Company description

Set in the beautiful Elk River Valley in Clark, Colorado, The Home Ranch, part of the Relais and Chateaux family of hotels, is home to ranching, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and people who have a general passion for the land and land stewardship. A primary focus of The Home Ranch is to give a guests the unique experience of tasting the finest foods and wines, while enjoying this unmatched landscape. In order to bring the freshest ingredients and flavors to the kitchen and then to the plate of our guests, the Home Ranch employs a team of dedicated garden gnomes - the Green Team - for everything from growing edible plants to dead heading each flower that grows around the lodge. 

The Home Ranch's Horticulture program (also known as the Green Team) encompasses both small-scale farming and landscaping. Since its implementation in 2014, Clyde's Farm at The Home Ranch has been the forefront of where guests and employees learn about what it takes to implement a farm-to-table program. While providing the freshest ingredients to the kitchen, this program also strives toward sustainability and education. Taking each season as a learning experience, the farm and edible gardens have been able to produce upwards of 3,200 pounds of food since 2014. Our greenhouse helps extend the 55-day growing season and lets us grow everything from zucchini to artichokes. We grow plenty outside as well, with nothing short of hard work and dedication, we provide the kitchen with 90% of their salad greens throughout the summer. 

The Home Ranch's Horticulture program also encompasses landscaping and detailed maintenance of the grounds that surround the main lodge and cabins. This includes watering, dead heading flower pots, weeding, mowing lawns and general upkeep of the grounds. This program is varied in its scope and requires a detail-oriented person to run the show. Standing on a strong foundation of sustainability, passion for growing, and years of experience, the Home Ranch is now seeking the next generation of plant lovers to carry the Horticulture program into its next season of growth. 

To see pictures and learn more about Clyde's Farm at The Home Ranch, please visit: http://www.homeranch.com/farm/. 

Job description

1. Self-motivated. Able to lead by example for the Horticulture Team, the Home Ranch and CPM staff members.
2. Ensure a safe working environment through observation and routine check-ins with staff regarding vehicles, equipment, tools and infrastructure.
3. Good communicator, both from management to staff and from staff to management.
4. Manage time efficiently, both individually and for Horticulture crew as a whole.
5. Manage spending and labor hours based on the annual budget.
6. Comfortable with Excel spreadsheets and all phases of budgeting and planning; works closely with the Chief Financial Officer and the General Managers.
7. Able to work with General Managers during winter months to hire  Horticulture Team members for the summer season. This includes recruiting, interviewing, and screening for ability.  
8. Create weekly schedules for all Horticulture Team members based on both team and Ranch-wide needs.
9. Able to train employees on all aspects of greenhouse production: amending beds, planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, washing produce, opening and closing down of the greenhouse.
10. Able to give informative and interactive tours to guests at least once per week, and as requested of all garden grounds and greenhouse/farm area.
11. Prior experience and/or ability to learn cut flower arranging basics.
12. Delegate the care of  75+ flower pots in the height of summer including notes on fertilizing, deadheading, and watering of these plants.
13. Able to create bi-weekly harvest lists detailing the crops and quantities available for use in the kitchen by communicating with the Executive Chef the details of these lists throughout the week. These lists are a template for what the Horticulture Team will harvest.
14. Prior experience or knowledge on crop rotation and pest management in both greenhouse and outdoor settings, for both vegetative and flowering plants.
15. Able to plan garden and farm layouts for all garden areas based on crop rotation and the Executive Chef’s requests for larger or smaller quantities of crops, based on prior year’s harvest data.
16. Maintain a clean chicken coop for guests to tour. This will include cleaning the coop monthly and doing daily chores surrounding the laying hens. Handling the chickens is sometimes necessary. Must be able to cull chickens if the need arises.
17. Maintain two bee hives throughout the summer and winter seasons. Care includes doing bi-weekly checks of the hives, inspecting for disease, researching mitigation of disease as needed, sugar feeding as needed, honey collection, and winterization of the hives in the fall.
18. Work with employees on all landscape care and maintenance projects for all CPM clients.  Includes operation of riding and push lawn mowers, weed trimmers, pruners, loppers, and pulling a landscape trailer.
19. Able to identify noxious weeds around the farm, Ranch’s landscaped areas, and at CPM clients’ sites. Take necessary actions to eradicate them based on best practices for organic management.
20. Address employee issues that arise and maintain a positive, friendly work environment.
21. Maintain hours for CPM properties both in Google Sheets for perpetuity and billing, as well as the time clock.

Supervisory responsibilities: On a daily basis the Horticulture Supervisor is in charge of the Horticulture Team. Typically, the Supervisor will have a Lead Gardener who will also assist in delegating daily tasks. The Horticulture Supervisor alone is responsible for creating a weekly and daily schedule for the crew, working around both their requests/needs, while being mindful of guest activities.

Qualifications: 

• Colorado Master Gardener and/or equivalent courses in horticulture and/or 2 years experience.
• Previous supervisory experience.
• Valid driver’s license and clean driving record.

Education/Experience: 

• 2+ years of education or work experience in horticulture.
• 1+ season of landscaping experience or education.
• Previous experience with weed management (identification, mechanical and chemical control) preferred.
• First Aid/CPR certification preferred.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, less than 50k

Application instructions

Deadline

December 30, 2018