Live and work on Licking Creek Bend Farm in Needmore, PA! We are now accepting applications for three staff members for the 2024 season. These are full-time, year-round positions.

We are a worker-run, sustainable farm. In operation for more than 50 years, we grow pesticide-free produce that we sell at affordable prices to farmers' markets, co-ops, and CSAs in the DC/Baltimore area. Our farm practices are Certified Naturally Grown, and exceed USDA organic standards.

The farm consists of 60 acres located about 10 miles north of Hancock, MD — where PA, MD and WV join together — and are approximately 100 miles from Washington, DC.

We welcome WIC, local subsidy programs, and farmers market food stamp recipients to our markets. We are active in family-farm-related issues such as food insecurity, keeping up with pesticide-free techniques, and GMO labeling. We have about a 75-family CSA, and three weekly markets. We also wholesale to food co-ops, small restaurants, several universities and, as often as possible, donate produce to non-profits helping families in need.

If you work with us, you'll have a great opportunity to learn the basics of raising sustainably grown, pesticide-free vegetables, fruit, and Christmas trees in Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains. Located two hours from Washington/Baltimore/Pittsburgh, our beautiful farm sits in a valley, near the C&O Canal. Cool off in our creek, and enjoy biking, hiking, and the Appalachian Trail. Bluegrass and folk festivals are nearby, in Berkeley Springs, WV.

Our staff lives on the farm. We have several rooms in the main house and have three cabins. All utilities are covered. The food provided on the farm comes from the farm — from lots of canning and freezing, and from the fresh harvests. We maintain a vegetarian kitchen. We supply essentials like flour, grains, rice, pasta, eggs, milk, but staff provides specialty items themselves. There's plenty of food and amazing cooking on the farm.

Each morning, the staff meets to review the work that needs to be done that day, and figure out together how to accomplish short-term and long-term tasks. While we work hard, we've have had amazing people at our farm musicians, poets, chefs, college professors, serious environmentalists, and so on. The team works well together, understands the work we do, and has fun.

Generally, people who work on the Licking Creek Bend Farm are college graduates and range in age from 21 to 45. They've worked at a variety of jobs—some of them boring, unchallenging and uncreative. Farm work, at least on our farm, should give you an opportunity to fully use all of your intellectual, physical, and creative resources. It all depends on how seriously you take the challenge, and how ready you are for it. The opportunity gives many people a chance to refocus their life's direction. It also opens the door for employment in an environmentally related occupation. (In addition, farm experience can be a positive addition to your résumé.)

The season you spend gaining hands-on experience on our farm might even be better than a college or university education. (We also work with colleges and universities to accept credits for your work on the farm.) A farm experience is an opportunity to apply and expand existing knowledge, as well to learn and integrate new skills into your life.

Requirements

• We prefer candidates who can commit to the full season, which runs from April to December, although that timeframe is negotiable. However, because it takes time to train new staff, a commitment of at least six (6) months is preferred.
• Be a US citizen or have a valid green card to work in the US.
• Have a valid driver’s license and safe driving record.
• Be in good physical shape to be able to handle hard, manual, hands-on work in a wide range of weather conditions.
• Out of courtesy to the staff and our customers, we require our staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID.
  If you object to this, stop here and don’t apply. Also, please don’t argue with us about your objections to vaccinations. Our concern is for the people who live together on the farm and for our exposure to our customers. We prefer people who are concerned about other people.
• Be ready to learn and do a wide variety of tasks. Understand the need to get the work done—planting on time, preparing for markets and CSAs, and so on. Farming isn't a “9-to-5” job. It's “get the job done”.
• Be a self-starter and and self-motivated. But, also have the ability to work as part of a team.
• Be excited about opportunities for learning and building skills.
• Understand that farming involves patience and the ability to change tasks and needs as the season progresses.
• Enjoy living and working in a group setting, have a sense of humor, and find ways to have fun and enjoy the work. Dips in the creek is a favorite activity, along with group meals, hikes, and outings to the county fair.
• Enjoy working with our customers at farmers' markets. We learn a lot from our customers, and they from us.

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Who Should Apply?

We're looking for people who are eager to learn about small scale chemical-free farming, or who have had some prior experience and want to consider a multiple-year commitment. We especially appreciate candidates who are seriously considering a multiple-year commitment and opportunity to develop farm management skills.

We've had several interns who were able to include their internships on the farm as part of their academic requirement.

You might have an idealized vision about what farming is really about. It's not for everyone, and we hope that the interview process helps you understand exactly what this work entails. Farm positions are not easy to fill, and the loss of staff during the farm season or before their scheduled end date can have a devastating effect on our ability to get produce out to the public. So, prior to accepting a position, we expect people to seriously consider any obligations, plans, unresolved relationships, or other circumstances that could impact the duration of their stay on the farm.

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What You'll Learn

• The basics of apple, pear and other fruit production without the use of chemicals.
• How to prepare the fields for planting, starter seeds in our greenhouse, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, fruit-tree pruning, farm-equipment maintenance, and preparing for markets and CSA. Plus, many more tasks.
• Subtleties of pest management, specific plant-related issues, and pesticide-free techniques.
• Exposure to what it really takes to start and sustain a small farm. This includes:
  • The business end of things.
  • All aspects of how to grow enough pesticide-free produce to, at minimum, break even and work towards a sustainable farm. It's amazing what goes into this kind of business—the cost of equipment and its maintenance; staffing; dealing with what Mother Nature hands us (drought, too much rain, blight, and so on); deer, groundhogs, and other critters; finding market outlets; and building a customer and wholesale base.
• Bee keeping (but you need your own gear – we can discuss).
• If you stay through the year, we offer paid participation in various farm conferences held during the winter and early spring.
• And many other skills!

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Compensation

Salary starts at $1,100 per month, for the first 3 months then increases to $1,600/month. $2,000/mo for returning staff.

• You will have your own room either in the main house or in one of the three cabins
• Board (monthly shared staff stipend for essentials plus all the farm produce)
• Premium Health Insurance Plan (individual plans), Free WiFi/internet.
• Non-smoker and no drugs of any kind.

Everyone has full access to the main house, which has two full bathrooms and a modern kitchen. You'll enjoy cooking together and snacking throughout the day. Bedding, towels, and so on, are provided You'll work six (6) days a week, and have Sundays off. Other time off you need will be discussed individually. Starting time is negotiable.

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How to Apply

If you’ve read to here, you must be interested! So, we’d love to hear from you. Send us an email (esiegel2@igc.org) explaining why you are interested in our farm. Include a résumé and references. Also, please let us know when you can start work and for how long.

The process:

1. If you are local to the DC area, we can arrange to meet.
   If you aren't local and can't visit the farm, you'll be interviewed via Zoom and have discussions with the staff. You can ask as many questions as you need to.
   
2. We'll then send you an email with more information, including how to contact our staff.
3. You'll then contact our farm staff to arrange to first meet by phone or Zoom.
4. If possible, plan to visit the farm to get a better sense of the farm and its surroundings. This visit will give you a better sense of whether this is a good fit for you.
5. The staff will then make a determination about the fit based on your input as well.
6. A staff member will contact you.

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Farm Philosophy & Activisim

We emphasize food justice, and make every effort to provide low and moderate income communities and non-profits with affordable or donated produce. We also encourage and offer the option to engage in local social justice issues—for example, anti-CAFO organizing and working to increase awareness of gender and racism issues in our area.

We look forward to meeting you and hope you will become a happy member of our farm staff community.

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