Advanced Apprenticeship

Description

About Advanced Apprenticeship:

The goal of the Quail Hill Farm apprenticeship is for beginning farmers to develop their farm management skills and understanding of organic farm systems. Over the course of nine months, we develop individualized learning goals and provide coaching and mentorship to help apprentices meet those goals. We envision this position as bridging the gap that commonly exists between first- or second-year farm apprenticeships and the skills required for more advanced farm positions.

Ours is a working and learning environment that prioritizes communication, feedback, and horizontal/collective decision-making whenever possible. Our work week, which is Tuesday-Saturday, involves two longer-form staff meetings and daily morning meetings to discuss work plans and goals. We are a formerly certified organic farm– we grow using organic practices. As a not-for-profit, community farm and primarily Pick-Your-Own Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm, we seek apprentices who are committed to building positive relationships in service to our farm members, volunteers and community partners.

Throughout the season, apprentices gain a solid foundation on many diverse skills that are both specific to our operations at QHF, as well as skills with broader application to one’s farming career: from tractor operation, managing a pick-your-own CSA, propagation and waterwheel transplanting, flower arrangement, harvest coordination and post-harvest handling, apprentices work closely with managers and fellow farmers to make progress on individual learning goals.

About Quail Hill Farm:

Quail Hill Farm operates on 30 acres on a larger 220-acre agricultural reserve in Amagansett, NY on the East End of Long Island. With a total of 8 to 9 farmers, we grow for a highly unique pick-your-own Summer CSA, a Winter CSA, farmers markets, and wholesale to local restaurants. Since 2019, we administer/manage/operate a donor supported Farm to Food Pantry program ( a wholesale-style CSA) in partnership with a local partner organization and have engaged our CSA members in subsidizing some farm shares through a sliding scale CSA pricing option. We grow over 60 types of vegetables and more than 500 varieties of vegetables, herbs and cut flowers. Quail Hill Farm began in 1990, and its apprenticeship program has grown along with the farming operation since its founding. As a stewardship project of the Peconic Land Trust, Quail Hill Farm is at a unique intersection of community farming and land conservation work.

Our operation runs out of three fields that are structured differently: a highly diverse pick-your-own CSA field with maximum variety of mixed succession plantings and fruiting crops; a streamlined, production-oriented mixed veg field for our market, wholesale and food access partners; and bulk crops field where we grow larger acreages of storage crops for our Summer and Winter CSAs.

2025 will be our 36th season of CSA farming in Amagansett, and the farm is in a transitional phase of expanding our farmer housing and infrastructure. Our strategic decisions are made in service to our three primary pillars: education, community and production.

Work Hours:

The Apprenticeship begins in early April 2024 (date TBD) and ends on November 22, 2025. Our work week falls Tuesday through Saturday, and work hours vary depending on the season, with a minimum of 35 hours per week.

Mid-March through mid-May: 8:30 to 5:00 pm

Mid-May through early October: 7:30 to 5:00 pm

Early October through end of season: 8:30 to 5:00 pm

Every day includes a one-hour, unpaid lunch break. Each crew member is responsible for covering farm chores one day during the weekend per month.

Compensation:

• Wage of $17 per hour
• Monthly cellphone reimbursement ($30/month) based on eligibility
• Potential $450 educational stipend (reimbursable)
• Overtime paid out over 40 hours per week worked
• 40 hours of paid personal time to be used as accrued
• 40 hours of paid sick time to be used as accrued
• Free shared housing off-site with 1 hour/week maintenance requirements
• Free vegetables, flowers, and herbs

Housing:

• A private room in a house shared with other farm staff. Housing is located off-site. Apprentices must have reliable transportation to commute to satisfy scheduled work hours, and that can withstand inclement weather and the lack of bicycle paths.

• Internet, cable and telephone are not provided.

Educational Opportunities:

Through our unique rotations system, apprentices cycle through leadership and management of most of the essential systems of our farm, including: propagation, water wheel transplanting, PYO CSA management, harvest coordination, post-harvest handling and marketing, and cut flower harvest and arranging. Apprentices will learn and execute a wide range of tractor work, typically walking away with 25-50 hours of operational time.

In addition to learning by working on our 30-acre farm, apprentices will receive paid instruction through classroom-based learning (from Quail Hill Farm staff, Peconic Land Trust staff, and local and regional leaders in farming and food systems work).

Topic areas include:

• Soil science
• Plant nutrition
• Botany
• Crop planning
• Pest & Disease Management
• Self-care for farmers
• Tractor mechanics, maintenance, safety
• Farm Finance and Business planning
• Grant Writing
• Cover Crops
• Easements and land acquisition
• Herbalism
• Field Production skills
• Racial equity and food justice

In order to meet our production goals during the high season, we tend to follow an inverse bell curve with regards to our classroom and training, which predominantly occur in the spring and fall. All apprentices are encouraged to attend meetings of the East End CRAFT https://www.eastendfood.org/fo... group throughout the season.

Essential Job Duties:

• Greenhouse management
• Waterwheel transplanting and direct seeding
• Hoeing, hand weeding and thinning field crops
• Leading and participating in harvests
• Creating harvest lists
• On-farm accounting
• Manage U-pick signage
• Washing and packing
• Trellising and staking
• Pest and disease control
• Mowing and weed whacking
• Mulching
• Record keeping
• Attending the Farmers Market
• Tractor, vehicle and small tool maintenance
• Building and maintaining positive relationships with CSA members
• Follow all safety instruction, policies and standards