Are you interested in learning how and helping to produce healthy, nutrient dense food?
Do you love animals and working outside in nature?
Do you want to build more skills so that you can explore & discover what you love and move into more specialization in regenerative agriculture?
At Hawk’s Journey Farm, we combine biological farming, regenerative agriculture, permaculture and holistic management to raise livestock, perennial food and herbs and annual crops. We build the things we learn into training programs through our outreach and education company Simple Soil Solutions. Our mission is to heal ourselves and our community, starting with the soil. We are located on 483 acres in Gladstone, VA and border the James River. For more info about us, please check our websites at: https://simplesoilsolutions.com/ and https://abc-beef.com, and our videos on Vimeo and YouTube.
We are building our core team for the long run and need a full-time person (average 40-50 hours/week) to work mostly with our two gardens, perennial orchards, grounds and horse care, but also assist when needed with our grass-fed beef cattle operation, ABC Cattle Company and ABC Beef (About Being Conscious Grass Beef), under the management of the farm owner. We pay a living wage, invest in amazing training opportunities, and offer many other benefits as well.
We are seeking a full-time, hard working, detail-oriented person who knows they want to work with a regenerative and holistic farm as a life path. We are looking for a long-term team member that will make a difference and develop with us. Many opportunities for moving into management and more specialized positions or parts of our business model after you demonstrate your ability to learn and integrate new skills, positive attitude and integrity.
Essential Daily Responsibilities:
- Organic Garden & Orchard Care
- Lots of weeding in our organic no-till gardens – No chemicals and minimum or no tillage
- Assist with planting and harvesting etc. in gardens and orchards
- Document what we are doing and learning by taking daily photographs & videos of gardens and plant conditions
- For management, research and teaching – Document in garden notebook time spent in garden and what you were doing for our research and teaching and management purposes. Make planting and care maps of any treatments you did showing where you worked and what you did.
- Possibly assist soil sampling and plant tissue sampling for research and management decisions
- Horse & Animal Care
- Feed & Care for whatever animals we have on the farm, such as personal horses, cows, chickens, cat and/or dog as needed
- Document what we are do-ing and learning by taking daily photographs & videos of paddocks and animal condition and behavior
- Fly and tick prevention and detection on horses
- Horse grooming skills preferred – or we can train you if you want to learn
- Help implement grazing plans including moving horses and temporary electric fencing
- Check electric fences – power supply and current on the fence itself to make sure they are operating correctly
- Check all animal behavior (cows, chickens, horses, cat, dog). Does anyone appear ill? Out of sorts? Injured? Lame?
- Make daily observations of all animals, write/log records to document what the cattle are eating (grass, hay, minerals, etc), what treatments were applied, cattle health & habits, grazing plan, and others as season and animal health dictates- (Same for the horses)
- Muck horse run in sheds including poop on road where horses use to access grazing areas
- Spread hay on areas with bare soil
- Scrub horse feed buckets
- Check minerals for cattle and or horses (refill as needed)
- Check water for all animals on the farm make sure automatic water is working properly and all water provided to animals is fresh and clean
Other Duties:
- Small & Large Equipment & On and Off-Road Vehicle Maintenance – including washing & vacuuming, keeping fueled, greased, fluids checked, radiators blown off, tires checked, etc.
- Grounds Maintenance – Weed eat and/or mow around fence lines and buildings as needed
- Road & Drainway Maintenance – clearing pipes and maintaining clear and vegetated waterways, dragging and shaping, assisting with new road building and road re-working as needed
- Fence Maintenance – painting fence posts, checking, repairing, brush removal & clearing, mowing or weed eating fence lines that need to stay clear
- Orchard Care Assistance – mulching, pruning, weeding and weed eating, harvesting, fertilizing
- Cattle Care / Livestock Care Assistance – Learn & apply low-stress animal handling techniques and natural health care
- Push out round bales if needed and with assistance as needed in winter to cover ground and feed cattle or livestock
- Load/unload hay (square bales) by hand
- Operate farm equipment and vehicles
- Check beef & meat freezers to make sure they are on and operating correctly
- Field Maintenance – to include planting, spraying with organic fertilizer, mowing, etc.
- Support field operations, including tillage, planting, cultivation, harvest, and cover crop establishment
- Tasks may consist of driving tractors, feeding hay, hauling cattle, working cattle (tagging, etc.) building and mending fences, minor maintenance on-farm equipment
- Preparing ground for planting with hand tools or possibly tractors, depending on experience
- Miscellaneous on-farm tasks, often involving moving heavy things around the farm
- Special Projects (carpentry, mushrooms, planting prep, loading/unloading hay, permaculture earthworks planning & installation, etc.).
Must be willing & able to:
- Must be able to lift 50lbs (at least)
- Must be able to walk long distances comfortably and efficiently.
- Work in all kinds of weather and in brush and thick/tall vegetation as needed.
- Work long or emergency hours when weather or animal health requires it.
- Work weekends and overtime hours.
- Work holidays as needed.
- Follow directions, organizational systems, checklists and procedures.
- Work alone unsupervised.
- Jump in to help other team members as needed.
Experience:
- Experience working on a farm individually and as part of a team.
- Experience with computer and mobile technology is a must.
- Experience with permaculture design, advanced grazing techniques, holistic management and biodynamic agriculture is preferred.
- Tractor experience preferred willing to train the right candidate
Minimum Requirements:
- A valid driver’s license and a good driving record.
- No drugs, alcohol abuse or other addictions.
- A sense of humor and FUN!
If you are a hard worker, detail-oriented with a good work ethic and feel this job is right for you, please apply! Relevant experience is preferred but not required, as we are prepared to invest in your training, but a good attitude and willing spirit are essential!
This job is for those who are willing to persevere even when things are tough, with open discussion as to how we can make things better in the long run.
Our farm in Nelson County, VA is very quiet and located centrally between three larger towns/cities (Charlottesville 1 hour; Richmond 1.5 hour; and Lynchburg – 45 minutes). We have a diverse team on-site daily, but there will be times when you may be living on the farm alone when the owner is away for short periods. There are also times when we are having workshops and work projects with many people on-site and staying at the farm (< 35 average). If overall peace and quiet, mixed with busy and bustling times sounds like a good mix, then this job will give you plenty of that variety. You will also have opportunities to interact with amazing mentors, teachers and people coming for workshops, work projects, etc. When you desire, there are small towns and communities within 30 minutes (Appomattox, Amherst, Lovingston).
Limited on-farm housing (clean, smoke-free, mold-free, nice camper with lots of windows) with shared bathroom/shower/laundry is available to rent.
Additional housing rentals are usually available in the Yoga & Spiritual Community (https://www.yogaville.org/), or in and around the towns of Lovingston, Appomattox or Amherst, all 30 minutes away.
Please CLICK HERE to download our application. Once you’ve filled it out, send it with your résumé and cover letter that describes your goals and why you want to work with us in regenerative agriculture to jobs@simplesoilsolutions.com.
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