Full Hand Farm 2020 Crew Positions
We are hiring 2 full time field crew members for the 2020 season. These positions will each work about 40 hours a week through the main season (April – December) with the potential for part time winter hours into 2021. Experience on a production farm is not required (though definitely a plus), although consistency and an eagerness to learn are essential. We do not currently have on-farm housing but are open to a conversation with experienced candidates (at least one year farming) about providing an RV on the farm if needed. Position description: We strive for a work environment that is challenging but not grueling. This is highly physical work and primary duties will change some over the course of the season. In the spring you’ll be applying compost to greenhouse beds, seeding, hand transplanting, and hand-weeding. Throughout the season these positions will be trellising tomatoes and cucumbers in the high tunnels, transplanting on the water wheel, covering greens and hoeing. By mid-season these hires focus heavily on harvesting, washing and packing produce for our restaurant accounts and weekly market. We do still find windows for field work each week but cutting and cleaning produce takes more and more time as the season progresses. Harvest requires fast, efficient, repetitive motions while bending, squatting, kneeling and lifting in all kinds of weather conditions. Washing and packing require standing for long periods and lifting 40+ pounds. Everything we do on the farm – bed prep, harvest, wash/pack, field work – requires the ability to move quickly and efficiently while maintaining attention to detail and high quality standards. Regular work hours are Monday – Friday, 7:45am – 5pm with an unpaid 45 minute lunch break. During heavy harvest days in July, August and September we start at 7 am – this is usually only 2 days a week during those months. We will occasionally ask for extra hours if there is significant weather on the way. Each new hire will work one Saturday morning market a month. Market duties include helping with set up, restocking produce, making fast and friendly transactions, answering questions about veggies, and helping with end of market inventory and tear down. Market hours are roughly 6:30am – 1pm, and can be flexed for regular hours in the week market is worked. As a market farm we have found that working the market hustle once in a while helps inform the pace and process of work on the farm throughout the week. Farming is both incredibly rewarding and incredibly challenging. This is a highly physical job that requires repetitive motions and tasks, getting dirty, spending lots of time bent over, consistently lifting 50 pounds, and working outside in weather that is hot, cold, wet, windy, humid, as well as those beautiful blue bird days we all love! Expect your body to take 2-3 weeks to physically adjust to the demands of the job. About you: The ideal candidate is comfortable in their own skin and is not afraid to ask questions. You are extremely punctual and walk beside us between tasks, not behind us. You are fast moving, efficient, detail oriented and hard-working while being pleasant and good humored. You have experience in some kind of physical work – landscaping, restaurants, etc. You are curious about food and food systems, whether it’s organic production methods, food policy, or just how to be a better cook with better ingredients. You love being outside. You are able to work for long stretches both independently and with a crew. You are forward thinking and able to ask for help and clarification when you need it. You are good natured and curious. You are not offended when corrected and are able to receive and respond to constructive criticism. We are a small but mighty team and finding the right personalities to join our crew is important. We work hard and we work fast, but we laugh a lot along the way. We’ll teach you how to bunch kale like a boss and sling radishes at market, but we can’t teach curiosity and a sense of humor. Those we need you to bring! Compensation: Starting at $10/hour, pay increase after a 30 day trial period based on experience and performance. End of the year bonus for finishing the season. Any vegetables the farm is producing. If housing/RV is provided compensation details may change, we will discuss that on a case by case basis. Start date: Mid-April End date: Between Thanksgiving and Christmas To apply: Please submit a resume and cover letter introducing yourself and why you are interested in the job to [email protected]. We will start scheduling interviews in early January. Our farm address is 3844 State Road 13 N, Noblesville, IN 46060. Please find us on the map and consider commute time (or living in the area if the RV is appealing) before you apply. Thanks for your interest in working with us this season! About us: Full Hand Farm is a diverse year-round organic farm in Central Indiana, about 40 minutes northeast of Indianapolis. We farm five acres of vegetables using a mix of mechanical and hand scale production techniques, including about half an acre in unheated high tunnels. We grow 40 different crops throughout the year and specialize in a consistent year round supply of salad greens for market. We sell at one farmer’s market in the summer, two markets in the winter and deliver to about 25 restaurants in Indianapolis. 2020 will be our 9th season. We are committed to building and maintaining a farm business that treats both the land and the people growing the food we sell with care and respect. That means we use cover crops, crop rotation, organic seeds and fertilizers, beneficial insects, lots of row cover, and tractor and hand scale cultivation to steward and improve our ground, rather than synthetic chemical inputs. We value the wildness of the woods and the unmown patches of grass within our farm and along our roadside as valuable space and important habitat for the wider eco system around us, as we depend on that eco system to keep our farm and our spirits balanced. Treating our team with care and respect means we are strict about keeping work hours regular and reasonable, pay overtime if necessary, encourage a week off within the season, provide lunch from time to time, and truly care about the personal and professional development of our crew. 4 out of 6 of our 2019 crew members will be returning for the 2020 season. Although this isn’t a formal internship/apprenticeship program, there are ample opportunities to learn production methods and business strategy on the job, especially for a self-starter interested in managing and/or owning a farm someday. We love to answer questions, explain the ins and outs of why we use one seeder over another and how we decide which implement to use in the field. The strength of the organic farming community is built on open and transparent information sharing between farmers and we are enthusiastic supporters of that – we’ll talk farming til the proverbial cows come home if you’re interested. We don’t have a website, but we do have a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/fullhandfarm) and Instagram account (@fullhandfarm) worth peeping for a fuller picture of our operation. We are honored to have been among the guests on Chris Blanchard’s Farmer to Farmer podcast in 2018 and a little more about us can be heard on that episode: https://www.farmertofarmerpodcast.com/episodes/fullhand
Comments are closed.
|
send us your classifieds!Everyone is welcome to post opportunities (jobs, internships, equipment, land, etc.) as well as things you're searching for (land, equipment, vendors for your market, etc.). Posting is free - we just want to help get the word out! Archives
January 2024
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
|
ABOUT |
RESOURCES |
CONTACT |