YA Apprenticeship 2025: Kelowna, BC - Lentelus Farms and Creekside Meats

YA Apprenticeship 2025: Kelowna, BC – Lentelus Farms and Creekside Meats

Are you a young, aspiring farmer interested in learning about regenerative meat production from field to fork, including meat processing? Lentelus Farms may be the apprenticeship for you!

ABOUT LENTELUS FARMS

Lentelus Farms is an agroecological family farming business on Vancouver Island and more recently Kelowna as well. We strive to practice a form of agriculture that is regenerative and restorative to the lands which we farm.

During the growing season, all of our animals are raised out in our pastures. These pastures have been seeded with a diversity of species to allow the livestock to browse a variety of forages. We believe in allowing our animals to express their true selves, and we support this by providing them with everything they need.

About the Apprenticeship:

As an apprentice at Lentelus farms you will be a part of a dynamic team of farmers dedicated to putting in the hard work it takes to produce healthy, regenerative meat. Your primary focus will be in working with the state of the art pastured chicken operation. Lentelus is proud to be producing the healthiest, cleanest and happiest chickens around in their new RovaBarn700, robotic solar powered chicken barns. These innovative, state of the art structures allow the chickens to grow fat on fresh pasture as it automatically moves onto fresh pasture every few hours! The even distribution of manure over the field is a huge benefit to the system, building soil, one chicken wing at a time.

You will be trained in tractor operation and other farm equipment use jobs, like mowing and moving livestock trailers around the farm. You will be feeding and caring for livestock and helping manage the pasture. You’ll assist with building and repairing fences and other livestock related infrastructure projects.

You will also have the opportunity to train on the meat processing side of things with Creekside Meats, a provincially inspected abattoir and meat cutting plant that allows Lentelus farms to process their meat and create value added products right on the farm. This is a totally unique opportunity with a ton of future job potential as farm adjacent careers like butchery are very much in demand.

LEARN :

Humane slaughter practices, both within commercial facilities and at Farmgate settings.
Hands-on training in whole carcass butchery for beef, lamb, pork, and poultry
Instruction in value-added processing techniques such as smoking and curing
Learn about how value add products can increase farm profitability and sustainability.

About the Farm Mentor:

Dave is a South African born farmer, who has built a successful mixed farming enterprise over the last decade across four leased farms, including a farm on Vancouver Island and another in Kelowna with a licensed abattoir and custom meat cutting business. The farm on Vancouver island includes a market garden, farm store and a small grass fed cattle operation. Dave started a licensed abattoir and partnered with a distribution company to deliver his pasture raised meats all over BC at his Kelowna location. Dave has a passion for teaching and has run several intro to regenerative farming and intro to meat processing programs for the Province. Having Dave as a mentor would be a huge support and great opportunity!

Skills this farm has to teach:

Regenerative Pasture management	Humane Livestock Care
Pivoting farming models	NO Till Methods
assessing soil health	Profitable farm business practices
Humane Slaughter and butchery practices	making specialty meat products

Housing, Wage, and Duration

Apprentices are paid $22/hour and work 40 hours/week with some weekends required.
There is no on farm accommodation, however Dave is happy to assist the apprentice in whatever way possible to secure housing, if the apprentice is moving to the area for the opportunity.
This apprenticeship runs April to December, with opportunities for continued employment for the right candidate.
Preference will be given to applicants eligible for the Youth Employment Skills training program (18 to 30 year olds), but everyone is encouraged to apply!

About the Community and Land

The farm is situated in the heart of Kelowna and borders Mission creek, and is ten minutes from downtown. It is a 35 acre property, owned by a non-profit (The Okanagan Fruit Tree Project Society), who also actively run a community garden on the property. Dave and his sister’s family live on-site. Kelowna is a vibrant community, with lots of outdoor recreation right at one’s back door.

Website: http://lentelusfarms.com/

Instagram: @lentelusfarms