Internships

Job Description

298 Sluder Branch Rd Leicester, NC 28748

gainesground@gmail.com

sluderbranch@yahoo.com

(828)545-2362

Stipend $800-1000/month

Work Hours  Monday – Friday 6-6, rotating chores on weekends,  market responsibilities.

Mid March- Mid November- 1 to 2 positions; Mid April- Mid October- 2 to 3 positions

Housing offered includes school buses, and barn loft spaces

Community bathroom, laundry, and  kitchen provided; workers responsible for personal effects (soap, detergent) and upkeep.

Food: vegetables, eggs, pork and beef as much as needed to fill you up.

If you have pets that you are wanting to bring with you, they will have to be interviewed as well.

Bulk of work hours spent on vegetable production.  Some work with animals, covering basic care.

Vacation time needs to be scheduled well in advance and coordinated with other workers.

Gaining Ground Farm is owned and operated by Anne and Aaron Grier, along with our 7 year old daughter, Addiebelle and 5 year old son, Cyril.  Gaining Ground Farm is 75 acres consisting of @45 acres of pasture, @16 acres of bottom land in vegetable production, and @15 acres of woods.  We have an 84×22 greenhouse that we heat with a wood stove and two 72×30 high tunnels.  We use a 65hp Kubota tractor, a John Deere 6300, a John Deere 2240, for field work.  We use a Farmall Super A and Farmall C for cultivating.  We run a 25 member CSA and attend 2 markets per week in Asheville.  We have a herd of 25 Red Devon brood cows.  We keep laying hens. We use organic practices on the vegetables, the cattle are 100% grass fed, the chickens are day pastured and fed non organic grain.  We have lots of cats.  Typical work week includes weeding, transplanting, seeding, harvesting and washing, moving cattle, feeding and watering chickens, setting up irrigation, and numerous other chores that pop up.

We are looking for folks to fill the internship(s) that intend to go on to farming in some capacity on your own.  The pay is minimal, the hours long, the work demanding and we need you to care about our farm.  The internship is most useful to all involved if the knowledge and experience are more valuable to you than the money.

In terms of an application, we ask that you provide us with 2 work references as well as 1 housemate reference and answer these questions:

1. What is the hardest physical work you have done? (tasks, hours, duration, etc.)

2. Describe your work ethic as an individual and as part of a team.

3. What experience do you have with gardening or farming? What skills do you have to offer the farm?

4. Please describe your goals in the area of gardening/farming. What do you hope to gain from this internship?

5. Are there any important details about yourself that you’d like to share with us?

6. Do you have diet constraints (vegan, vegetarian, allergies)?

7. What experience do you have with communal living (sharing a kitchen and bathroom with several folks)?

8. How old are you?

You can email your application or send it via snail mail.  Both addresses are at the top of this page.