Brook Farm In New York is looking for apprentices and interns for 2013

Brook Farm In New York is looking for apprentices and interns for 2013

• Full Season Farm Apprentice
• Full Season Farm Intern
• Summer Season Farm Intern

A B O U T  B R O O K  F A R M Brook Farm is a 20-acre sustainable farm located 2 ½  miles west of New Paltz at the foot of the world-famous Shawangunk Ridge, where our farm crew enjoys access to 7000 acres of wilderness, hiking and rock climbing, right outside our door at the Mohonk Preserve. We raise mixed vegetables, herbs, berries, flowers, laying hens, honeybees, and at least one other TBD livestock during the 2013 season.  Each February, we tap the sugar maple trees to produce syrup, currently for our public and CSA events and for our crew.  We have one high tunnel for four-season greens production and plan to construct another this season, a valuable learning experience for our beginning farmers. For additional information, and to learn how to apply click "read more"

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We market our farm goods and value-added products through our growing 50+ member vegetable CSA, a local farm market, regional festivals, and a farm stand.  Crew members will have the opportunity to gain experience in each of these distribution systems.

We use no-till, raised bed vegetable cultivation that leaves soil communities undisturbed, a method that continuously improves our heavy clay soil and is not yet common at our scale of production.  We strive for an ever more sustainable operation through the introduction of new innovative strategies.  We are one of over 150 New York State farms that have taken the NOFA-NY Farmer’s Pledge, our guarantee that our farming practices are sustainable.

Brook Farm has been operating as a nonprofit organization since 2004, but has a long tradition of farming.  During the late 19th and 20th Centuries, Brook Farm and neighboring farms served as provisioning farms for the neighboring Mohonk Mountain House, a historic American resort hotel still in operation as one of the country’s top resorts.

C U L T U R E  &  C O M M U N I T Y

We strive to create a farm that is community-based, inter-generational, human-powered (though trucks and tractors are still used), focused on experiential learning and self-development, full of joyful work and infused with the arts, especially music.  Staff and long-term volunteers live and work side-by-side sharing work, meals, laughter, and song.  Farm staff live indoors in our farmhouse along with some long-term volunteers.  Additional volunteers live nearby or camp outside on the farm during summer months. The farmhouse has a large kitchen where staff and volunteers prepare and eat delicious, healthy meals, often using produce and other farm goods raised or made on the farm.  All staff, interns, and volunteers participate in a shared meal plan and rotate cooking and cleaning responsibilities.  We regularly open the farmhouse to the community to host potlucks, work parties, music jams, and educational workshops.

2 0 1 3  E M P L O Y M E N T  O P P O R T U N I T I E S

Full Season Apprentice – from March 18 to November 1, approximately.  Possible opportunity to stay on longer.  Desired Qualifications:

• Minimum one full season of farming experience, preferably more
• Passion to broaden and deepen farming skills
• Demonstrated skills in areas relevant to Brook Farm’s operations
• Ability to work hard and keep up a steady pace of work
• Ability to lift and carry 50 lbs for a sustained period
• Perpetual eye on systems improvement toward speed, efficiency, quality
• Ability to master new work tasks and procedures, then teach and lead others
• Ability to take direction and work independently
• Excellent communication skills, including regular check-ins with farm manager re needs, concerns, updates
• Boldness in facing unfamiliar projects – new irrigation system? Design, needed tools?
• Positivity thru 5 AM starts, long days, harsh weather, and occasional work by headlamp
• Flexibility of schedule based on needs of farm and weather conditions.  Uniquely, this flexibility is mutual – apprentice may arrange for limited rescheduling and extra days off as needed, up to one week per season
• Pluses: tractor, livestock, mechanics/carpentry, arts/music, task-leading experience

Full Season Intern – Late March or mid-April to October 1, approximately.  Possible opportunity to stay on longer.  Desired Qualifications:

• Minimum one month full-time or one season part-time vegetable farm experience
• Passion to broaden & deepen farm skills & experience a community farmer lifestyle
• Ability to work hard and keep up a steady pace of work
• Ability to lift and carry 50 lbs for a sustained period
• Ability to master new work tasks and procedures, then teach and lead others
• Ability to take direction and work independently
• Excellent communication skills, including regular check-ins with farm manager re needs, concerns, updates
• Positivity thru 5 AM starts, long days, harsh weather, and occasional work by headlamp
• Flexibility of schedule based on needs of farm and weather conditions.  Uniquely, this flexibility is mutual – the intern may arrange for limited rescheduling and extra days off as needed, up to one week per season.
• Interest in living in and contributing to a dynamic farm community
• Pluses: mechanic/carpentry, arts/music, task-leading, sales/marketing experience

Summer Season Intern – approximately June, July and August.  Flexible start and end.  Possible opportunity to stay on longer.

Desired Qualifications:  Same as above, except there is no previous farm experience required.  Instead, we require that you already know that you love long, hard, physical work with plants and soil based on past experience.  Not certain?  Check out our opportunities for volunteer farm crew below.

B E N E F I T S  O F  W O R K I N G  A T  B R O O K  F A R M

• Competitive farm crew salary
• Living and working in community
• Shared meal plan with cooking / clean-up rotation
• Living in a well-maintained, furnished farmhouse
• Work with an experienced community farm manager that has experience training farm crew in integrating community-building and multi-arts activities (especially music) into a hard-core, diversified farm operation, and a ‘radical homemaker’ (phrase courtesy of author Shannon Hayes)
• Opportunity to participate in the mid-Hudson Valley C.R.A.F.T. (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) network, a valuable series of educational, social, and networking farm visits for beginning farmers.
• Work on a breathtakingly beautiful property in a historic rural neighborhood of farms
• Access to 7,000-acre Mohonk Preserve, world-renowned climbing and trails, right outside the farmhouse door
• 2.5 miles to New Paltz, a progressive college town with a busy, varied social scene
• Excellent public transportation via Metro North Train (1.5-hour train ride to New York City from nearby Poughkeepsie), Ulster Link local bus, and Adirondack Trailways regional bus

H O W  T O  A P P L Y

To apply, please email your cover letter, resume, and three references to brookfarmproject@gmail.com.  Please write “Job Application” in subject line.  Resumes received by February 20 will be considered first.  Positions are open until filled.  In your cover letter or resume, please indicate

Why do you want to farm?

Your past farm experience.  Also indicate any interest and/or experience in: carpentry/plumbing/electrical/mechanics; marketing/sales; teaching; working with children; the arts– music, dance, theater, written/spoken word, visual art, etc; homemaking skills—cooking, food processing, crafts, etc; living in community; any other skills, hobbies, interests, or passions.

What is the hardest you have ever worked?

What attracts you to Brook Farm?  What do you hope to learn or experience?
O T H E R  W A Y S  T O  G E T  I N V O L V E D
Our belief is that agriculture is most beneficial to a community when undertaken as a community.  We welcome volunteers of all kinds to the farm, whether for half a day or for several months or more.  High school students, college students, and adults are welcome to apply to volunteer, WWOOF, or intern on the farm for personal satisfaction, career development, to meet community service hour requirements, or to earn college credit.  Live-in (or live-out) Volunteers/WWOOFers/interns are expected to work full-time side by side with the paid farm crew and make at least a one-month commitment.  During 2013, long-term volunteers and interns are invited between approximately April 1 and November 1.  All prospective, long-term, live-in (or live-out) volunteers are required to apply and to go through an interview process to determine if you and Brook Farm are a good match.  If you are interested in applying, please reflect on what you would like to learn or experience on the farm and what interests you about Brook Farm.  Also, realize that farm work is very intensive and exhausting, so be prepared to work hard!  Please visit our website for more information about our volunteer, intern, and WWOOF programs or contact us at BrookFarmProject@gmail.com  to request the program description.