Farn Description:

Chester, NH is the setting for our Family Farm. The Farm, built circa 1775 and has been rekindled to produce as much of the food and fuel our family requires.  

Over the years, we have expanded and now offer an organic meat, milk and egg CSA.

We raise pigs in our forest, beef and goat on organic pasture and pasture chickens to not only fertilize our fields but produce great tasting chicken. Our dairy cow’s organic raw milk is sold to our customers and we produce cheese for our own consumption.

We also grow vegetables and have an incipient orchard of peaches, plums, apples and berries.

Our desire is to make the best and sustainable use of our gardens and land.  Our farm philosophy is to increase soil fertility though organic agricultural practices, keep animals in the most humane way, produce safe, local food for our family and neighbors and enjoy all that our environment has to offer.

Field to Fork Farm produces Certified Organic Eggs, Dairy, Vegetables, Fruit and Beef and would like to share the work load with enthusiastic interns in exchange of a wonderfully formative experience!

Intern Responsibilities:  

Extensive animal husbandry, all aspects of garden and orchard maintenance, light building and construction, food preparation, participation in farmers markets, wood harvesting, bee keeping.

Housing:

Simple accommodations with electricity and running water, interns can use farm house kitchen for cooking and bath for showering.

Stipend:

Commensurate with experience.  If residing off farm, a travel expense stipend will be provided.

Meals:

Breakfast and dinner are communal; lunch is often outside and on the fly between tasks.

Skills desired:

Responsibility, optimism, endurance, love of all things outdoors (rain, mud, mosquitoes included), love of fresh, home grown food. We are looking for future defenders of our environment and our right to farm. Must have a sence of humor...

Educational experiences:

Being a diversified organic farm, every day will provide the opportunity to learn all aspects of farming.  From the meditative stirring of curds and tending to fragile seedlings, to the physical challenges of fencing, animal health, and construction. Never forgetting you’ll need constant intellectual nimbleness to deal with the shifting, often unpredictable challenges presented by the weather, soil, animals.

Start/ end date: Mid Spring 2010 – Fall 2010

Minimum Length of Stay: 2 months

Number of interns needed: 2-3

Contact us at info@fieldtoforkfarm.com

Internship Details:

You will become part of this farm family as we tackle very diverse farm chores. We raise over 400 broiler chickens on pasture by tractoring them across our hay fields; they require multiple checks every day to ensure they are predator safe and have fresh water and fresh grass. The pigs, beef animals and goats similarly need to be cared for, albeit less intensively. Gardens need to be tended, weeded, watered and produce picked and processed. Milking our dairy cow will become part of the routine as well as tending to our laying hens, gathering, hand washing and storing eggs. You may enjoy joining the farmer’s market and getting to know the other fresh, organic and/or local food producers. Come late summer, going into the forest to harvest wood.

The farm plan for 2010 also includes setting up irrigation, tree planting and establishing frost free water wells in distant pastures. We may dabble with home beer brewing and for the first time harvest honey from our friendly bees. As you can imagine, at the end of a hard day’s work, you’ll sleep like a baby and may even sleep though the coyote serenades…!