Company description

Turner Farm is an educationally focused non-profit dedicated to promoting sustainable agriculture and local food. We are located under 20 minutes from downtown Cincinnati, but the farm is very scenic, sitting on 220 acres of open pastures, gardens, fields, meadows and wooded areas. We cultivate up to ten of those acres for organic vegetable production, with production in high tunnels and under row cover year round. We cultivate a large variety of vegetables in addition to popcorn and mushrooms. Draft horses are used for much of the field work. Our produce is certified organic and sold through CSA, retail and wholesale outlets. The vegetable CSA is partly work-share, so our subscribers are required to spend time with us in the fields. We have cattle, sheep, swine and poultry, and our livestock are rotationally grazed on clean, open pastures and fed all natural, non-GMO grains and minerals. We also have a certified organic flower share that lets subscribers pick up to 25 flower stems 10 times throughout the season. Many educational programs for schools and the public are offered, including a farm day camp. Additionally, there is an on-site teaching kitchen where classes in clean eating and cooking from scratch are available to the public. This space is also occasionally rented for events.

Internship description

Garden apprentices will be involved in all aspects of growing, harvesting, weed control, pest management, and marketing of herbs, flowers, mushrooms and vegetables. They will sometimes be involved in greenhouse work, mushroom house work, and basic animal chores. Garden apprentices will learn to use a walk behind rototiller (one of our tractors), and will have the option of learning to work with draft horses and some of the bigger tractors if they wish. Each apprentice chooses a field area to have primary responsibility over, and will be given more independence in that field's management as the season progresses. We make a lot of our own compost, and this involves regularly picking up food scraps from a local organic juicery/restaurant, a task that we all share. All interns will also have a weekly cleaning chore. There is daily interaction with other people, particularly the CSA members who are required to work on the farm. Apprentices additionally run our booth at Madeira Farmers Market during the main season. Apprentices learn in the field in addition to having regular formal educational classes. These generally are about one hour per week and are on the clock. We also make a point to visit other area farms throughout the season, usually once per month.

Experience is not required, but enthusiasm for physical work in all weather conditions is desired. We are looking for applicants who are passionate about food, interested in pursuing agriculture as a career, and available for the entire season (April-October). If interested, please see our website, here, for more details and the application questionnaire. We plan to hire five apprentices, one of which must be a U.S. military veteran. (Turner Farm's Veteran Farmer Training Program extends beyond one season to include a second season running their own incubator plot at the farm. More details about this program can also be found on our website.)

Compensation is minimum wage, time and a half for overtime. It is usually a 45+ hour week. Apprentices must be available Monday-Friday 8:30-5:00, occasional Thursday evenings for the farmers market, and two Saturday mornings per month. Major U.S. holidays are paid time off. Each apprentice additionally receives a $500 stipend to be applied toward purchase of our produce and a half price discount on Turner Farm meat and eggs. They also are welcome to attend any public classes held at the farm at a discounted rate. Limited housing is available in a neighboring town. Rent is $100/apprentice/month.

Compensation

this position is: hourly, under $15/hr

Application instructions

Deadline

January 31, 2017