Working at Tumbling Shoals Farm

Working at Tumbling Shoals Farm

Working at Tumbling Shoals Farm is both rewarding and challenging.  You can expect long days in the field in the heat, rain and sometimes cold, repetitive tasks, getting dirty, lots of bending over, sore muscles, sore back (did I mention lots of bending over? ), working together as a team, sometimes working individually, education through experience, eating lots of tasty fresh from the field organic produce, and an occasional rainy day off.

Tumbling Shoals Farm is very diverse so the tasks vary greatly.  Your main farm task is harvesting and all the washing, grading, weighing and packing that goes along with preparing to sell our produce at three farmers markets and through a CSA.  You will also do some planting, transplanting, cultivation, thinning, pruning, trellising, etc.  You may also process flowers and assemble bouquets. Helping sell at the Saturday Watauga County Farmers' Market in Boone every other week is perhaps the most rewarding part of the work.

The main benefits of working at Tumbling Shoals Farm are well, it’s a paid position plus free housing AND you get lots of free fresh from the field organic produce (mostly seconds or overproduction), working outside, staying in shape through physical labor, learning through experience how food is grown and how a farm system works.  Wireless (albeit really slow and with limited capabilities) internet, laundry facilities, and electricity are included with the free housing. 

Our needs from you:

Flexibility-although we have been farming for several years, we are still developing our system here on this piece of land which means sometimes we will change things mid stream.  We are a small team and so accommodating everyone's personality traits often requires a bit of personal flexibility.

Dependability-of course, we need to be able to rely on you to be here working hard when we need you.

Engagement-we need you to care as much as we do about the quality of food that we grow for our customers, this is key to our success. People who are interested in agriculture as a career are given first priority.

Motivation- while you will usually be working with us, sometimes we need you to complete tasks alone.  Self motivated people are very valuable.

Communication- communication is the key to our success as a team.  We need you to be able to communicate effectively your needs just as we need you to understand our needs.  If we are not communicating effectively, we need you to be able to tell us that! Because we are a small farm with such a small work team sometimes working in harsh conditions, interpersonal communication is a must!

A valid driver's license- we will need you to make some produce deliveries during the season.

Compensation:

This is an hourly wage position: $8.00/hr. (Plus housing)

Hours and dates:

Arrive and unpack March 31 and April 1st, begin work April 2nd. One position is April through August.  One position is April through October. Employees work 40 hours/week (5 days, 8 hours/day).  Days on/off vary as to whether you are working at farmers' market or not, but either you will have Sat-Sun off or Sun-Mon off.  Days off without pay are, of course, permitted, with advanced notice.

If you are interested, please contact us (Shiloh or Jason) by email or phone to set up an interview:

farmer@tumblingshoalsfarm.com or 336-452-2920