learn by doing at nightfall farm
We offer two ways to learn by doing on our farm. Check out these opportunities and contact us with questions, or apply today.
apprenticeshipBest for: Aspiring farmers
Commitment: Part time (32 hours/week) x 10 weeks Timing: 10 consecutive weeks in the Spring (focus on willow plantings) or in the Fall (focus on livestock) Compensation: $12/hr plus on-farm housing (our cabin) plus lunch on work days. Other Perks: Our apprenticeship is part of the Savanna Institute's Agroforestry Apprenticeship Program. You can opt into their online agroforestry curriculum (which is incredible). You'll put your new knowledge to work on the farm. Also, you'll be part of a cohort that engages regularly one of ~20 apprentices working on farms across the Midwest. Learn More and Apply: By clicking here...and more details at the bottom. |
internshipBest for: College-age students exploring careers in food and environmental justice, climate change, conservation, sustainable agriculture, etc.
Commitment: 2-3 days per week, for 10 weeks Timing: Summer 2024 Compensation: Unpaid internship. Lunch and snacks provided on work days. We regularly work with interns to count their experience for academic credit. Other Perks: Part-time schedule lets you pursue other jobs/projects. A chance to ground your classroom learning in physical, meaningful work. Learn More and Apply: Details below. |
intern - - Learn to Save the Planet
Sustainable agriculture has the tools we need to sequester carbon, feed communities, and fight climate change. Get an up close and personal look at what it takes to farm in a way that heals the planet and builds strong food systems. Excellent foundation for a career in environmental justice, conservation, law, nonprofit work, and more…and of course, farming!
Our intern will learn by doing. You will help care for the animals we raise on pasture: chickens, pigs, turkeys, and lambs; help with farm, gardening, and homesteading projects; learn about food systems; know the joy of a hard day’s work; and dive into sustainability.
Apply by sending your resume and cover letter to: [email protected]
Details about our Summer 2024 Academic Internship
Here at Nightfall, we raise livestock on pasture, including lambs, meat chickens, laying hens, pigs, and turkeys. We sell meat locally through our meat CSA (a monthly meat buying club) and at small town farmers markets (including Madison). We also sell meat to chefs. We do not sell any vegetables, but we raise and preserve a large garden for our family.
We care about the environment, and we are already seeing how the land can heal as we bring our family farm back to life after years of conventional agriculture. We are deeply involved in our food system, working to build up area farmer’s markets, connect young farmers in the state, and engage our community with food.
We are entering our ninth farming season here at Nightfall Farm. We spent five years working on sustainable farms in Maine, Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania. Farmers mentored us at every step, and we are eager to share our knowledge as well.
We offer an internship program that immerses our intern in the food system. This is our sixth year hosting interns. Our intern will:
We design our internship to be an opportunity for individuals interested in being more involved in the local food movement or those aiming to gain experience while moving toward full-time employment on farms. This will be our fourth year hosting an intern on our farm.
Desired Skills and Qualifications:
1. Ability to work as a team player.
2. Willingness to take initiative and follow-through on tasks.
3. Strong oral and written communication skills.
4. Pragmatic and outcome-driven, yet positive and forward thinking.
5. Experience or interest in working with livestock.
6. Experience or interest in working on a homestead, including gardening, canning, etc.
7. Ability to physically work in a variety of conditions (i.e. endurance to work long days, in diverse weather conditions), and ability to lift at least 50 pounds.
8. Reliable transportation.
9. Punctuality.
10. Interest in helping develop a thriving local food system that fights climate change.
What You'll be Doing:
1. Assist with daily care of livestock: feeding, watering, moving fences and shelters, etc.
2. Helping in the garden: planting, cultivating, maintaining, harvesting, and preserving.
3. Assist with the repetitive tasks that are inherent to farming: washing dirty feeders and waterers, mucking stalls, carrying feed, etc.
4. Assist with farming, homesteading, and gardening projects
5. Optional opportunity to help with farmer’s markets.
6. Talk and ponder and learn throughout, as we discuss farming practices, food system challenges and opportunities, sustainability, climate change, and so much more.
Time Commitment:
We work with our interns to set a schedule that includes 2-3 days per week, for 10 weeks. This set schedule can allow for off-farm, part time work. For instance, last year’s intern worked every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. We often work daybreak to sundown, but do not require the same of our intern. We ask for 8 hour days, preferably 7:00am - 4:00pm (which ideally includes an hour for lunch together). We can be flexible with our structure, and will come to an agreed expectation together prior to the start of the internship.
Compensation:
To Apply to the Internship:
Send your resume and cover letter to Liz and Nate Brownlee at [email protected]. Nightfall Farm welcomes everyone to apply. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive community for everyone.
For more information on our farm, follow us on social media (Instagram and Facebook: @nightfallfarm)
Our intern will learn by doing. You will help care for the animals we raise on pasture: chickens, pigs, turkeys, and lambs; help with farm, gardening, and homesteading projects; learn about food systems; know the joy of a hard day’s work; and dive into sustainability.
Apply by sending your resume and cover letter to: [email protected]
Details about our Summer 2024 Academic Internship
Here at Nightfall, we raise livestock on pasture, including lambs, meat chickens, laying hens, pigs, and turkeys. We sell meat locally through our meat CSA (a monthly meat buying club) and at small town farmers markets (including Madison). We also sell meat to chefs. We do not sell any vegetables, but we raise and preserve a large garden for our family.
We care about the environment, and we are already seeing how the land can heal as we bring our family farm back to life after years of conventional agriculture. We are deeply involved in our food system, working to build up area farmer’s markets, connect young farmers in the state, and engage our community with food.
We are entering our ninth farming season here at Nightfall Farm. We spent five years working on sustainable farms in Maine, Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania. Farmers mentored us at every step, and we are eager to share our knowledge as well.
We offer an internship program that immerses our intern in the food system. This is our sixth year hosting interns. Our intern will:
- Work. The intern will help with daily tasks on the farm, which means lifting, hefting, building, canning, weeding, and creating. Together, we tackle the everyday (daily care of the animals), the joyful (taking chicks out to pasture for the first time), the mundane (washing feeders and waterers), and the complex (finding solutions on the farm). We will work in all weather, including sunny hot days, sopping wet days, and beautiful clear days. We work long days, and enjoy seeing the tangible results of that work.
- Live. The intern will end the summer with a lived understanding of daily work and life on a sustainable farm. This will serve the intern well if they pursue farming or work within the food system, if they are simply a lover of good food, or if they are working for climate justice.
- Learn. The intern will gather a working knowledge of how we farm (rotational grazing, ethical treatment of our animals, family garden, homestead tasks)…but importantly, the intern will also gain first-hand insight into the food system. We do a great deal of food system work, connecting eaters, farmers, and others to their food. Farming allows for a great deal of conversation as we work. The intern can learn, ask questions, and consider the realities and opportunities of our food system in southeast Indiana, in Indiana, and beyond.
We design our internship to be an opportunity for individuals interested in being more involved in the local food movement or those aiming to gain experience while moving toward full-time employment on farms. This will be our fourth year hosting an intern on our farm.
Desired Skills and Qualifications:
1. Ability to work as a team player.
2. Willingness to take initiative and follow-through on tasks.
3. Strong oral and written communication skills.
4. Pragmatic and outcome-driven, yet positive and forward thinking.
5. Experience or interest in working with livestock.
6. Experience or interest in working on a homestead, including gardening, canning, etc.
7. Ability to physically work in a variety of conditions (i.e. endurance to work long days, in diverse weather conditions), and ability to lift at least 50 pounds.
8. Reliable transportation.
9. Punctuality.
10. Interest in helping develop a thriving local food system that fights climate change.
What You'll be Doing:
1. Assist with daily care of livestock: feeding, watering, moving fences and shelters, etc.
2. Helping in the garden: planting, cultivating, maintaining, harvesting, and preserving.
3. Assist with the repetitive tasks that are inherent to farming: washing dirty feeders and waterers, mucking stalls, carrying feed, etc.
4. Assist with farming, homesteading, and gardening projects
5. Optional opportunity to help with farmer’s markets.
6. Talk and ponder and learn throughout, as we discuss farming practices, food system challenges and opportunities, sustainability, climate change, and so much more.
Time Commitment:
We work with our interns to set a schedule that includes 2-3 days per week, for 10 weeks. This set schedule can allow for off-farm, part time work. For instance, last year’s intern worked every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. We often work daybreak to sundown, but do not require the same of our intern. We ask for 8 hour days, preferably 7:00am - 4:00pm (which ideally includes an hour for lunch together). We can be flexible with our structure, and will come to an agreed expectation together prior to the start of the internship.
Compensation:
- This can be a paid position ($2,500 for the summer) IF you are a Hanover College student. Apply via the "Good Neighbors" internship program. Contact David Harden ([email protected]) for more information.
- For all other college interns: This is a part time, volunteer (unpaid) internship. Interns receive a prepared lunch daily, including products from the farm and garden as available, and snacks. Many of our past interns have completed their internship for academic credit, and we are eager to work with applicants to add this structure and reward to the internship.
- We also a separate opportunity: an apprenticeship program through the Savanna Institute. This is a full time, paid position that lasts 10 weeks. To learn more, visit https://www.savannainstitute.org/apprenticeship-program/.
To Apply to the Internship:
Send your resume and cover letter to Liz and Nate Brownlee at [email protected]. Nightfall Farm welcomes everyone to apply. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive community for everyone.
For more information on our farm, follow us on social media (Instagram and Facebook: @nightfallfarm)
More about the apprenticeship
apprentice Job Description: This is our fourth year hosting Savanna Institute apprentices, and we’ve hosted interns for five years before that; we really believe in sharing knowledge! We have had excellent mentors, and we want to pass that learn-by-doing goodness along. Our apprentice(s) will help with all aspects of a pasture-based livestock farm as well as our silvopasture plantings.
Early Spring Apprentice: This year, we are undertaking a major expansion of our shrub willow hedgerows, and so we are looking for an early-season apprentice. We have 1700’ of willows, and the work of coppicing and propagating happens in early spring. We hope this person will start in mid to late February, and work ten weeks. The willows are a major source of shade for our livestock and habitat for wildlife - plus we sell cuttings to basket-makers and casket-makers. We hope to build up this market to include florists, and we also want to start selling propagation material to others who want to establish willows. The Spring apprentice will work and learn alongside us as we expand this agroforestry aspect of our farm.
Fall Apprentice: Our farm is built around animals, and so that is the focus of our daily work during the grazing season. We would love to find a Fall apprentice who wants to learn animal husbandry within an establishing silvopasture system. Each day starts and ends with chores (caring for our sheep, chickens, pigs, and turkeys). Tasks include feeding, watering, rotational grazing (building new paddocks with temporary electric net-fencing) and observing (time spent with animals helps with socializing but also helps to catch problems quickly). This work is repetitive but joyful, and this apprentice will see the farm at its peak in terms of livestock (and the most beautiful time of year!).
More about how we approach hosting apprentices:
Most of our tasks will be performed together, but the plan is to effectively train our apprentice to be capable and confident to work alone as needed, so they leave our farm feeling more prepared to launch their own agroforestry farm. Each day will also include project time (typically working in collaboration with one of us). Projects might include work on farm infrastructure, working in the garden, mucking or washing feeders and waterers between groups of chickens or turkeys, or tackling whatever the farm needs on a given day.
Per the tenants of WWOOF, while you are our apprentice, we will not think of you as just our laborer. We commit to sharing what we have learned, providing experience in/with all aspects of our farm, and allowing you the time to be a human being in southern Indiana. There are loads of state parks, wildlife refuges, etc to explore. We have a bike and kayak that you may borrow, as well as a good library. Our farm includes 150 acres of forest and wetlands, and a hiking trail for you to enjoy as well.
Qualifications: We are looking to work with folks who are excited by small scale, diversified farming. We want you to be mature, disciplined, and thoughtful. You need to enjoy physical work, and be comfortable working in the hot, cold, wet, dry, and everywhere in between. Apprentices need to be able to lift 50 pounds and do 8 hours of physical work per day. It’s important to have the physical endurance that a farm requires. It’s okay if you don’t have experience with animals, though that is a bonus! Be comfortable getting dirty and being outside (which means beautiful sunsets as well as bugs, and meaningful work as well as sweat). You don’t have to know that you want to be a farmer, but you have to be interested in the satisfaction of a hard day’s work. You must be committed to finishing the ten-week apprenticeship.
Timing: Our apprenticeships last 10 weeks. We hope to find an Early Spring Apprentice (with a focus on helping expand our willow hedgerows) as well as a Fall apprentice (with a focus on the farm overall, especially animal husbandry within an establishing silvopasture system).
BenefitsPay and Hours: Apprentices should expect to work 32 hours per week. In addition to housing and one meal per work day (lunch), we pay apprentices $12 per hour. We’re open to a schedule that works for our apprentices, but we’ve found that the best option is spreading those 32 hours over 4-5 days, so that you really get the rhythm of the farm.
Each work day includes 8 hours of physical and meaningful work. We try to avoid the day’s heat as best we can, so we normally start work near daybreak, take a 2-3 hour break in the afternoon, and then do chores in the evening. We take breaks for meals, too, of course - food is important here! In exchange for this work, we provide one meal per day (lunch!), housing here on the farm plus we pay $12 per hour. Housing details below. Board includes lunch every work day. Apprentices are responsible for their own breakfasts, snacks and dinners on work days, and are responsible for all of their meals/snacks on days they do not work. More details about food below.
Housing: We have a small cabin with a porch, electricity, lots of windows, and the basics (queen bed, shelves, desk, chair, etc.). The apprentice will have access to an outdoor kitchen (including a propane cooking range and running water), outdoor heated shower, and composting toilet. The cabin does not have access to the internet, but the apprentice can access WIFI from our farmhouse deck (with table and shade) during daylight hours.
Food: We eat simple meals that are heavy with veggies and sometimes include our meat and eggs. We provide omnivorous lunch on your work days, and we can accommodate a vegetarian diet easily. When we eat together, we share the responsibilities for prep and clean up. When you eat on your own, you will have access to the outdoor kitchen, which is equipped with basics like pots and pans, plates, bowls, silverware, wooden spoons, tea kettle, etc. We can provide details!
Early Spring Apprentice: This year, we are undertaking a major expansion of our shrub willow hedgerows, and so we are looking for an early-season apprentice. We have 1700’ of willows, and the work of coppicing and propagating happens in early spring. We hope this person will start in mid to late February, and work ten weeks. The willows are a major source of shade for our livestock and habitat for wildlife - plus we sell cuttings to basket-makers and casket-makers. We hope to build up this market to include florists, and we also want to start selling propagation material to others who want to establish willows. The Spring apprentice will work and learn alongside us as we expand this agroforestry aspect of our farm.
Fall Apprentice: Our farm is built around animals, and so that is the focus of our daily work during the grazing season. We would love to find a Fall apprentice who wants to learn animal husbandry within an establishing silvopasture system. Each day starts and ends with chores (caring for our sheep, chickens, pigs, and turkeys). Tasks include feeding, watering, rotational grazing (building new paddocks with temporary electric net-fencing) and observing (time spent with animals helps with socializing but also helps to catch problems quickly). This work is repetitive but joyful, and this apprentice will see the farm at its peak in terms of livestock (and the most beautiful time of year!).
More about how we approach hosting apprentices:
Most of our tasks will be performed together, but the plan is to effectively train our apprentice to be capable and confident to work alone as needed, so they leave our farm feeling more prepared to launch their own agroforestry farm. Each day will also include project time (typically working in collaboration with one of us). Projects might include work on farm infrastructure, working in the garden, mucking or washing feeders and waterers between groups of chickens or turkeys, or tackling whatever the farm needs on a given day.
Per the tenants of WWOOF, while you are our apprentice, we will not think of you as just our laborer. We commit to sharing what we have learned, providing experience in/with all aspects of our farm, and allowing you the time to be a human being in southern Indiana. There are loads of state parks, wildlife refuges, etc to explore. We have a bike and kayak that you may borrow, as well as a good library. Our farm includes 150 acres of forest and wetlands, and a hiking trail for you to enjoy as well.
Qualifications: We are looking to work with folks who are excited by small scale, diversified farming. We want you to be mature, disciplined, and thoughtful. You need to enjoy physical work, and be comfortable working in the hot, cold, wet, dry, and everywhere in between. Apprentices need to be able to lift 50 pounds and do 8 hours of physical work per day. It’s important to have the physical endurance that a farm requires. It’s okay if you don’t have experience with animals, though that is a bonus! Be comfortable getting dirty and being outside (which means beautiful sunsets as well as bugs, and meaningful work as well as sweat). You don’t have to know that you want to be a farmer, but you have to be interested in the satisfaction of a hard day’s work. You must be committed to finishing the ten-week apprenticeship.
Timing: Our apprenticeships last 10 weeks. We hope to find an Early Spring Apprentice (with a focus on helping expand our willow hedgerows) as well as a Fall apprentice (with a focus on the farm overall, especially animal husbandry within an establishing silvopasture system).
BenefitsPay and Hours: Apprentices should expect to work 32 hours per week. In addition to housing and one meal per work day (lunch), we pay apprentices $12 per hour. We’re open to a schedule that works for our apprentices, but we’ve found that the best option is spreading those 32 hours over 4-5 days, so that you really get the rhythm of the farm.
Each work day includes 8 hours of physical and meaningful work. We try to avoid the day’s heat as best we can, so we normally start work near daybreak, take a 2-3 hour break in the afternoon, and then do chores in the evening. We take breaks for meals, too, of course - food is important here! In exchange for this work, we provide one meal per day (lunch!), housing here on the farm plus we pay $12 per hour. Housing details below. Board includes lunch every work day. Apprentices are responsible for their own breakfasts, snacks and dinners on work days, and are responsible for all of their meals/snacks on days they do not work. More details about food below.
Housing: We have a small cabin with a porch, electricity, lots of windows, and the basics (queen bed, shelves, desk, chair, etc.). The apprentice will have access to an outdoor kitchen (including a propane cooking range and running water), outdoor heated shower, and composting toilet. The cabin does not have access to the internet, but the apprentice can access WIFI from our farmhouse deck (with table and shade) during daylight hours.
Food: We eat simple meals that are heavy with veggies and sometimes include our meat and eggs. We provide omnivorous lunch on your work days, and we can accommodate a vegetarian diet easily. When we eat together, we share the responsibilities for prep and clean up. When you eat on your own, you will have access to the outdoor kitchen, which is equipped with basics like pots and pans, plates, bowls, silverware, wooden spoons, tea kettle, etc. We can provide details!