ORGANIC FARMING

Hiring: Organic farm help
Farm: Firmly Rooted
Location: Belgrave, Huron County, Ontario, near Goderich & Wingham. These positions are in-person and on-site, please apply in you are within driving distance of the farm.

Firmly Rooted is a really lovely farm and a great place to work. Located in Belgrave, Ontario, we are just 25 minutes from beautiful Lake Huron.

We’ve got 12 years of growing experience under our belts, and really wonderful infrastructure and equipment which makes the work more pleasant and efficient (a heated wash house, 5 hoophouses, and a Kubota tractor with loader, to name a few.

We work really hard to maintain a good work-life balance: we start at 8:00 a.m., take an hour for lunch, and end at 5:00 p.m. We’ve stopped attending farmers markets so there is no need to work weekends.

We grow during all 4-seasons and produce on 3.5 acres for our 200+ member customizable Veggie Box, and for local restaurants. We are known for our gourmet salad greens, microgreens, and full complement of 30 or so other veggie and herb crops, as well as our organically grown seedlings in the spring.

We use a variety of growing methods but much of our production is on 30” semi-permanent beds with intensive spacing, we are building more and more deep compost mulch beds and practise minimal tillage.

Over the last 4 years we’ve been incredibly blessed to have a group of returning staff. They are amazing people who have become great friends and great farmers. It’s been indescribably lovely to have this trusted team that made this farm run soooo smoothly.

Alas, they are on to doing other amazing things and pursuing other passions.

I believe that by leaving they’ve opened up space for the right people to find us. In the past I wrote lengthy job descriptions but what I’ve realized is that it’s all about find the right personalities, not finding people that check the boxes.

So, I’m sending this out into the universe

• Are you someone, or do you know someone, that loves physical outdoor work and fresh vegetables?
• Do you like the sunshine (and the rain and the sleet)?
• Do you like to find mud in your fingers and toes and elbows and nose?
• Do you like to squat, and kneel, and lift and carry?
• Do you think that small scale farming matters?
• Maybe, you aren’t into any of this but you’d love to hang out indoors and package shiny vegetables- that’s cool too!

We are looking for enthusiastic, passionate, fun, physically active folks.

We need to fill a number of roles so that means we can be flexible:

• Maybe you want or need full time work, great!
• Maybe you want 4 days a week, or 2, great!
• Maybe you need to get kids on and off the bus but would like to come harvest, wash or pack in the in-between, great!

The season runs late March through mid-December, but is busiest in June, July and August, so there is flexibility in finding full-season or part-season farmers.

If you think you might be a fit, please reach out to Tamara at firmlyrootedfarm@gmail.com with a quick introduction to who you are and why you might want to work with us and we’ll go from there. Please mention you saw this posting at FoodWork.

If you love the sound of this, but would only like to come out occasionally, please reach out anyways. There are always times that we need extra help and I’ll add you to my list.

Thanks for your time, we hope to hear from you!

P.s. Here are some references from my actual staff:

“The environment you’ve built for us to work in is truly life changing”

“Tamara is a master farmer and flower arranger and fun boss.”

“You’re really great to work for. You don’t micro manage and you never yell”