Ok, we just can't stand it any longer. We've gotten so darn smart with all this grazing and sustainable farming stuff, our heads are about to explode. It's time to share our knowledge and experience with others who want genuine experience with grassfed pasture-based livestock farming.
Our organization, MADE in Schoharie County (see more about us, left), would like to host a crew of summer interns on our respective farms for 15 weeks, from late May through Early August 2007 (with the potential for a longer appointment if you are interested). We're seeking an intrepid group of students who are hungry for physical labor, staggeringly beautiful Upstate New York vistas, great food and hard-core intellectual stimulation to come and stay with us. We've got a great summer in the works for you....
You see, we happen to feel that there's more to an internship than grunt work (not that grunt work is bad...we surely won't deprive you of it). It should be about getting to know great people, and acquiring the intellectual and experiential tools you'll need to break out on your own.
And that's what we want to offer you. Applicants accepted into our program will have the opportunity to work on a successful pasture-based farm, dealing with every aspect of small-scale livestock production from pasture and livestock management, to meat cutting and sales...and we'll even teach you how to cook it. You'll do it all. Plus, just to make sure all the experience is driven home, you will participate in a series of on-farm workshops, geared toward teaching you everything we might forget to teach you in the field. We'll be calling in a team of experts (some from among our members, some from other places) to teach the following courses:
* Holistic Resource Management
* Developing a Business and Marketing Plan
* Farm Financial Planning and Management
* Grazing Land Management
* Monitoring the Health of the Farm and Family Ecosystem
* Marketing Farm Products
* Meat Identification, Handling, Cooking and Food Safety
We feel these workshops are critically important to the success of your internship (reading between the lines: "unless you're throwing up, we want to see you there"). They will not only provide you with important information, they'll get you out and about to see other farms and meet other interns. It will be a time to socialize, gossip about your host farmers behind their backs, laugh, and think hard.
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!! Did we mention you'll be
compensated? Every farm has a different compensation package and labor requirement. Some will offer food and housing in exchange for 20 hours per week, some offer pay for full-time work. Each farm has posted its compensation package. If you would like specific details from any of them, feel free to contact them directly.
If you're interested in applying, contact us soon. Spaces are limited and competitive.
MEET THE FARMS OK. Now pay close attention, because you'll need to select your top two choices for host farms when you fill out your application.
Heather Ridge Farm.
Carol Clement
989 Broome Center Road, Preston Hollow, NY 12469 518-239-6234
Carol works full-time operating with Heather Ridge Farm, a diversified grass-based farm. Her husband, John Harrison, currently works off-farm but helps part-time along with other seasonal workers. Grassfed beef and lamb, pastured pigs, chickens and turkeys are raised, and products marketed directly to the consumer at the on-farm store and a farmers market. The farm is one of the current four farms licensed to utilize the NYS-approved mobile meat processing unit. Carol is also a beekeeper, teaching beekeeping workshops on and off farm. Her honey has been honored with the designation “Best Honey in the Hudson Valley” by Hudson Valley Magazine (2005). Honey and other specialty products are produced in the farm’s certified kitchen as well as candles, soaps and other related items.
HEATHER RIDGE INTERNSHIP JOB DESCRIPTION:
The intern at Heather Ridge Farm will be totally involved in all aspects of living and working on the farm. Along with Carol, John and other possible workers, all tasks are shared. Tasks include any combination of the following: feeding and watering animals, moving animals and fencing, pasture and fence maintenance, cleaning after animals and people, going to market, painting, bottling honey, labeling, inventory, cooking, store clerking, computer work, animal socialization, hauling feed, gardening, and anything else that comes up!
If receiving college credit, the intern will be provided with on-farm housing and a food allowance. The noncredit intern will receive agricultural minimum wage less the value of housing and food allowance. 40 hours of work a week over five or six days will be planned.
Nagimor Farm and Kennel
Nancy, Gil and Morgan Chichester
165 Hite Road Warnerville, NY 12187
(518) 254-0021 nagimor@
msn.com
Nagimor farm and kennel has evolved over the past 20 years. It began in southern Schoharie County as the result of receiving a wedding gift of two ewes and 8 acres of land. Pigs, chickens, and beef were added over the years so that more grassland was needed.
In 2004, we purchased a 79 acre parcel in central Schoharie County on Hite Road. We have 30 breeding ewes that produced approximately 50 lambs this year, to be totally finished on grass. Additionally, we have raised 6 Angus steers, 12 pigs and a small flock of pastured poultry to be sold at farmers' markets in Schenectady and Cooperstown, NY, as well as from our farm. We look to expand production in the future by marketing though a meat CSA.
We subscribe to the principals of sustainable agriculture and have particpiated in study groups developed to foster Holistic Resource Management.
NAGIMOR INTERNSHIP JOB DESCRIPTION:
An Intern at Nagimor Farm & Kennel will be involved in the following:
1.Planning and implementing an annual rotational grazing plan including the supply of water as necessary.
2.Assist with the maintenance and movement of livestock by way of installing and moving portable fencing.
3.Monitoring and managing all livestock needs on a daily basis.
4.Construction and maintenance of portable poultry housing.
5.Assist with the construction and maintenance of an “egg mobile”.
6.Assist in the processing of meat produced on the farm using the “mobile meat processing facility” operational in our area.
7.Assist in marketing produce at farmers’ markets, at the farm as well as through the ongoing efforts to develop a CSA.
8.Assist with other enterprises that have been developed, i.e. the boarding kennel and possibly the breeding/welping/raising of sheep guard dogs.
9.Participate in training developed by / with other MADE members.
10.Assist in developing new modes of advertising / promoting the farm and its products.
11.Any other necessary and related activities.
Compensation:
1.Room and Board.
2.profits from enterprises developed by an intern on the farm as arranged.
Sap Bush Hollow Farm.
Jim, Adele & Shannon Hayes, Bob, Saoirse and Ula Hooper
1314 W. Fulton Rd Warnerville, NY 12187
(518) 234-2105 sapbush@midtel.net
Home to Jim, Adele and Shannon Hayes and Bob, Saoirse and Ula Hooper, we are a crew of 1st,2nd, 3rd and 4th generation farmers who've been raising pastured lamb, beef, pork and poultry in the hills of West Fulton since 1979. Profiled as one of the 50 most innovative farms in the country in The New American Farmer, we've pioneered a motley assortment of practices to make a fruitful, harmonious living on hilly, rocky soils. We process our chickens and turkeys in a simple on-farm processing workshop, and we process all our own meat using our own on-farm NYS licensed 5-A processing facility. We direct market all products from the farm and two small farmer's markets. We have a ton of degrees among us, including bachelors, masters and a couple of Ph.D.s, all in sustainable agriculture, animal science and various ecological practices. Sap Bush Hollow is the inspirational home for Shannon Hayes author of The Grassfed Gourmet the acclaimed cookbook on grassfed meats. We all eat very well on this farm, as you may imagine.
SAP BUSH HOLLOW JOB DESCRIPTION:
Our intern will participate in all phases of care and responsibilities associated with the operation of this farm.
Examples of work to be performed: feeding of all livestock (sows, piglets, beef, ewes, lambs, dogs, chicks, layers, broilers, and caring for and milking our jersey cow, Trill) lambing chores, fencing, critical observation, mending and repairing; responsible interaction with customers, neighbors and any other visitors, periodic cooking (w/instruction and supervision if necessary), records management, inventory control, grounds maintenance,gardening, processing of livestock, marketing and selling of products and livestock, and reporting damage and repairing of infrastructure items when necessary.
We seek an intern who will show care and sensitivity to all animals and people they come in contact with at all times.
Successful applicant should be able to operate standard transmission vehicles and a tractor(or be willing to learn) Position will require walking and outdoor work daily, rain or shine. Appropriate clothing is a requirement for this position – rainwear, sun protection, cold and hot weather garments, and excellent traction shoes for a variety of terrain.
We attempt to operate under the principles of holistic management and, therefore, the intern will have a role in discussion and decision making.
Compensation: Average 40 hours/week. A 15 week internship. Compensation depends on your experience and education requirements.
Housing and food are available on the farm, (we typically include lunch gratis). Housing alternatives may also be available in neighboring villages.
A personal vehicle for independence is advisable.
Please be aware that we do not allow smoking on the farm.
