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HillsideGarden in Williams Lake, BC is seeking a Farm Hand!
ABOUT HillsideGarden
HillsideGarden is a certified organic (NOOA 04-312) market garden near the Fraser River between Williams Lake and Quesnel BC in the beautiful and wild Chilcotin Cariboo. The garden is 1 1/4 acres in size and lies within 140 acres of lightly forested pasture land where we also keep a small group of cows. They are the main contributors to the fertility and soil building of the garden through composting their manure. They also provide us with their products and the joy of having them around. The farm is in a rural setting, 45 min from the nearest town, and is off-grid, powered by a solar system. We have built this place up from the ground to make it our home and livelihood in the past 8 years.
The garden is worked with a focus on soil building and soil health with regeneration in mind. We apply no-till methods which comes down to basically only use handtools to prepare and work the permanent beds. We emphasize on keeping roots in the ground as much as we can. A bed gets replanted as soon as it is harvested with either a new crop or a covering crop towards the fall, so bed preparation is an ongoing task throughout the season. We grow a broad variety of vegetables and some flowers in the field and in two 90′ caterpillar tunnels to also extend the season. The produce is sold mainly at the Farmer’s Market and at a local retail store.
DESIRED QUALITIES
- A keen interest in organic food and farm life and how to grow it.
- Physically and mentally fit to do repetitive tasks that can include a lot of kneeling, bending or standing and to be able to lift up to 50 lbs.
- A love of being outdoors, also in difficult weather conditions.
- Able to follow directions and focus on a diversity of tasks throughout the day, either working by yourself or in a group/pair alongside the owners.
- And eye for details and the appearance of a product for the market.
- Open and engaged communication skills for a safe, healthy and joyful work environment and the overall life on the farm.
- Reliable, motivated, punctual, focused.
- Experience is not expected but an asset.
A person working and living here for a whole season needs to be somewhat appreciative of the rural setting and the peace and quiet that is available out here. It is a great advantage if you have interests for your off time that go beyond being in front of a screen. There is stunning places in the area to explore and it will enhance your experience greatly if you try it. And we have some wonderful and fun neighbors around too.
JOB TASKS
- Bed preparing and clearing
- Hand weeding and planting, harvesting, washing, cleaning, bunching, packing, weighing (counting!) for market.
- At times walkways may need to be filled with woodchips with a wheelbarrow and shovel.
- Basically all tasks are done by man/woman power. (We do turn the compost by the tractor though, do not worry!)
- Fridays and part or all of Thursdays are mainly spent getting crops harvested and ready for Market on Saturday.
The owners usually go and do the Market on Saturdays themselves, but may be open to look into a switch there if relevant.
JOB DETAILS
Term: This is the first year we offer a seasonal full-time position from mid April to mid October (start/end dates flexible)
Hours per week: 32 – 40 hrs/week, 8 hrs/day, Monday through Fridays, weekends off
Fridays are fixed days. Start/end hrs are usually 8-12.30 and 13.30-17.00, 1 hr lunchbreak unpaid
Wage: $18.00 – $20.00/hr, depending on experience.
Lunch can be (but of course is not mandatory) eaten with us and is free. For ourselves, we like to take the time and cook and eat a properly cooked and wholesome lunch without hurry, as a fixture in the day. We can accommodate certain food requirements if necessary.
Free veggies are available for your personal consumption.
We are in the process of building an individual, small log cabin for your privacy. There is an outhouse, hot shower is available in our basement. The cabin will have limited kitchen setup, but the full kitchen in our house is available to use anytime. Housing is free.
TO APPLY
Please apply with a resume and a cover letter, what you’d like to learn and what your interests are, both professionally and personally. Please attach any references you can provide – thank you. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Please note that we do not have a website (yet, it is in the works) to check out, nor do we do any of the social media. Do not let this discourage you from applying!
Email: fdutoit10@hotmail.com
When applying, please mention you saw this posting at youngagrarians.org
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