Dandelion Spring Farm

This diversified farm worker position prioritizes harvest, washing, and packing, constituting about ⅓ of your time. The remaining time is dedicated to planting, weeding, mulching, seedling, irrigation and other general farm details. Our days are diverse, yet we maintain a structured rhythm throughout the week.

Expectations:

All in!: We’re looking for individuals who are willing to commit to this work and the full season. We show up on time, and are curious. We farm when we’re comfortable (physically & mentally) and when we’re uncomfortable (short of illness).

Production mindset: Efficiency is essential to success. Looking ahead, being aware of the rest of the team, an excitement to essentially look around corners. This is a model of thinking about how to move one’s body and the tools and harvest of farming in the most efficient way possible to set ourselves up for the next step before arriving there.

Stay present: Phones are generally only for taking photos and communicating with each other. While we know there are emergencies and specific scenarios that are important to be flexible, in general, we respect that work is not a time for personal phone calls or messaging.

No butts or buts: We don’t sit on our butts. I’ve experienced a limited range of motion (physically & mentally) when people sit down. We don’t do it. Crawling, bending while kneeling, squating, walking, skipping, running, all good… sitting, not a good match for us.

Communication: As clear and as direct as you are able. A willingness to stretch when communication feels necessary but hard.

Pride: You work hard, and should take pride in it. Make an effort to visit the farmers’ market at least once during the season to experience that perspective on the food you grow. Share your positive outcomes with friends & family by bringing them to the farm for events or quiet tours.

Detail oriented: Relentless attention to detail. Thoroughness. An eye for both quality and efficiency, which can relate to stepping up to finish a project, and also knowing when to walk away.

Respect for plants!: A love of produce and herbs! We spend all day touching plants that become other people’s nourishment. A strong interest and deep respect for the plants is paramount to our success as well as your level of potential investment (and enjoyment) in the work.

Investment: A willingness to look at your surroundings and learn more about it. For example, see a soil related disease creeping up? Mention it. Perhaps take some time in your evening to learn more and share what you’ve learned with the crew the next day.

Strong teamwork: We ask all members of our team to have a willingness to be a leader. Your voice and your impact on the farm team are centered within our production methods.

Self Initiator: While we’ll be a small and tight team, while holding the values of the farm, the ideal candidate will quickly fall into self directed rhythms. Packing the harvest truck the night before, refilling empty containers when you take the last of an item, getting into a self directed flow of moving onto the next item on a harvest list independently.

Broad acceptance of community: Both in respect to who we are as individuals within the farm team, and our larger community. The farm will host various events through the season and it is important that all of our farm team project a sincere welcoming presence.

Positivity. Patience. Flexibility.

The ideal candidate:

Minimum one year direct experience on a production vegetable farm: The first year farming is magical but is often about getting the body used to the physical rhythms of the work. The ideal candidate already knows these rhythms. The farmer with even greater experience has simply had more time to have witnessed the farm landscape and mirror that skill set at Dandelion Spring.

Ability to lift 50 lbs to waist height.

Organic: Experience in certified organic and sustainable agricultural systems.