Job title: 2023 Harvest Crew Member
Schedule: 5 hours per week, May-September, with some variability due to weather
Pay rate: $12-$14 per hour, depending on experience
New Ground Farm is a small-scale certified organic vegetable farm in Bloomington, Indiana, a community with a vibrant local food scene. In our 10th year, we grow produce for a cooperative farm stand located on the property, a CSA, farmers’ markets, and local independent retailers.
As a small farm with limited staff, we work quickly and efficiently to complete the harvest of numerous crops in a short timeframe. We like to have fun while we work, but New Ground is a commercial vegetable farm, and the focus is always on getting the work done professionally and to the highest standards of quality. The successful candidate will work under the farm owner’s direction to harvest, wash, and pack produce for market.
The job of harvesting vegetables is rewarding, but can be very difficult. You will be working on some beautiful days, but likely more often when it’s 40 degrees and sleeting, or when it’s 95 degrees and suffocatingly humid. You’ll be working in the sun while the birds are singing sometimes, but probably more often kneeling in the muck with mud covering everything. Regardless, the work will need to get done.
You will spend a portion of some days inside the barn washing and packing the harvest. This will involve repetitive tasks like bagging and weighing hundreds of bags of salad or banding a couple hundred bunches of roots like beets over the course of a few hours, all while standing.
What keeps the ideal candidate going in these conditions is the satisfaction of working in and with nature to bring fresh organic food to the Bloomington community. If this sounds like you, then read on.
Required skills and abilities:
- Experience harvesting and washing/packing produce in a commercial setting is preferred
- Experience doing physical work outdoors is a must
- Ability to work quickly and efficiently while maintaining attention to detail and quality standards
- Ability to integrate well with a small team
- Self starter, able to work alone at times
- Ability to lift up to 50 pounds
- Ability and willingness to perform repetitive tasks while standing/bending/kneeling in all weather conditions
- Comfortable working with hand tools and harvest knives
The weekly harvest schedule varies depending on the time of year, but will typically be Thursdays, 8:00-1:00, with a 7:30 start time during the hottest part of summer. You must have reliable transportation to and from the farm every work day.
New Ground Farm will supply knives, pruners, clippers, harvest bins, and any other tools and supplies necessary to perform harvest activities, but harvest crew members are expected to provide their own gloves, rainwear, and closed-toe footwear.
On-farm housing is not available, but Bloomington has a robust rental market. The farm address is 4741 E. Bethel Lane, Bloomington 47408.
If interested, send a cover letter and resume to mike@newgroundfarm.com.