VALLEY FLORA FARM
POSITION: 1 APPRENTICESHIP
FULL TIME (32-40 hrs/week)
APPROX START/END DATES: 4/1 - 12/1
LOCATION: Langlois (Southern Oregon Coast)
NO ON-FARM HOUSING OFFERED
VEHICLE REQUIRED? Yes.
ON FARM VISIT REQUIRED? Yes.
LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English. Spanish.
Valley Flora Farm is a diversified produce farm located 2 miles outside of the small town of Langlois (population 300) on the southern Oregon coast. We own 90 acres in a beautiful, quiet river valley, 4 miles inland from the Pacific. Of that acreage, 40 acres are upland forest, 30 acres are in pasture, and the remaining 20 acres is rich river bottomland where we cultivate over a 100 varieties of annual and perennial vegetable crops, berries (strawberries, blueberries), grapes, herbs, flowers, and an extremely diverse orchard (apples, pears, plums, Asian pears, quince, cherries). The farm is nestled in a special microclimate where cool-weather crops thrive, but where we also have warmth enough to grow eggplant, sweet corn, peppers, and tomatoes outdoors - in spite of our proximity to the ocean.
We’re surrounded by natural beauty, with numerous coastal rivers running undammed from the coast range to the sea; uncrowded beaches; wild dunes and forests. The farm is 20 minutes from the picturesque coastal towns of Port Orford (to the south) and Bandon (to the north). We’re five miles from Floras Lake, an epicenter of kite and wind-surfing. There is also nearby mountain biking, surfing, hiking, fishing, and horseback riding. Floras Creek, which runs the entire length of the farm, offers numerous summertime swimming holes and wintertime salmon spawning grounds.
Valley Flora’s production is highly diversified, and so is our marketing. We distribute our food via four distinct sales channels:
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): we operate a 130-member CSA from June through December during our main season, and a 60+ member winter CSA January to May.
Farmstand & U-Pick: We have a bustling onsite farmstand that’s open from May to December, and a busy strawberry and flower u-pick that’s open to the public from June through October.
Direct Sales: We harvest and pack orders for local stores, co-ops, and restaurants year-round.
Foodbanks: Thanks to an Oregon Foodbank grant and some awesome local partnerships, we distribute produce to four local foodbanks and community fridges every week.
The farm is deeply dedicated to ecological farming principles and practices, and strives to be as climate-forward as possible. We adhere to all the standards, rules, and principles of organic production but are not third party certified. We practice reduced tillage, have an unbridled passion for cover crops and biodiversity, and we do everything we can to minimize our carbon footprint and avoid waste. We’re a mixed power farm, relying on a combo of tractor power, human power, and draft horse power (Jack and Lily are Zoë’s team of Belgian/Morgan draft horses who work in harness on the farm). Our farm infrastructure is powered by a 12kW solar array that sits on the roof of our barn and runs our greenhouses, walk-in coolers, irrigation pumps and more.
We typically have six folks on our crew during our main season (some part-time, some full-time), from late April through December. In the winter, we work a scaled-back schedule, employing 3-4 employees who stay with us year round but reduce their hours in the winter months.
Zoë has been farming for over 20 years, first as a hired hand on farms in Massachusetts and California, then as the crew manager at Sauvie Island Organics near Portland. In 2008 she returned to Floras Creek, where she was born, to start her own farm business in collaboration with her mother (Betsy) and sister (Abby), who both grow produce on the same family land. Abby grows salad greens and melons and manages the orchard. Betsy focuses primarily on greenhouse production of peak-of-summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, basil, zucchini). Zoë and her crew round out the rest of the production, from artichokes to potatoes to strawberries to broccoli (and much, much more). Together they market collectively as Valley Flora. With fifteen years in business, the farm is thriving and ever-evolving.
TRAINING AND EXPECTATIONS
Every person at Valley Flora is a crucial, invaluable part of our team. We all work hard, often 8-10 hours per day during our summer peak. The Apprentice(s) usually start in April/May and work full-time through October with us. By the end of October things ease up a bit and we reduce hours slightly for November and December.
We “train-by-doing,” so there is training built into every day, particularly when new employees are diving into a task for the first time. We always try to ensure that our crew members feel confident and capable before being set loose solo on a project, so new employees spend a lot of time working alongside our seasoned crew and mentors first.
Because our farm is so diverse, we rarely get stuck in a single task for too many hours, which helps mix up the physical and mental demands of the job. That said, it is very physical work, with certain seasonal peaks (for instance, harvesting the heavy storage crops of fall, or the intense weekly transplanting of spring/early summer). To help build strength and physical health, we train our employees not only in farming techniques, but also in proper body mechanics (we rely heavily on a set of body weight exercises called Foundation Training to keep our backs healthy and strong).
The Apprentice will work as a member of the field crew on all manner of tasks involved in operating a diversified produce farm:
Daily harvest for our 130-member CSA, farmstand, and direct sale accounts. The farm grows over 100 different crops, each requiring its own technique, tools, and skill set for harvest. Valley Flora has a long-standing reputation for putting out high quality produce and we strive to uphold that. We’re sticklers for quality and consistency, so Apprentices are taught standard bunch size, standard weight, and quality control for every single crop in ever-changing conditions. Simultaneously we need Apprentices to achieve these standards while moving as efficiently and quickly as possible, ultimately aiming to meet our established baseline harvest rates (which we have established for every crop on the farm through many years of data collection). It is a steep and challenging learning curve that requires keen attention to detail, fast and nimble hands, and a willingness to accept and integrate constructive feedback throughout the season. We are at core a commercial operation (not a hobby farm) and hustle is part of every single day.
Post-harvest handling: Washing, processing and packing the 100+ crops we grow and harvest, for four distinct sales channels, including CSA, farmstand, direct sales and foodbanks. Similar to harvest, the wash/packout process is distinct and unique for each crop and changes with each season, as well as with daily weather conditions. Apprentices will learn post-harvest handling skills that rely on our dunk tank, wash table, sorting tables, dry curing room, and two climate-controlled walk-in coolers. You’ll learn to use various scales, different wash techniques, specific packout techniques, and be trained in the selection of appropriate packaging materials, standards, and organization. Everyone receives annual food safety training.
Weekly Fieldwork: These tasks include transplanting, fertilizing, trellising, mowing, weed control, pest management, irrigation, and plant care. Apprentices will be trained in operating the equipment necessary to perform these tasks safely and efficiently, including mowers, weedeaters, wheel hoes, oscillating stirrup hoes, collinear hoes, Japanese hand weeders, drop spreader, bed shaper and mulch layer, flame weeder, pressure washer, hand truck, manual transmission flatbed pickup, and utility trailer.
Weekly Delivery: The Apprentice will be trained in the safe driving and upkeep of our Sprinter van to deliver produce to wholesale customers and CSA pickup sites. They will learn how to pack the van efficiently and strategically for deliveries, ensuring that the produce is transported safely and can be unloaded in the proper order.
U-Pick Management. The Apprentice will be responsible for overseeing flower and strawberry u-pick operations one or two days/week. This includes setting up the u-pick stand, communicating and interacting with customers to orient them to the u-pick system, answering questions, and being a public-facing farm ambassador.
Farmstand Management: The Apprentice will manage our biweekly farmstand, including packing orders, setting up the farmstand display, selling produce, and tending the till. Our farmstand manager is a very public-facing role, involving lots of interaction with the public.
QUALIFICATIONS
Our ideal applicant will:
Have previous outdoor physical work experience
Be reliable, honest and kind
Have strong communication and listening skills
Have a keen attention to detail
Have a strong awareness of efficiency and know how to hustle.
Have a good sense of humor
Be equally comfortable and productive working on a team or independently.
Be calm and adaptable in the face of the unexpected.
We don’t require previous farming experience but a passion and deep curiosity about sustainable agriculture is very useful. Applicants should be in good physical condition, capable of safely lifting 50 pounds, and able to squat, bend and kneel for prolonged amounts of time over an 8-10 hour work day. Ability to drive a stick shift is VERY helpful, since our primary farm truck has a standard transmission.
We strive to be a warm, fun, welcoming workplace where our sense of team is paramount. To that end, it’s super important that new employees are team-oriented, but they also need to be able to work independently and productively on their own (there are plenty of tasks that crew members tackle solo throughout the week).
We are all constantly striving to improve ourselves, our efficiency and the farm’s productivity - so good problem-solving skills, innovative creativity, humility, and critical thinking are exciting traits in a Valley Flora applicant.
COMPENSATION / ACCOMMODATIONS
The starting wage is between $13.50 and $15/hour, DOE. We work closely with our local Small Business Development Center, which offers a three month On-the-Job Training wage subsidy for new hires. Applicants who qualify for that program will start at $15/hour. Otherwise, new hires typically start at the local minimum wage (currently $13.50/hour), with a wage reevaluation after 6 weeks to assess the possibility of a mid-season performance-based raise.
Additionally, all employees have access to farm produce, and between June and December get a weekly CSA share from the farm, valued at $950+/season. Employees also have unlimited access to “house” produce (seconds or grade B produce that doesn’t meet our sales standards), as well as gleaning opportunities throughout the season. For employees who complete the entire season we always aim to give an end-of-year bonus, calculated based on the farm’s profitability and the number of hours worked. The farm will also cover half of an Apprentice’s RFC tuition if they complete the season.
We do not currently have housing available at the farm. Local housing options are somewhat limited, however we are well-networked in the community so it’s very possible that we could help a new employee find housing.
There is limited cell service, depending on the cell carrier. There is Wi-Fi that is available to everyone on the farm.
EQUITY AND INCLUSION
Since its inception our farm has been a bilingual, diverse workplace. We speak in English and Spanish, and make a concerted effort to ensure that language never leaves anyone out of the loop. We are owned and managed by women, and we make our absolute best effort to give everyone on our team opportunities to take ownership of various aspects of the farm and to feel appreciated for their invaluable contribution to the farm. Tasks are typically divvied up on the crew based on what people are excited to work on and never along gender-biased lines. We actively solicit input and feedback from the crew to make sure that the farm is being managed in a way that feels good, fair, inclusive and respectful.
Being a small farm, our crew is very familial, which gives us a lot of opportunity to grow and learn together in wonderful ways. Valley Flora is committed to open, non-violent communication and does not tolerate any form of bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or discrimination, ever.
Valley Flora farm crew.