Lewis Creek Farm Job Opening
Posted 5/1/2021

Vegetable Growing and Marketing

Requirements        Special Consideration       Scheduling and Flexibility       Individual Responsibilities and Team Effort      Your Experience       Physically Demanding      Compensation       Commitment to the Season    How to Apply

Growing and Marketing:
There's are a wide variety of jobs involved in growing and marketing vegetables. As member of this crew, you'll do everything from seeding the crops on the farm, to selling them at the farmers' market. You'll have both your own specific responsibilities and join the greater crew with other jobs as part of the team effort of getting great fresh food to our customers. This is meaningful physical work with a good mix of autonomy, team work and flexibility.

Requirements:
  • You need to be available full time: 40 hrs. per week.
  • You must have some weekend availability. Sometimes Saturday, sometimes Sunday, occasionally both. Not every week. We can be flexible.
  • Commitment to the full season starting in early June and working through November 15, 2021
  • You must be comfortable working with the public at our Farmstand and at the Farmers' Market.
  • You need to be in good health, able to lift 50 lbs. and endure extended periods of time standing, bending, stooping, and lifting.
  • You must have a valid driver's license.
  • You will be expected to meet production standards.
  • All positions: Smart, energetic, cheerful and punctual with a strong work ethic.

    Special Consideration will be given to those who:
  • Have previous on-farm experience.
  • Have tractor driving experience.
  • Have truck driving experience
  • Have retail experience
  • Have experience in a fast paced team environment.
  • Have experience in food service.
  • Have experience operating farm machinery.
  • Can drive a standard transmission.
  • Have mechanical or welding skills
  • Have Ag school background
  • Are interested in working more than 40hrs./wk.

    Scheduling and Flexibility:
    There's a lot of work to do and we're looking for full time employees. Many employees even put in considerable amounts of overtime, though it's not required. That's said, we have a lot of flexibility with scheduling.
  • Our standard work schedule is Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm with 1 hour off for lunch.
  • While we do need you for some weekend work, we can often accommodate your individual scheduling needs and can even allow for an occasional long weekend.
    When you are working weekend days, we can give you weekdays off in exchange.
    Sometimes you just need a weekday off to get some personal business done during normal business hours. We can accommodate that.
  • We like to schedule weekends and attendance abnormalities a month in advance if possible, so everyone else can make their plans accordingly.

    Individual Responsibilities and Team Effort:
    It's a real team effort here. Each person has individual responsibilities, and many of the bigger jobs are shared by the whole crew. The jobs we need to do change as the season progresses. You'll participate in most of them. Your personal responsibilities can be shaped by your areas of interest, and your skills.
    This year we're particularly looking for someone to help with wholesale deliveries about 1 day a week as well as all the field work.
    Here's a sampling of the range of jobs you could be involved in over the course of the season.
    In the Greenhouse
  • Seeding
  • Transplanting
  • Watering
  • Fertilizing.

    Tractor work
  • Plowing
  • Harrowing
  • Rototilling
  • Tractor seeding
  • Cultivating
  • Driving wagons of harvested vegetables to the Barn.

    Field work
  • Transplanting
  • Hoeing
  • Weeding
  • Harvesting

    Packing house work.
  • Washing
  • Packing
  • Assembling orders
  • Truck loading

  • Retail work
  • At the Farmstand
  • Farmers' Market assistant
  • Farmers' Market Manager
  • CSA distribution

    Chickens
  • Feeding
  • Pasture moving
  • Gathering Eggs
  • Washing Eggs.

    Deliveries
  • Truck deliveries
  • Van deliveries
  • Your Experience:
    If you have previous experience, great! We really want to hear from you.
    If you haven't done much farming or vegetable work, we can teach you.
    The more experience you have doing the things we need to do here, the more different things you'll end up doing.
    There are many opportunities for motivated individuals to take on more responsibilities.
    Whether you are experienced or new to farming, we'll teach you something new, and we think you'll find it interesting and rewarding.

    Physically Demanding:
    You need to have a strong work ethic, a strong back, and a lot of energy. There is a great deal of bending and lifting, and it requires athletic level of output. We work in all kinds of weather from 95 degrees and sunny to 35 degrees and raining.
  • We had a marathon runner, who stopped running marathons because she was getting so much exercise on the farm.
  • We had a competition bicycle racer who thought for sure he would ride his bike the 5 miles to work every day. He was too tired, and took his car instead.
    This is hard work.

    Commitment to the Season:
    This is a seasonal position, but we need a commitment from you through November 15, 2021. If you are going back to school in the fall, or have some other previous commitment that will prevent you from working the full season, this probably won't work out. For the right person we do have a couple of winter positions that will be filled from the summer crew. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

    Compensation: $15.00/hr

    How to Apply
    Interested? Contact Hank Bissell with a brief outline of your experience and qualifications at:

    lewiscreekfarm@gmavt.net

    or
    Lewis Creek Farm
    PO Box 123
    Starksboro VT 05487

    or
    802-453-4591

    Lewis Creek Farm Home Page