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: 3.5 days /week Timing: ~16 weeks, ideally in Fall 2026. Potential to start earlier, in Summer 2026. Stipend: $1,200 per month plus on-farm housing (our cabin, including outdoor kitchen) and lunch on work days Other Perks: Participate in every aspect of the farm, from building paddocks to entering sales data, from making forage decisions to delivering to restaurants. Find out if this style of farming is the right fit for you. Learn More and Apply: Details below. Apply by February 13, 2026. |
internshipBest for: College-age students exploring careers in food and environmental justice, climate change, conservation, sustainable agriculture, etc.
Commitment: 30 hours / week, for 10 weeks Timing: Summer 2026 Compensation: Paid internship via Hanover College's Good Neighbor Internship Program. $10/hr plus on-farm housing (our cabin) and lunch on work days. Other Perks: A chance to ground your classroom learning in physical, meaningful work. Learn More and Apply: Apply via HanoverConnect by January 30, 2026. Open to college students at Hanover College AND others who call southeast Indiana home. |
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 via HanoverConnect by January 30th.
Details about our Summer 2026 Good Neighbor Internship
Thinking about a career in environmental justice, conservation, policy/law, nonprofit work, sustainability? This internship can ground you in the reality of what’s possible – and what it takes.
About Our Farm:
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 and via small groceries. 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 farmers in the state, engage in policy work, and connect our community with good food.
We are entering our 13th year here at Nightfall Farm. After we graduated from Hanover, 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 tenth year hosting interns. Our intern will:
Time Commitment:
We work with our interns to set a schedule that includes 3.5 days per week, for 10 weeks. This set schedule can allow for other part time work. We ask for 8 hour days, preferably 8:00am - 4:00pm.
Compensation:
- This is a paid internship.
- We have housing on the farm (a cabin that we rent out on Hipcamp). If you can work all days in a row each week, you can use the cabin on those nights free.
Apply by Jan 30th. More Details / To Apply, visit Hanover Connect.
For more information on our farm, visit our website www.nightfallfarm.com
or follow us on social media (Instagram and Facebook: @nightfallfarm)
*Nightfall Farm encourages everyone to apply.
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive community.
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 via HanoverConnect by January 30th.
Details about our Summer 2026 Good Neighbor Internship
Thinking about a career in environmental justice, conservation, policy/law, nonprofit work, sustainability? This internship can ground you in the reality of what’s possible – and what it takes.
About Our Farm:
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 and via small groceries. 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 farmers in the state, engage in policy work, and connect our community with good food.
We are entering our 13th year here at Nightfall Farm. After we graduated from Hanover, 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 tenth year hosting interns. Our intern will:
- Work. The intern will help with daily tasks on the farm, which means lifting, hefting, feeding, building, weeding, and creating. Together, we tackle the everyday (daily care of the animals), the joyful (taking animals out to pasture for the first time), the mundane (washing feeders and waterers), and the complex (finding solutions as problems arise). 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 with climate justice, policy, or sustainability.
- Learn. The intern will gain a working knowledge of how we farm (rotational grazing, ethical treatment of our animals, family garden, homestead tasks) as well as first-hand insight into the food system and the possibilities of sustainable agriculture.
Time Commitment:
We work with our interns to set a schedule that includes 3.5 days per week, for 10 weeks. This set schedule can allow for other part time work. We ask for 8 hour days, preferably 8:00am - 4:00pm.
Compensation:
- This is a paid internship.
- We have housing on the farm (a cabin that we rent out on Hipcamp). If you can work all days in a row each week, you can use the cabin on those nights free.
Apply by Jan 30th. More Details / To Apply, visit Hanover Connect.
For more information on our farm, visit our website www.nightfallfarm.com
or follow us on social media (Instagram and Facebook: @nightfallfarm)
*Nightfall Farm encourages everyone to apply.
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive community.
apprentice -- Learn to farm by doing
This will be our sixth year hosting apprentices. We hosted apprentices via the Savanna Institute on-farm learning program for five years, but their program is on pause so we are hosting an apprentice on our own this year. We really believe in sharing knowledge! We have had excellent mentors, and we want to pass that learn-by-doing goodness along. Our apprentice will help with all aspects of a pasture-based livestock farm:
Fall Apprenticeship: 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, meat chickens, laying hens, pigs, and turkeys). Tasks include feeding, watering, rotational grazing (building new paddocks with temporary electric net-fencing and moving animals and their shelters to fresh forage) and observing (time spent with animals helps with socializing but also helps to catch problems quickly). This work is repetitive and physical but joyful, and this apprentice will see the farm at its peak in terms of livestock (and the most beautiful time of year!). Apprentices also help with all the things that make the farm work, including the the joyful (taking animals out to pasture for the first time), the mundane (washing feeders and waterers), and the complex (finding solutions as problems arise).
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 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.
We commit to sharing what we have learned, providing experience in/with all aspects of our farm. We often spend part of the lunch break talking about the "why's" of what we do or how we make decisions, looking over an apprentices' ideas for their future farm, sharing our financial records, demonstrating how we keep track of sales, talking food systems/policy/marketing/etc, or just learning about whatever is interesting you and us, together. We also arrange for 1-3 visits to nearby regenerative farms, during work hours. This is an important way to learn and build community. We can also connect you with other farms to visit on your own time.
It's also important that you have 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 full apprenticeship.
Timing: Our apprenticeships last ~16 weeks. We hope to find a Fall apprentice (early August - Thanksgiving), though there is potential to start earlier in summer.
Compensation: Apprentices should expect to work 3.5 days per week. In addition to housing and one meal per work day (lunch), we pay apprentices a monthly stipend of $1,200.
Daily Schedule: Each work day includes about 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! 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. We’re open to a weekly schedule that works for our apprentices, but like to include Sunday as a half day that apprentices work solo, so they can feel out being the lead farmer - and so we can take a break. The three full work days are primarily spent working together. We understand that apprentices may need a week or a few days off for trips, weddings, etc. Let us know those dates during the interviews or at the start of the apprenticeship, and we can usually accommodate! We can provide a list of our "all hands on deck" dates (butcher dates, hatch dates, etc.).
Housing: We have a small cabin with a screened in porch, electricity, lots of windows, and the basics (queen bed, shelves, desk, fan, chair, etc.). The apprentice will have access to an outdoor kitchen (including a propane cooking range, fridge, and running water), outdoor heated shower, and composting toilet. The cabin does not have access to the internet, but the outdoor kitchen does.
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.
Apply by Feb 13, 2026: Email us a resume and three references to apply: [email protected]
Fall Apprenticeship: 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, meat chickens, laying hens, pigs, and turkeys). Tasks include feeding, watering, rotational grazing (building new paddocks with temporary electric net-fencing and moving animals and their shelters to fresh forage) and observing (time spent with animals helps with socializing but also helps to catch problems quickly). This work is repetitive and physical but joyful, and this apprentice will see the farm at its peak in terms of livestock (and the most beautiful time of year!). Apprentices also help with all the things that make the farm work, including the the joyful (taking animals out to pasture for the first time), the mundane (washing feeders and waterers), and the complex (finding solutions as problems arise).
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 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.
We commit to sharing what we have learned, providing experience in/with all aspects of our farm. We often spend part of the lunch break talking about the "why's" of what we do or how we make decisions, looking over an apprentices' ideas for their future farm, sharing our financial records, demonstrating how we keep track of sales, talking food systems/policy/marketing/etc, or just learning about whatever is interesting you and us, together. We also arrange for 1-3 visits to nearby regenerative farms, during work hours. This is an important way to learn and build community. We can also connect you with other farms to visit on your own time.
It's also important that you have 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 full apprenticeship.
Timing: Our apprenticeships last ~16 weeks. We hope to find a Fall apprentice (early August - Thanksgiving), though there is potential to start earlier in summer.
Compensation: Apprentices should expect to work 3.5 days per week. In addition to housing and one meal per work day (lunch), we pay apprentices a monthly stipend of $1,200.
Daily Schedule: Each work day includes about 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! 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. We’re open to a weekly schedule that works for our apprentices, but like to include Sunday as a half day that apprentices work solo, so they can feel out being the lead farmer - and so we can take a break. The three full work days are primarily spent working together. We understand that apprentices may need a week or a few days off for trips, weddings, etc. Let us know those dates during the interviews or at the start of the apprenticeship, and we can usually accommodate! We can provide a list of our "all hands on deck" dates (butcher dates, hatch dates, etc.).
Housing: We have a small cabin with a screened in porch, electricity, lots of windows, and the basics (queen bed, shelves, desk, fan, chair, etc.). The apprentice will have access to an outdoor kitchen (including a propane cooking range, fridge, and running water), outdoor heated shower, and composting toilet. The cabin does not have access to the internet, but the outdoor kitchen does.
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.
Apply by Feb 13, 2026: Email us a resume and three references to apply: [email protected]