Job description

Company.

Big Picture Farm is a goat dairy and farmstead confectionary located on a beautiful hillside in Townshend, Vermont. Our 37 saanens, alpines and nubian goats live happy and healthy lives rotating through the rich pastures and leafy woodlands that characterize our hillside Vermont farm. Most of our milk is cooked into the most delicious goat milk caramels in the world. The rest of our milk goes into small batches of raw milk cheese that we make in the spring and summer and age in our cellar and distribute regionally and at farmers markets.

Position Description. Apprentice/Farm Caretaker

We are now looking for one Apprentice to join us for the season. APRIL 1- OCT 1 (could start as early as March 1)

As an apprentice you will learn all aspects of our farm. As we are a seasonally shifting operation, the nature of the duties will reflect the season. In the Spring, much of the work will consist of kidding season responsibilities, milking goats, pasture work, cheese making and cheese affinage, as well as partaking in the everyday shop work of packaging and shipping caramels. The summer has the most pasture work and cheese and the fall has the most caramel. We expect you to commit to the full time period.

As an apprentice we are happy to share and teach everything we know about running a dairy, pasturing animals, running a value added business, making cheese, processing caramel, and growing a wholesale business. In exchange, you will be filling in the nuts and bolts and everyday needs for us and working long hours on a variety of tasks from milking to mucking out barns to scrubbing cheese molds to labeling caramel boxes and stuffing caramels in bags—in essence you will cover all the bases. By the end of your apprenticeship you will be able to do all of these tasks completely independently, you would be able to run your own farm. In order for it to be worth our while to slow down and teach you these things, we expect you to commit to doing them with a positive attitude for the entire period of the apprenticeship. It would be difficult on our lives and our business if you decided mid-way through that the hard labor of farm work is not for you. We cannot emphasize this point enough: please do not apply unless you are ready to jump into this with your whole body and heart. Eagerness and a positive attitude are essential.

Housing & meals:

Housing is provided in a spacious and charming two bedroom house, a former colt barn, right here on the farm smack in the middle of it all. You will share the colt barn with the other apprentice but each will have his/her own private bedroom. Internet, phone, hot water, heating, and all utilities are provided. There is a big kitchen for cooking but we do not provide food or meals. You will be expected to do your own shopping and prepare your own food.

Our location is on the top of a hill in Townshend. It is isolated. It is not realistic to think you could walk or bike to town as the mountain is quite steep. Having your own form of transportation is a requirement.

Compensation: In addition to housing & utilities you will receive a generous weekly stipend.

Hours: You will be expected to work 40-45 hours a week with 2 days off per week.

Unfortunately we can not accomodate pets at this time.

Compensation

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