Description
Wild Hope Farm is a certified organic farm in Chester, SC, specializing in vegetable and flower production. The 220 acre property consists of 12 acres in cultivation, greenhouses, walking trails, a 10-acre pond, and diversified natural areas. Our produce is sold through a 300-400 person CSA farm share, to local food hubs and chefs, and at two farmers markets in the greater Charlotte area (Uptown and Matthews Farmers Markets). We also host complementary on-farm events including retreats, farm-to-table dinners, and educational workshops to cultivate community and encourage people to learn about our farming practices.
We are currently growing on ~1 acre of diverse annual flowers in addition to ¼ acre of perennial flowers. We sell our flowers through a 60 member CSA, at both farmers markets and to a few florists. This person will assist our Flower Team of 2 part-time employees, learning floral production to take on management of the flowers in August of 2024 for the following season.
Orientation: During the first week we will conduct an orientation to go over safety policies, farm policies, and the location and names of buildings and equipment. We will review the farm calendar, begin to set vacation times, go over job responsibilities and start figuring out how to live in a community together.
Daily Meetings: The farm crew convenes every morning to clarify the day's agenda and make alterations due to the weather and other events.
All crew members have access to the drive where we store our digital planning documents. These materials include crop plans, seed orders, planting schedules, maps, overall farm plans, and supporting information. Farm managers might not have time during the peak season for in depth teaching so crew members are encouraged to use the resources at hand and ask follow up questions as needed. In addition there is a small farm library from which crew members are welcome to borrow books.
Responsibilities
- Prepping for harvest - sanitizing and filling buckets on Monday and Thursday afternoons
- Working with an assigned harvest list and eventually making your own list, understanding that harvesting has to do with the ratio of types of flowers harvested (i.e., mix of fillers, discs, spikes, etc.) rather than set amounts of flowers harvested
- Harvesting flowers with attention to quality and efficiency - cleaning and deadheading plants as needed while harvesting
- Ensuring harvested crops are left in proper condition (all stems in water, properly stored)
- Getting trained on assembly line style bouquet making and eventually designing bouquet assemblies of their own
- Execute flower seeding according to packet instructions
- Follow along flower planting plan, have an awareness of our season’s trajectory, and transplant progress
- Achieve an understanding of when, how, how often and how much of each of our crops we harvest
- Monitor field conditions during harvests, check on new transplants’ water and heat health
- Additional crew tasks will include harvesting vegetables, transplanting, hoeing, hand weeding, greenhouse seeding, bin washing, and trellising
THE WORK SCHEDULE: Year - round starting April 3rd
The work at Wild Hope Farm is seasonal and the length of the workday varies within the busy season.
- Working Monday-Friday
- Our normal hours are 6:00 AM - 2:45 PM during peak summer, 7:00 AM - 3:45 in the spring and fall (includes a 45 min unpaid lunch break)
Our seasonal farming opportunity is a hands-on working and learning experience. We accept people from all backgrounds who want to explore agriculture as a career option.
Benefits
- $15/hr through bi-monthly installments
- Provided fresh produce from the farm
- Opportunity to enroll in our 401k plan after 1 year of employment, 3% matching
- Healthcare stipend after 1 year of employment
- Experience working on a fast-paced, successful vegetable farm
TIME OFF
The following guidelines on vacation and personal time assume full time employment from April through the end of November.
Vacations: You are given the base of 5 vacation days plus 2 additional days for every year you return. Vacation times will be scheduled at the beginning of the season, trying to take all needs into account. If you would like to take additional unpaid vacation days, please speak with Peanut about scheduling.
Personal Time: It is expected that there will be some need during the season for every employee to take some personal time, whether for car repairs, doctor's appointments, or other personal needs. Each full-time employee may take up to 2 paid personal days each season. The personal day does not need to be taken as a “full day.” It is expected that except for emergencies, a week's notice will be given about the need for personal time.
Sick Time: When you're sick, please don't work. All employees will be allowed 5 days of paid sick leave. If health circumstances arise that cause you to miss more than this during the season, there will be a discussion as to whether the position is right for you at this time. Sick days that are not taken will go unpaid.