Bullock Lake Farm ,Organic Farm Apprentice Job Vacancy in Canada

Position: Organic
Farm Apprentice
Type: full-time apprenticeship with housing, food, stipend, more (see below)
Organization: Bullock Lake Farm http://www.bullocklakefarm.com
Location: Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

About the farm

Bullock Lake Farm is

a diversified 25 acre farm on beautiful Salt
Spring Island. We cultivate 2.5 acres of organic vegetables, cut
flowers, and berries. Additionally, we raise a diversity of
garden-integrated and pastured livestock on a small scale, including
heritage breed pork, poultry, lamb, and bees. The farm is situated on
Bullock Lake, approximately 2 km from the town of Ganges. We sell our
products through a 40-member CSA, two weekly farmers markets, grocery
store contracts, and specialty flower orders (including full-service
wedding design). Additionally, we offer an agritourism-type farm
accomodation during most of the main season. This is a high energy
farm that is run by a dedicated young farmer couple and is a hub of
community activity. We work hard but we also strive to have fun. This
is our fifth year on this farm after three years of our own
apprenticeships.

About the Apprenticeship

The apprenticeship lasts from March 15 until October 31, with possible
extra opportunities on either end of these dates. There will be a two
week trial period to ensure a good fit for all.

Apprentices will participate in all aspects of the farm. This includes
preparation of seeding and potting mix; care of nursery seedlings;
sowing and transplanting of crops; irrigation; soil health and
fertility management; bed preparation; cover cropping; weed
management; animal husbandry and care; pasture management; harvest and
post-harvest handling; direct marketing through farmer’s markets, CSA,
and wholesale; value added processing; food preservation; general land
care; and infrastructure maintenance.

The emphasis will be on learning by doing, general discussions on
theory, and mentoring with the farmers. The work is diverse and
rewarding but can also be stressful at times, particularly during the
height of summer harvest and garlic season. Our typical workweek is
40-50 hours, five days per week, with at additional 1-2 farmer’s
markets per month. We usually work from 7:30 or 8 am until 5 pm or
later taking a long lunch together every day (each person has a lunch
cooking day). Harvest days during the summer are often longer and we
finish as a team when the work is done. Animal care is a daily
responsibility that will be rotated through-out the season, with each
intern taking on an area of full responsibility as the season
progresses.

Apprentices will be expected to become more efficient and responsible
for various aspects of the farm as the season progresses. We will do a
weekly farm walk to talk about goals, assess crops, and and stay
connected to areas of the field we may not all be paying attention to
daily. As skills are developed, apprentices will be given
responsibility for a crop from seed to harvest.
Apprentices will also be given one garden bed each to use for the
season. We encourage apprentices to further practice skills such as
succession planting as well as conducting their own experiments. The
apprentice will be fully supported in these areas of collaborative
learning.

Our group lunch is a great opportunity to communicate as a team about
general farm topics. There is also an extensive farm library in the
farmhouse from which apprentices are welcome to borrow books. There
will be two working day visits to other farms during the course of the
season.

The ideal apprentice will be a self-motivated, positive, and
physically fit person who is able to work well in a team as well as
independently. You must be able to lift 40 lbs. Farming will challenge
and teach you—the ability to take constructive feedback and a good
sense of humor are a must.

Apprentices have a few housing options. One is a suite attached to the
main farmhouse with a full kitchen, full bathroom, lake-view balcony,
sleeping loft, and bedroom nook. This space doubles as the common
space and primary kitchen and bathroom. Other sleeping options include
a converted craft studio near the house and a clean camper. All
apprentices will use the common kitchen. There are several outdoor
spaces on the farm for fires and gatherings, and the farm has a
private dock for farm use. There is a washer and dryer in the
farmhouse basement and wireless internet. The farm is a five minute
walk from the bus line.

We offer a $500 monthly stipend as well as limited meat/eggs from the
farm and all the veggies you can eat. We encourage our apprentices to
enjoy cooking with the huge diversity of options available to them.
It’s one of the biggest perks of this job! Apprentices will have five
work days off during the farm season. These days will need to be
coordinated with other team members.

About the Farmers

We are a young farm family who recently welcomed our first child to the farm.

Molly has a background in Environmental Studies and agroecology. She
completed her degree at the University of California Santa Cruz. She
is the master organizer, succession planner, and business
administrator as well as the farm’s flower wizard and weed control
captain.

Zack studied sustainable design and Social Ecology at Burlington
College in Vermont. Here he completed his Permaculture design
certificate and found the joys of growing food to feed others.
He has found farming to be the perfect combination of design, ecology
and delicious reward. He is the field preparation, infrastructure, and
animal guy. He is also always scheming up fun activities for farm free
time, like his famous downhill slip and slide.

We both believe in the concept of Right Livelihood and in the
importance of farmers making a good living and living an enjoyable
life. We take our work very seriously but try not to take ourselves
too seriously.

To Apply

Please send a resume and three references to:
info@bullocklakefarm.com

All emails will be answered and candidates that seem like a good fit
will be asked to interview over the phone or Skype. If possible, a
visit in person is always the best.

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