Position: Organic Draft Horse Powered
CSA Farm Intern Summer/Fall 2016
Type:
full-time intern/apprentice with room, board and stipend
Farm:
Orchard Hill Farm
Location:
St. Thomas, near London, Ontario
This is a wonderful chance to learn to work with draft horses and organic
gardening/farming on a successful organic farm. We are seeking interns to live
and work on our farm from now until the end of November.
Orchard Hill Farm is a small organic farm powered by draft horses. Blessed with
excellent soils and a spectacular view, it is located near the shore of Lake
Erie. Our farm team includes two farmers, four interns, nine draft horses, plus
CSA share members. The farm is stewarded by Ken and Martha; their daughter
Ellen and son-in-law Aaron, are also working on the farm this year. Ellen and
Aaron’s 3 year old and 7 month old daughters are the eighth generation of
Martha’s family caring for this land. Currently, the farm produces vegetables
and small fruits for 250 full spring/summer and 100 fall shares in a Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) garden. We also raise and train horses to
sell. Our son, Grayden offers Draft Horse Workshops to teach people about
working with horses. The horses produce compost, provide good field rotations
as we produce their feed and help us reduce our use of fossil fuels.
Other benefits: The position comes with a modest stipend plus room and board.
All meals are eaten in the main farm house “family style”, with
shared cooking responsibility. It allows for continued learning as questions
and ideas about farm practices are discussed. Ken and Martha have over 35 years
of farming experience to draw on. Ken also teaches a EFAO courses on soils and
is passionate about sharing his knowledge of balancing the soils to produce top
quality produce. Ken is experimenting with no-till practices and running
some field trials on the farm to improve soil quality. They also manage a small
scale intensive rotational grazing pastured beef operation. Orchard Hill
Farm is also part of the CRAFT network, so interns will have educational days
on other CRAFT farms, once a month.
For any
questions or to apply, contact:
Ken & Martha Laing
kmlaing @orchardhillfarm.ca*
or phone: 519-775-2670
Note: Applicants
must either be Canadian, or have a Canadian visa to work on our farm.
