Chewonki’s Salt Marsh Farm seeks a highly motivated Head Farmer who will concentrate on vegetable
gardens and coordination with the kitchen manager.
Chewonki Foundation, Inc., is a year-round, nonprofit environmental education center based on a 400-
acre peninsula in mid-coast Maine. Our programs include a semester school for high school juniors,
summer camps for boys and girls, co-ed wilderness expeditions for teens and adults, environmental
education for independent and public school groups, and traveling natural history programs. Visit our
web site at www.chewonki.org
Salt Marsh Farm, on the Chewonki property, is small and diversified; its primary goal is to educate
program participants while producing food, wood products, and fiber for the community. There are
approximately 15 acres of open land; one acre is cultivated for vegetable gardens and the remaining 14
acres are pasture and hay fields. The managed woodlot is approximately150 acres. A draft horse provides
much of the power for garden and woods work.
Chewonki Mission
Chewonki is dedicated to helping people grow individually and in community with others by providing
educational experiences that foster an understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the natural
world and that emphasize the power of focused, collective effort.
Education is central to Chewonki’s mission statement; any individual that works on the farm must
consider him/herself a teacher as well as a farmer. Because our working farm is the context for our
education rather than a traditional classroom setting, the farm crew needs to be comfortable and adept
with teaching as he/she works alongside students and program staff.
All Chewonki farmers:
• Thoughtfully prioritize
• Recognize and celebrate the farm’s historical context
• Have the flexibility to grow and adapt systems based in that context
• Are facilitators of Chewonki’s food system
• Make mission-driven decisions
• Use our strengths to support the farm and farmers
• Share the workload and responsibilities fairlyChewonki)is)an)equal)opportunity)employer.
Required Skills/Experience/Abilities of the head farmer:
• Five years or more of experience on a small, diversified farm
• Familiarity with organic practices
• Strong leadership and communication skills
• Strong organizational skills
• Ability to problem solve and make difficult decisions
• Strong time management skills
• Ability to mediate personnel issues
• Experience seed starting, garden planning, managing crops, and amending soils
• Ability to live and work in a small community
• Ability to oversee a work crew, as well as manage projects collaboratively
• Experience working with a commercial kitchen preferred
Responsibilities of head farmer:
• Provide steady leadership for the farm crew and general farm systems
• Oversee and develop future use of off-campus properties: Eaton Farm, Cushman Mountain
• Hire and schedule staff, including seasonal summer staff
• -Manage and record relevant data to guide production
• -Plan gardens and order seeds
• -Oversee day-to-day garden work and projects
• Integrate work horse into garden-related work
• Facilitate skill development of farm crew
• Organize and maintain tools (mechanized and otherwise)
• Maintain buildings in coordination with facilities department
• Attend at various staff meetings
• Complete necessary administrative tasks (including business office, HR)
• Purchase supplies
• Manage annual budget and participate in long-range capital investment planning
• -Serve as primary liaison to between farm and Chewonki staff/programs
• -Communicate with kitchen regarding garden planning and harvesting
• Coordinate post-harvest handling and storage of farm products (including on-campus root cellar)
• Manage soil testing, cover cropping, and soil amendments
• Establish purchase agreements with other local farms/farmers
• Help with food processing/making value added products
• Plan for an lead season extension/hoop house growing
• Keep appropriate, detailed records related to areas of responsibility
Farm Activities and Responsibilities throughout the annual cycle:
Chores to care for livestock are done at the beginning and end of every day throughout the year.
Generally, our workday is between 10-11 hours daily, 5 days a week, and can be more during hay season.
Chore weekend responsibilities alternate with “off” weekends. All farm crew members will attend Food
Action Committee meetings.Chewonki)is)an)equal)opportunity)employer.
February - March: Semester School in session, work program, focus on firewood and woodlot work, early
hoop house growing, seed starting, portable fence repair, and lambing
April – May: Semester School and Outdoor Classroom in session, work program, seed starting, garden
plowing/cultivating/planting, pasture rotation, mowing, fence maintenance
June-August: Boys Camp in session, Farm Activity support, intensive garden and pasture work, haying,
harvesting for kitchen
September –December: Semester School and Outdoor Classroom in session, work program, harvesting
and storing crops, processing meat birds, cover cropping, manure spreading, machinery repair and
winterizing, livestock to slaughter, begin wood season preparations
Late December - January: Semester School and Outdoor Classroom on break, farm crew takes
approximately three weeks of downtime doing only chores and necessary tasks. Late January farm crew
prepares for the Semester.
Salary Range: 26,000-34,000 dependent on experience.
Benefits: Room and board is included as a requirement of living on campus. Benefits include housing,
meals, health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, optional vision insurance, long-term disability,
403B retirement plan and access to professional development funds.
To Apply – received by October 21, 2011
Please see www.chewonki.org for more information about Chewonki and submit the following:
1) A cover letter explaining your interest in Chewonki’s Salt Marsh Farm
2) Resume
3) One written recommendation
4) A list of three references with contact information.
Materials may be emailed, faxed, or mailed to Nancy Percy (electronic submissions preferred). After
review on a rolling basis we will contact qualified candidates for further information, to arrange an
interview, and to schedule a visit. Candidates must pass a background check before hire.
Nancy Percy
Human Resources
Chewonki Foundation
485 Chewonki Neck Road
Wiscasset, ME 04578
hr@chewonki.org
207-882-7323
207-882-9564 (conf. fax)
www.chewonki.org
