Company description

Opened to the public in 2010, The Edible Schoolyard includes a half-acre urban, teaching garden and kitchen classroom. We offer hands-on experiences that focus on fresh, seasonal food, wellness, and outdoor play. Part of the Greensboro Children’s Museum, ESY Greensboro engages our community through field trips, summer camps, after-school programming community events, and cooking classes for kids ages 0-100.

ESY Greensboro uses a seed-to-table philosophy whereby kids and families learn about the systems through which food is grown, harvested, prepared, and shared as a meal. By giving kids a greater knowledge of and connection to what they eat, we inspire them to make better choices for their health and the health of their communities.

The Edible Schoolyard at the Greensboro Children’s Museum is a founding program of the Edible Schoolyard Project, a nonprofit started by food activist and restaurateur Alice Waters. There are seven founding programs working toward a shared mission of food education.

Job description

Greensboro Children’s Museum Edible Schoolyard Gardener
Position Description: The Gardener provides the sole source of maintenance for the plants, garden beds, animals, pond and hardscapes of the ½ acre edible garden exhibit at the Greensboro Children’s Museum. The Edible Schoolyard garden functions as a showcase educational and event space and supplies ingredients for our cooking school. Responsibilities, schedule, and work distribution vary by season.
Reports to: The Edible Schoolyard Director Position Status: Non-Exempt, min. 30 hours per week

Roles and Responsibilities
Garden Work

• Manage overall plant and soil health strategies for the garden to include sustainable gardening practices and integrated pest management.
• Manage a small flock of laying hens
• Lead and manage propagation and greenhouse work including plants grown to support an annual plant sale
• Plant and provide seasonal produce, including a winter harvest, for the kitchen
• Maintain the health of all plants in the garden including, but not limited to: fruit and nut trees, herbs, vegetables, aquatic plants, and annual and perennial flowers
• Clean, organize and maintain garden tools and garden shed.
• Maintain drip irrigation system and the water harvesting systems (cistern and rain barrels)
• Store seeds and practice seed-saving
• Create and maintain all plant labels
• Manage composting systems for kitchen and garden waste
• Develop and maintain a garden budget, planting schedule, seasonal records, and other appropriate documentation
• Communicate regularly with the Chef Educator and Garden Educator on seed orders, planting, harvest dates, and programming logistics

Volunteer Management

• Lead individual and group volunteers in garden work

Teaching

• Conduct field trips and other programming as needed

Customer Service

• Greet visitors
• Provide guided experiences for families in the garden
• Maintain a working knowledge of the garden, kitchen, and upcoming programs to answer questions and provide information to visitors

Other Duties
Aside from the aforementioned roles and responsibilities, all GCM staff members are asked to provide assistance when needed to support the GCM team in furthering its mission of promoting learning through play. This may include, but is not limited to: providing back-up on other GCM programming, sitting on and/or leading ad hoc committees for events, and relationship building.

Qualifications

• Minimum: Associate’s degree in horticulture and two years of garden work experience or commensurate combination of education and work experience
• A positive attitude, flexible nature, and strong work ethic
• Strong working knowledge of edible garden plants (fruiting vines, fruit and nut trees, herbs, vegetables) and ornamentals
• Substantial experience operating greenhouse and irrigation systems including repair work
• Experience managing a farm of public garden preferred
• 3 professional references

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• Ability to work in a public facility
• Ability to work independently, make decisions and provide recommendations to leadership on garden matters including safety
• Ability to stand, stoop, reach and bend; mobility of arms to reach, dexterity of hands to grasp and manipulate large and small objects
• Ability to read small print
• Ability to stand for long periods
• Ability to lift, push and/or pull objects up to 50 lbs
• Ability to work with and in proximity of equipment with moving mechanical parts
• Ability to perform physically demanding labor outdoors and tolerate varying weather conditions yearround
• Must be open to a flexible workweek under the discretion of the Director according to season, weather, programming, and other variables

Compensation  
This is a paid, year-round position.  Compensation details will be discussed during the interview process.

Compensation

this position is: hourly, $15/hr +

Application instructions

Deadline

November 13, 2017