Farm Apprentice – Wiscasset, ME
Organization: Chewonki Foundation, Inc
Job Title: Seasonal Farm Apprentice
Location: Wiscasset, ME
Hours and Compensation: room and board, stipend of $100/wk
Benefits: insurance
Position Dates: summer
Application Deadline: rolling
Posted on: May 15
Organization Overview
Chewonki Foundation, Inc., is a year-round, nonprofit environmental education center based on a 400-acre peninsula in mid-coast Maine. We offer semester school for high school juniors, summer camps for boys and girls, co-ed wilderness expeditions for teens and adults, programs for independent and public school groups, and traveling natural history programs. Visit our web site at www.chewonki.org The farm itself is small and diversified, and its primary goal is to educate program participants while producing food, wood products, and fiber for the community. There are approximately 15 acres of open land. One acre is cultivated for vegetable gardens and the remaining 14 are pasture and hay fields. There are also approximately 150 acres of managed woodlot. The gardens are intensively managed and are the primary focus of our work during the growing season, producing 10-15,000 pounds of vegetables annually for consumption in our dining hall. We raise livestock for milk, meat, and fiber. We keep one or more dairy cows, which we milk by hand and breed them annually, resulting in steady milk production as well as beef for the kitchen. The farm keeps 7-10 brood ewes, producing 10-12 lambs each spring, for meat and fiber. We raise 40-100 laying hens, free-ranging most of the year. One hundred and fifty broilers are pasture-pen raised in the late summer/fall and slaughtered on-site. Spring piglets are purchased in May and raised throughout the growing season for fall slaughter. One Belgian draft horse provides much of the power for the farm operation including plowing and garden cultivation; hay cutting, tedding, and raking; winter logging and wood hauling; and a wide variety of other tasks. We are always looking for ways to expand our knowledge and effective, safe utilization of draft horsepower. Whenever possible, horsepower is emphasized as a sustainable and rewarding method of accomplishing valuable labor. We also have a tractor that we use primarily for moving material, turning the compost, cutting hay, and clipping pasture. We cut between 5-10 acres of our own hay with a sickle bar mower and bring it in loose. We buy in the remainder of our hay in bales from a local farmer. During hay season we retrieve the bales directly from local fields after he cuts them and unload them into our barn loft. The farm, in cooperation with the Maintenance staff, maintains the majority ofits own buildings, grounds, and
machinery.
Mission
Chewonki is dedicated to helping people grow individually and in community with others by providing
educational experiences that foster an understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the natural world and that
emphasize the power of focused, collective effort.
Objective
Education is central to Chewonki’s mission and to that end the Apprentice must consider him/herself a teacher
as well as a learning farmer. Our working farm is the context for our educational programs, rather than a
traditional classroom setting, the Apprentice needs to be comfortable and adept with teaching as he/she works
alongside students and program staff
Responsibilities
• Help with tasks necessary for the production of crops and care of livestock
• Integrate workhorse into general farm tasks
• Help with maintenance and care of pasture and harvesting of hay
• Work with Semester School students during the academic year through work program and chores
• Work with Boys Camp participants and Outdoor Classroom students on various work projects during the
season
• Assist in overseeing student summer farm help
• Organize and maintain tools (mechanized and otherwise)
• Maintain buildings in coordination with facilities department
• Attend various staff meetings
Chores to care for livestock are done at the beginning and end of every day throughout the year. Generally, our
workday is between ten to 11 hours daily, five days a week, and can be more during hay season. Chore weekend
responsibilities alternate with “off” weekends. All farm crew members will attend Food Action Committee
meetings.
February – March: Semester School in session, work program, focus on firewood and woodlot work, early hoop
house growing, seed starting, portable fence repair, and lambing
April – May: Semester School and Outdoor Classroom in session, work program, seed starting, garden
plowing/cultivating/planting, pasture rotation, mowing, fence maintenance
June-August: Boys Camp in session, Farm Activity support, intensive garden and pasture work, haying,
harvesting for kitchen
September –December: Semester School and Outdoor Classroom in session, work program, harvesting and
storing crops, processing meat birds, cover cropping, manure spreading, machinery repair and winterizing,
livestock to slaughter, begin wood season preparations
Late December – January: Semester School and Outdoor Classroom on break, farm crew takes approximately
three weeks of downtime doing only chores and necessary tasks. Late January farm crew prepares for the
Semester.
Qualifications
• Interest in education-based, diversified farming
• Good communication skills
• Ability to live and work in a small community
• Ability to oversee a work crew, as well as manage projects collaboratively
How to Apply:
To apply, submit a cover letter, resume, three references w/contact information to the address below or by fax
or email (single file electronic submission preferred).
Human Resources
Chewonki Foundation, Inc
485 Chewonki Neck Road
Wiscasset, Maine 04578
[email protected]
207-882-9564 Confidential Fax
