Organic Farm Worker

Dandelion Spring Farm

Employment Overview and Details

Position: Organic Farmer

We’re a certified organic vegetable & herb farm and are looking for additional farmers to join our team. We’re an easy 40 minute drive from Portland on Rt. 295, and close to many towns in the Lewiston, Litchfield, Gardiner region. Our produce will be focused for sales at the Portland farmers’ market and direct to restaurants in southern Maine.

Position Available: This diversified farm worker position prioritizes harvest, washing, and packing, constituting about ⅓ of your time. The remaining time is dedicated to planting, weeding, mulching, seedling, irrigation and other general farm details. Our days are diverse, yet we maintain a structured rhythm throughout the week.

Availability: Wednesday - Friday employment. April 30th through November 21st.

Anticipated Hours:

• Wednesday & Thursday: 7 AM - 4 PM
• Friday: 7 AM - 5 PM

Compensation: Starting pay ranges from $18-$19/hr based on experience.

Mission & Vision

At Dandelion Spring we believe that by growing and sharing healthy food, there is the potential to engage all of our senses, as eaters and as farmers. With open senses and an awakened awareness of our bodies, we aim to inspire better choices in relation to our land.

We envision small farms as leading the way toward difficult conversations that promote action steps toward a healthier environment and community.

Overview

We are located on beautiful Wabanki land in the town of Bowdoinham. We will be in our 24th year of business and 8th on this land. We are an established farm that is still settling our roots and honing our skills to be the best production farmers we are able. We feel incredibly gifted to be here. Our fields in 2025 will be primarily a single acre of no-till beds using the deep pack compost model and a limited amount of traditional row crop style of farming. Additionally, there will be a strong emphasis on production in our five greenhouses.

I, Beth, have been the sole-priorietor and primary manager for Dandelion Spring through its life. In 2024 we took the bold step of shrinking our acreage and crew, moving from a traditional field bed model and greater acreage (7 acres in production) to a more intensive model of growing. This transition felt successful and inspiring, and I and the returning team look forward to seeing how the fields continue to develop in 2025. I have very high expectations for myself in the growing season ahead, and likewise I do for the employees who join me here.

The Hive at Dandelion Spring is a community minded space that was built with the intention of getting our customers to the farm and having a place where our broader community could gather. There are events here through the season, as well as the space being occupied occasionally for private use. Additionally, we’ve a small commercial kitchen in the Hive where a Dandelion employee produces the value added items that take our farm food to the next level - both in terms of flavor and accessibility!

This job posting is for field workers in the Dandelion Spring certified organic vegetable & herb production.

Expectations:

• All in!: We’re looking for individuals who are willing to commit to this work and the full season. We show up on time, and are curious. We farm when we’re comfortable (physically & mentally) and when we’re uncomfortable (short of illness).

• Production mindset: Efficiency is essential to success. Looking ahead, being aware of the rest of the team, an excitement to essentially look around corners. This is a model of thinking about how to move one’s body and the tools and harvest of farming in the most efficient way possible to set ourselves up for the next step before arriving there.

• Stay present: Phones are generally only for taking photos and communicating with each other. While we know there are emergencies and specific scenarios that are important to be flexible, in general, we respect that work is not a time for personal phone calls or messaging.

• No butts or buts: We don’t sit on our butts. I’ve experienced a limited range of motion (physically & mentally) when people sit down. We don’t do it. Crawling, bending while kneeling, squating, walking, skipping, running, all good… sitting, not a good match for us.

• Communication: As clear and as direct as you are able. A willingness to stretch when communication feels necessary but hard.

• Pride: You work hard, and should take pride in it. Make an effort to visit the farmers’ market at least once during the season to experience that perspective on the food you grow. Share your positive outcomes with friends & family by bringing them to the farm for events or quiet tours.

• Detail oriented: Relentless attention to detail. Thoroughness. An eye for both quality and efficiency, which can relate to stepping up to finish a project, and also knowing when to walk away.

• Respect for plants!: A love of produce and herbs! We spend all day touching plants that become other people’s nourishment. A strong interest and deep respect for the plants is paramount to our success as well as your level of potential investment (and enjoyment) in the work.

• Investment: A willingness to look at your surroundings and learn more about it. For example, see a soil related disease creeping up? Mention it. Perhaps take some time in your evening to learn more and share what you’ve learned with the crew the next day.

• Strong teamwork: We ask all members of our team to have a willingness to be a leader. Your voice and your impact on the farm team are centered within our production methods.

• Self Initiator: While we’ll be a small and tight team, while holding the values of the farm, the ideal candidate will quickly fall into self directed rhythms. Packing the harvest truck the night before, refilling empty containers when you take the last of an item, getting into a self directed flow of moving onto the next item on a harvest list independently.

• Broad acceptance of community: Both in respect to who we are as individuals within the farm team, and our larger community. The farm will host various events through the season and it is important that all of our farm team project a sincere welcoming presence.

• Positivity. Patience. Flexibility.

The ideal candidate:

• Minimum one year direct experience on a production vegetable farm: The first year farming is magical but is often about getting the body used to the physical rhythms of the work. The ideal candidate already knows these rhythms. The farmer with even greater experience has simply had more time to have witnessed the farm landscape and mirror that skill set at Dandelion Spring.

• Ability to lift 50 lbs to waist height.

• Organic: Experience in certified organic and sustainable agricultural systems.

Benefits:

• Earned time off equivalent of one hour for every 40 hours worked, applicable for sickness or vacation.
• Vegetables not of sale quality (funny vegetables for funny farmers!) are available in abundance through most of the season (less in the spring). Other vegetables and market items are available at a 30% discount.
• Employees with a minimum of two years of past employment and at least $5000 earnings per year are eligible for an employer matching SIMPLE investment plan.
• Investment in a state retirement plan can be regularly deducted from one’s pay at the employee's request.
• Workers compensation and investment in the state family leave fund contributions are made by the farm.

Notes:

• Housing is not included
• There are paid earned time off benefits, and we respect one vacation per employee during the growing season (with ample notice), but otherwise short of emergencies, consistent presence is key. We are a team that is impacted strongly by unexpected absences.
• We are a production farm. We strive to teach and be transparent with our process, but within the context of running a market driven farm. This is not an apprentice opportunity.

How to apply :

Email: Beth@DandelionSpringFarm.com

Please send us an email explaining:

• Specifically, why do you want to work with us?
• What is your background that you think contributes to making you a good farmer?
• Are there any areas of market scale vegetable production you're particularly excited about? That make you nervous?
• Please include two references (not family or close friends, please) who can speak to your abilities as a farmer.
• Include your most recent resume or a list of past and current employment.

Prior to hire, we'd like to have a conversation with you (phone or Zoom can be fine) and speak to two references.

Deadline: until filled

More about us!

Farming, like life, is truly dynamic. At Dandelion Spring:

• We love food
• We are passionate about plants, nutrition for the soil and ourselves
• We love sharing what we grow with our farmers' market and restaurant community
• We are compulsive list makers
• We are flexible enough to change our path when nature presents a new plan
• We keep moving forward with the intensity of an endurance athlete (and know that endurance athletics are often a mind game as much as a physical challenge)
• We are mindful of our leadership skills as we try to create a work environment that is nurturing and boundaried at the same time
• We strongly believe in Certified Organic, soil based, production

Dandelion Spring's roots are on a 75 acre parcel that is about 30 acres of open space, and 45 acres of woods. There is a river not too far away. The town of Bowdoinham is incredibly supportive of local agriculture, and home to many other certified organic farms.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: $18.00 - $19.00 per hour

Expected hours: 24 – 30 per week

Benefits:

• Paid time off

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift

Ability to Commute:

• Bowdoinham, ME 04008 (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $5,000