Hello Everyone!
Fresh Roots is excited to announce our internship opportunity we are offering this 2013 growing season.
This season Fresh Roots will be growing food on peri-urban farmland as well as establishing and growing on two schoolyard market garden sites (each a 1/4 acre), the first of their kind in Canada! Our interns will have an opportunity to be a part of this new growth, and learn from us and with us in all our new farming endeavors.
Please see posting below, and forward along to listserves, friends, etc. you think will benefit from knowing about the opportunity.
Looking forward to another fertile growing season, and sharing the fruits of our labour and stories together in the urban farm fields,
Ilana
Farming Season Internship – Urban Farmer Training Program
About Fresh Roots
Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society grows resilient, engaging, education-based food systems accessible to Vancouver’s diverse communities. Our neighbourhood market gardens are designed as commercially productive agriculture fields that serve two main functions: educational opportunities and food production. Produce from our neighbourhood market gardens is distributed through our Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) program, sold to local school cafeterias, and our new neighbourhood market stands. Our fields are used as outdoor, hands-on learning classrooms; engaging school communities and residents of Vancouver in addressing food sovereignty, community health, and vocational skills development.
Fresh Roots currently grows on a peri-urban site in Richmond and at Queen Alexandra Elementary in Vancouver. Fresh Roots will be building two new sites in 2012/13 at Vancouver Technical Secondary School and David Thompson Secondary School.
Fresh Roots is dedicated to building the farming skills of a new generation of farmers and honing the skills of gardeners and enthusiasts. We do this primarily though our young-farmer training program that offers people interested in agriculture an opportunity to learn and work on inner-city and peri-urban farmland. It also provides participants the opportunity to learn about farm business planning and community-engaged neighbourhood farming.
Fresh Roots aims to transform how Canadian (and North American) communities address food literacy by building sustainable urban food systems that provide affordable and healthy food back into the neighbourhood that grows it.
Position Description
Fresh Roots operates as a non-profit society. Interns of Fresh Roots this year will have the opportunity to experience peri-urban farming as well as deepen urban farming knowledge and learn to utilize urban farms as spaces that grow community relations and outdoor learning classrooms. As a youth-run and youth-lead organization, interns will participate in the growth of a small community-engaged urban farming operation, learning about
Specific Tasks/Learning Outcomes
Market Farming Skills
* Seed starting and propagation
* Greenhouse and field production
* Pest and disease management
* Fertility management
* Irrigation installation and maintenance
* Harvesting and post-harvest processing
* Proper tool selection, use, and maintenance
* Compost and worm compost management
* Farm infrastructure construction and maintenance
Community Farming and Engagement
* Participate in community events by leading volunteer teams
* Attend CSA pick-up and neighbourhood market stand sales
* Farming at a Schoolyard Market Garden site, the first of its kind in Canada, representing Fresh Roots and connecting with school and neighbourhood community daily.
Food System Literacy
* Explore the current agricultural system through lectures, events, and farm connections
* Attend Food Policy council meetings
* Connect to local food system participants
Preferred Skills
* Good communication skills: ability to represent Fresh Roots to the public, and work with people from diverse backgrounds
* Able to withstand hard, physical labour
* Engaged team player, sense of humor, flexibility and patience an asset
* Ability to take direction and complete tasks
* Familiarity with and commitment to the vision and mission of Fresh Roots an asset
* Familiarity with local and organic agricultural production practices and concerns is an asset
* Must pass be able to pass a criminal record check
* First Aid and Food Safe certificates are an asset
* Self-motivated and able to work alone
Position Details:
* Estimated Start Date: late March 2013
* Late April – October 2013: Part-time, 12-24 hours a week
Working as farmers, we have a 7:00am start most days. Particularly during the height of the harvest season.
How to Apply
E-mail a cover letter and resume clearly detailing your experiences and reasons why you are excited to pursue an urban farm internship program this season to info@freshroots.ca
* Attach to the email a single PDF document that contains your cover letter and resume. Ensure your name is included in the file name.
* Ensure your e-mail subject line clearly refers to the position title for which you are applying.
* Include a copy of the cover letter in the body of your application email.
* Applications must be received no later March 5, 2013.
* Interviews will take place the second week of March. We regret that due to the high volume of applicants only those selected for interviews will be contacted.
