Farm worker on organic vegetable farm in Nova Scotia

We need an energetic person to help us bring organic vegetables into the lives of Nova Scotians through the growing season of 2023!

We are Four Seasons Farm, certified organic for 29 years, with an established customer base of restaurants and stores in Halifax, and families served at the Halifax Brewery Market and through our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture or vegetable box program). We benefit from beautiful soil and ideal growing conditions on the Bay of Fundy. We are looking for someone to join our team who will embrace the hard work, weather, successes, frustrations, team work and meditative solo tasks—all that it takes to run a small-scale organic mixed vegetable farm successfully. We would love to work with people who have experience farming, as you will ideally grow some crops independently on-farm to contribute to our CSA.

Job description

Field and greenhouse preparation and crop maintenance (greenhouse maintenance, building and fertilizing beds, weed control, setting up irrigation). The majority of this work is done with hand tools (hoes, wheel hoes, rakes).
Seeding and transplanting.
We harvest two days each week, much of which is done on the knees.
Cleaning and preparing crops for sale.
Operating small machinery (small tractor, whipper snipper, tiller).
Shared weekend watering duties (every third or fourth weekend).
Sales (deliveries to restaurants and stores, dropping CSA shares to customers, and selling veggies at market).

Qualifications

Hardworking, physically fit and willing to get dirty.
Flexible—longer days when weather demands and weekend watering duties may be needed.
Efficient, mindful, aware, with attention to instruction and to detail. (We have a lot of systems to learn and follow!)
Passionate about growing food and working toward a sustainable world.
Self-directed team builder. We need people who can take initiative and who feel comfortable working alongside a wide range of other folks.
Ideally, you have some farming experience to add to our operation.
Bonus: building skills or familiarity with using basic building tools is very helpful.

Compensation

$16-20/hour, depending on skills and experience. Generally 40 hours per week.

Time commitment

March 15–November 30, 2022

These dates are flexible.

Monday-Friday 7:30am–5pm

This is the schedule for the majority of the season. In the spring and late fall, we begin later in the morning. At the height of the season we may begin as early as 7am. We will rarely ask you to work past 5pm, but from time to time it will be necessary.

Weekend watering duties shared with farm owners. We will rotate these duties so you will be responsible for watering one out of every three or four weekends.

Housing

We don’t have housing available.

Child care

On-farm full-time child care is available for the right candidate. Scheduling will have to be negotiated.

Perks

We believe in second breakfast, so we provide everyone who works at the farm with oatmeal and coffee or tea—all sourced as fairly, locally and organically as we can—for our morning break.

We believe our staff need to know and love the veggies we grow and sell, so we provide everyone who works on the farm with fresh vegetables to take home, experiment with and share with their families.

Thank you!

To ask questions about working at Four Seasons Farm, contact Sina and Owen at sina.owen@fourseasonsfarm.ca.

To apply for a farm worker position, email your resume, a one-page cover letter and a list of references to sina.owen@fourseasonsfarm.ca. **Use the subject line Four Seasons 2023 worker application.

We only process applications of applicants that are eligible to work in Canada!