Job description

White Buffalo Farm is Colorado's oldest organic farm. We have a wonderful opportunity for a culinary specialist to be part of our farm community this growing season and possibly beyond.

The farm's Kitchen Manager/Cook coordinates seasonal, organic, bioregional meals for everyone living on the farm. This may be up to 20 people with larger groups at harvest time or on holidays. The position is six days a week, 36 to 42 hours per week.

We do not expect the Kitchen Manager/Cook to cook every meal; rather, we seek an individual who likes to cook, yet who can also create a pleasurable and organized environment in which our community members cook meals, too. We also welcome occasional guest cooks/chefs; the farm's Kitchen Manager serves as their coordinator and guide to our farm kitchen and current harvestables.

We serve mostly vegetarian meals with occasional offerings of organic and humanely-raised venison, poultry and fish. We do not serve pork or beef ever. We seek an individual who sets the pace for culinary "consciousness" both for health and for enjoyment.

Responsibilities include:

• Organize our kitchen routines and conducts meal planning and/or preparation for three meals a day, six days a week.
• Cook and/or informally supervise all meals; educate on food preparation, as needed or desired.
• Manage the farm's food budget and conduct purchasing including at local stores, co-op orders and other wholesale or farming/ranching/fishing sources; works closely with our farmers and the CSA Coordinator to allocate harvestables to our kitchen.
• Ensure foods are properly stored; serves freshest possible ingredients and minimizes waste.
• Coordinate regular deep cleaning of our community kitchen. All members of community contribute to kitchen deep cleaning, daily cleaning and washing their own dishes. In our kitchen, whoever cooks washes their own dishes.

Other culinary skills or experience:

• Considerable experience preparing meals for themselves as a part of a joyful and healthy lifestyle; must understand the ways produce may be served raw or cooked to balance a meal and to explore the versatility of a particular crop.
• Understands culinary kitchen gardens; experienced in gardening, havesting and wildcrafting; composts waste effectively.
• Enjoys cooking with eggs, milk, wheat, nuts and raw milk; provides options and slight modifications for a few chronic health-related dietary restrictions such as celiac or lactose intolerance.
• Knowledgeable in assessing ingredients on a label.
• Knowledgeable in fuel efficiency; enjoys cooking with a solar oven, on a wood stove, by grouping baked goods or stack steaming.

Other expectations

• Takes initiative and self-organizes; yet, must also be open to taking direction from farm management.
• Deftly and cordially organize others; great communicator, upbeat, good-hearted, service-oriented.
• Deeply attentive to hygiene.

We are not looking for a cooking star or food evangelist; we hope for a Kitchen Manager who will share the joy of cooking with others and provide support as necessary.

We are looking for a Kitchen Manager to nourish our community and encourage all to participate in the creative and sacred endeavor of exquisite, yet sustainable, bioregional cuisine to benefit all.

We seek a Kitchen Mangaer to encourage the savoring of mealtime, aka "degustation," which is the art of slowly eating for the sheer pleasure of good company, good food and good health. We seek a Kitchen Manager who entices our community members to notice a range of flavors and to refine their "palate" beyond the zing of salt, sugar and fat. We encourage the appreciation of subtlety and freshness.

Our kitchen norms align with those who've eaten healthy and balanced cook-at-home meals from scratch all their lives. We do not cater to those recovering from S.A.D. We generally offer options for food preferences such as vegan and paleo, but do not encourage restrictive or "fad" type diets.

We never serve low-quality, dairy products such as processed cheeses or non organic milk and ice cream. When cheese is used in meals, we use it sparingly balancing health, economics and taste. Although we serve organic wheat as a staple in the form of pasta, sourdough bread, quiche crust and whole wheat tortillas, we encourage grain variety.

Our kitchen demonstrates sustainable bioregional cuisine and is both art studio and hands-on cultural exchange for vibrant good health.

ABOUT THE FARM
We are a boutique fruit grower. Our orchards include cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, Bartlett pears, D'Anjou pears, Asian pears and a variety of apples.

We also grow tomatoes, squash, greens, beans, peas, root crops, herbs, flowers. We grow or seek to grow everything that grows in our region.

The farm sells at local farmers’ markets, engages in direct-marketing to restaurants, and processes food in our Cottage Food Act kitchen.

We are an informal farm education center and generally teach 15 to 20 interns and apprentices each year. The farm setting is exquisite and wonderful bonding experiences happen here. We strive for reduced fossel fuel footprint, sustainable housing and to educate about bioregionally sustainable cuisine.

Compensation

this position is:

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline