Company description

<p>Set in the beautiful Elk River Valley in Clark, Colorado, The Home Ranch, part of the Relais and Chateaux family of hotels, is home to ranching, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and people who have a general passion for the land and land stewardship. A primary focus of The Home Ranch is to give a guests the unique experience of tasting the finest foods and wines, while enjoying this unmatched landscape. In order to bring the freshest ingredients and flavors to the kitchen and then to the plate of our guests, the Home Ranch employs a team of dedicated garden gnomes - the Green Team - for everything from growing edible plants to dead heading each flower that grows around the lodge. </p> <p>The Home Ranch's Horticulture program (also known as the Green Team) encompasses both small-scale farming and landscaping. Since its implementation in 2014, Clyde's Farm at The Home Ranch has been the forefront of where guests and employees learn about what it takes to implement a farm-to-table program. While providing the freshest ingredients to the kitchen, this program also strives toward sustainability and education. Taking each season as a learning experience, the farm and edible gardens have been able to produce upwards of 3,200 pounds of food since 2014. Our greenhouse helps extend the 55-day growing season and lets us grow everything from zucchini to artichokes. We grow plenty outside as well, with nothing short of hard work and dedication, we provide the kitchen with 90% of their salad greens throughout the summer. </p> <p>The Home Ranch's Horticulture program also encompasses landscaping and detailed maintenance of the grounds that surround the main lodge and cabins. This includes watering, dead heading flower pots, weeding, mowing lawns and general upkeep of the grounds. This program is varied in its scope and requires a detail-oriented person to run the show. Standing on a strong foundation of sustainability, passion for growing, and years of experience, the Home Ranch is now seeking the next generation of plant lovers to carry the Horticulture program into its next season of growth. <br /><br /> To see pictures and learn more about Clyde's Farm at The Home Ranch, please visit: http://www.homeranch.com/farm/. </p>

Job description

<strong>Summary: </strong>The lead gardener is responsible for aiding the Master Gardener/Horticulture Supervisor in a variety of tasks, as well as taking the sole leadership role while the supervisor is not present. The lead gardener must be prepared for delegating work and ensuring that staff has the tools and knowledge to complete tasks safely and efficiently in the absence of the supervisor. Further, the lead gardener must be polite and presentable at all times, acting as the face of the horticulture team while interacting with guests, clients and visitors. Additionally, the lead gardener is responsible along with the rest of the team for daily care and maintenance of the flock of laying hens that reside at The Home Ranch. <br /><br /> The lead gardener position is a seasonal, full-time, salaried job. There is room for returning for subsequent summers if this is of interest to the candidate and horticulture supervisor. <br /><strong><br /> Qualifications: </strong><br /> <ul> <li>Valid and clean driver's license</li> <li>Prior leadership experience preferred, but not required. </li> <li>1.5+ years of vegetable gardening, farming, landscaping, or general horticulture-related experience highly preferred </li> <li>Positive attitude and ability to motivate oneself and team members throughout the day and week </li> <li>Accountable and reliable to help horticulture supervisor with weekly plans for planting, harvest, and general landscape maintenance schedules </li> <li>Willingness to be flexible throughout the day and help with any/all aspects of horticulture crew responsibilities, including but not limited to: lawncare, cut flower arranging, annual and perennial flower bed maintenance, vegetable garden maintenance and upkeep. </li> <li>Ability to reason through and/or research and implement action plans for garden problems and pests as they arise in the landscape, using books, Google searches, etc. and educating crew members on this</li> <li>Able to independently understand and use garden planting diagrams to decide where plants will be seeded and transplanted. </li> <li>Able to identify noxious weeds around Clyde's Farm and in other landscaped areas, and take necessary actions to remove these weeds. This can be learned as the season progresses and isn't a prerequisite. </li> <li>Able to be accountable as sole lead of the Horticulture crew when the Supervisor is not on site. </li> <li>Able to work with the rest of the team on daily chicken care duties including feeding, watering, collecting eggs and doing monthly chicken coop cleanings. </li> <li>Willing and able to interact with guests, provide tours as requested, answer questions about the farm and provide space for guests to explore and experience the farm and landscapes around the ranch. </li> </ul> <strong>Education and Experience: <br /></strong> <ul> <li>2-3 years of experience in horticulture, landscape design, natural resources or similar fields preferred. </li> <li>Previous experience in a leadership role </li> <li>Experience with basic plant identification, working with plant ID keys, etc. for both landscape plants and noxious weeds </li> <li>Experience with vegetable, shrub and tree planting, basic crop rotation standards, and following planting diagrams preferred but not required. </li> </ul> <strong>Benefits of the job: <br /></strong> <ul> <li>Housing and all meals are included in your salary. </li> <li>Based on guest needs, employees are able and encouraged to use ranch facilities including: horseback riding, hiking, fishing, biking, game room, hot tub and pool areas. </li> <li>As space allows, staff are encouraged to participate in weekly barn dances, campfire dinners and outdoor kitchen dinners with guests. </li> <li>Clark, Colorado is situated in the scenic Elk River Valley, nearby numerous fishing, backpacking, hiking, swimming, biking and relaxing spots for everyone to explore and get to know. All staff are encouraged to get to know the ranch <em>as well as</em> the surrounding areas that offer various recreation opportunities! </li> </ul> <strong>Other information: <br /></strong>The lead gardener position is a unique opportunity for interested candidates to expand on their knowledge of gardening. High-elevation gardening is a completely new experience for many gardeners/farmers, and provides its own set of challenges. Though this position is listed as seasonal, there is opportunity for a multiple season employment, if the candidate is interested in doing a different job at the ranch or in Steamboat for the winter season. <br /><br /> Wage is negotiable based on candidate's experience level. Housing and all meals are part of compensation. <br /><br /> We look forward to getting to know you and all of your unique talents as they pertain to horticulture!

Compensation

this position is: salaried, less than $50,000

Work visa

This employer is willing to sponsor a work visa for international applicants

Application instructions

Deadline

April 13, 2017

Attachment

click here to download the attached document.