Type: full-time internship with room & board, stipend, more (see below)
Organization: Kind Organics Inc.
Website: http://www.kindorganics.com
Location: Newmarket, GTA/York Region, Ontario
Kind Organics Internship Program
May 1st 2015- Dec 15th 2015 *staying beyond December is a possiblity…
Organic Small Farm Business
Kind Organics is a certified organic farm located near Toronto,
Canada. We produce about 60 varieties of greens, edible flowers,
herbs, and other seasonal crops. We have several greenhouses on our
main property, which we operate year-round, and a large acreage
located a few minutes from the farm that we cultivate during the
outdoor growing season – between May and October.
It is expected that you have a strong desire to learn about all
aspects of organic farming, be able to lift 50lbs, and have a
reasonably high tolerance for physical labour, allergens, (such as
pollen and dust), heat (summer in greenhouses can be HOT), and to a
lesser degree cold, as you will be outside for a part of each day
regardless of the weather.
Our Culture:
We have about 10 full-time staff and usually host 2-5 Wwoofers at any
one time. We consider our farm a community and believe that while we
must be a sustainable, responsible, safe and profitable business this
depends on fulfilled, nurtured and engaged people desiring to live,
work, and grow here.
To ensure we are growing as people we ask that the staff here
participate in the community by spending time with others, being
honest, listening with an open mind, and being open to dialogue about
their daily experiences on the farm. This creates a shared ‘respectful
understanding’ among the people here and allows us to form social
bonds that are deeper than most traditional workplaces. This can take
the form of simply being open to discussing your feelings ‘in the
moment’ with the regular staff – we have LOTS of experience helping
people access their feelings and helping them to find their ‘truth’.
We sometimes refer to this as ‘doing the work’, which simply means
that some find accessing their feelings and their truth a little
challenging. The personal rewards for this work are significant!
You’ll be able to speak about the things that are bothering you as
well as being able to articulate to others (and yourself) what you
believe to be true.
We hold bi-weekly (twice a month) group circles after work on Fridays
where we share whatever we feel like talking about with our community.
Your attendance at these gatherings is NOT mandatory but is
recommended and seen as a desire to grow yourself and connect more
deeply with YOURSELF.
What you’ll receive:
Room (shared) and board is provided and a $100 stipend will be paid
weekly, plus; e.i., c.p.p and workers comp.
We work 8-10 hours/day on average, 6 days a week. Some days are longer
during the busy season. We are passionate about organic farming and
expect the same of our interns.
Internship Details
Interns will learn about all of the following and be holding the focus
for some of these duties:
• All aspects of soil and hydroponic sprout production
• Soaking, planting, rinsing, watering and harvesting sprouts
• Planting and harvesting petite greens
• Packaging sprouts and greens
• Composting
• Weeding
• Preparing orders and preparing vehicles for farmers markets. Packing
coolers with product, ice packs and packing vehicles
• Seeding – planting lettuces, vegetables and greens such as kale,
tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, lettuces.
• Help to package and create value added products
• Harvesting medicinal and culinary herbs, drying and processing herbs
for culinary blends, tea blends and tincture making, creams, lotions
and lip balms etc…
• Specializing in gourmet baby greens
• Niche market developments
• How to make value added products from your farm goods
• Learn how to convert your raw materials into creative healthy products
• Running a financially prosperous (successful) farming operation
• Wildcrafted herbs, medicinal herbs, tinctures, teas
• Attend a few farmers markets
• Learn how to approach customers, distilled marketing wisdom and
customer service
• Learn about the importance of having good ethics and how that
affects the business
• Learn to create mutually beneficial and financially rewarding
relationships with other market vendors
• Opportunity to develop your own projects.
• Develop a relationship with foragers and wildcrafters
• Some Beekeeping
While we have over 6 years experience running a successful organic
farm business we recognize that there are areas where we can improve
our processes and we welcome and encourage interns to help us improve
and refine our approaches. We value your thoughts and experiences and
have incorporated several creative ideas from past interns.
It will be your responsibility to create a meaningful experience at
Kind Organics. You’ll have the opportunity to explore the art of
living together in community and creating shared space and having
meaningful dialogues about conflicts and confluences that arise along
the way.
You will be empowered with individual responsibilities and will work
as a part of a team on a daily basis. While daily responsibilities
need to be attended to, you are responsible for the pace of your own
learning. There are many resources available at the farm and we can
facilitate your learning. You will choose the pace and it will be your
responsibility to engage us about things you want to learn (we value
interns who recognize the value of self-directed learning).
On-going guidance and focalization can be provided to assist you in
creating a financially viable farming enterprise upon successful
completion of the internship.
To apply send an email with resume to:
kindorganics@gmail.com
