ‘quickly-enough’ in a fast paced and varied environment. (We move a lot of plants, compost, vegetables, crates, bins, and hoses! Farm staff need to be able to use their bodies and their minds to carry out these movements.)

– Valid driver’s license, clean driving record, and ability to participate in delivery and distribution of vegetables and bread as needed. Our insurance company requires that we only have drivers that have clean driving records, thus free from moving violations.

– Interest in and commitment to learning deeply about organic, regenerative, diversified vegetable farming and engaging in the sometimes difficult but always rewarding work of stewarding land and growing food (and flowers).

– Willingness to care for your physical self in order to stay fueled, hydrated, and protected from the sun. Willingness to care for your mental and spiritual self in order to be both a healthy individual and a healthy member of our farm staff community.

– Willingness to be detached from your phone during farm work. (No phones on your person during work time.)

– Enthusiasm to work with and around a group of people of diverse ages and backgrounds, including children, middle-aged people, and senior citizens and be a caring member of our farm staff community.

– Must commit to always cleaning up after yourself.

– We are a strictly non-smoking/non-vaping/illegal-drug-free farm. No smoking here, ever, of anything. (Participation in any of those on the farm = immediate termination.)

Most useful personal gear that we strongly recommend having:
Wide-brim sunhat.
Slip-on muck boots.
Headlamp.
Camelback/hydration system.
Rain gear.
Layers of clothing you are willing to get very dirty.

Compensation:
$16-17 per hour based on experience. Wage increases with demonstrated proficiency with skills and a positive, team-based attitude.
$500 bonus after successful completion of a full season.

Furnished housing and abundant “Farmer Food” available (so. many. vegetables.) plus bread from our bakery and flowers from our fields.
Group meals are not required but are encouraged as desired and determined by the community.

See also info on our website: https://broadforkfarm.net/opportunities/

Compensation

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

Application instructions

Deadline

November 30, 2024