We have created a new full-time farm/bakery position for our 2018 team! This position is an entry-level position split 25/75 between our ecological vegetable farm and wood-fired bakery. You will be paid hourly and can start immediately. Apply now by sending a resume and cover letter to littlehatcreek@gmail.com.
General description: Little Hat Creek Farm is a successful small diversified vegetable farm and wood-fired bakery. 2018 will be our fifth season. Our weeks are structured around preparing to sell at three fast-paced farmer’s markets and delivering our CSA. We use ecological farming practices on one acre of annual vegetables and a small fruit orchard. Our bakery specializes in naturally-leavened breads made by hand with local flours and hand-laminated croissants. Our 5’x7′ wood-fired oven is housed in a climate-controlled bakery building on the farm. In addition to our retail sales outlets, we also wholesale bread and pastries to stores and restaurants. Our team includes two full-time and one part-time employee in addition to Ben, who manages the vegetable side of things, and Heather, who manages the bakery.
Skills desired: You are a good fit for our team if you love making and sharing good food and if our farm+bakery business model excites you. Our goals in creating this position are to become both a bigger buyer of regional grain, and a better employer. We like working hard, but by bringing more people on board we aim to produce more while keeping everyones’ hours reasonable and using our teams’ skills appropriately. You will join our business at this exciting time as we transition from doing all the work ourselves to building a team that will allow us to have a greater impact on our community.
Duties: You will assist our existing bakery and farm team with discreet tasks that help them move production along including cleaning, dishwashing, pastry prep and makeup, scaling, dividing and shaping dough, and ingredient processing. In addition, you will assist our farm team with normal farm tasks, including hoeing, mulching, planting, harvesting, seeding, and weeding. You may be asked to perform other tasks, including making deliveries, helping to manage the oven fire, or feeding sourdough starters.
This entry-level position is a great way to get your feed wet in an artisan bakery and on a small ecological vegetable farm. We prefer that you demonstrate some kitchen experience (but it doesn’t have to be baking), enjoy working with your hands, and are able to learn new skills easily. You can anticipate tasks, see what needs to be done, and do it. You are organized and take pride in a clean workspace and a job well done. You are able to work quickly and efficiently while attending to detail, and you are able to problem-solve on the fly. You also don’t mind working outside in any weather and enjoy physical labor. You are punctual, dependable, able to safely lift fifty pounds, and able to meet deadlines. You work well with others, but are also content to work alone. You must have a clean driving record and be comfortable driving a large van on mountain roads.
Duration and Hours: You need to be available to start work immediately. We prefer that you commit to working through October 2018, preferably through December 2018, with the possibility of transitioning to a role of greater responsibility through the winter. Your working hours will be 35-40 hours per week, split 75/25 between the bakery and farm. You need to be available all day Tuesday and Friday, either Saturday or Sunday, and at least one other day. There is some flexibility, but we ask that you keep the schedule once we decide on it.
Compensation: We pay monthly, starting at $8-10/hr (DOE) with a $2 raise after three months. Benefits include unlimited free access to unsold farm produce, eggs, and baked goods. You will also receive training in marketable skills, including but not limited to. We pay monthly. You will have unlimited free access to unsold farm produce, including eggs, bread and pastries. You will also receive training in marketable skills, including but not limited to:
- making pastries and naturally-leavened bread on a commercial scale
- growing vegetables ecologically for market
- handling food safely
- processing fruits and vegetables
- successfully growing a small local food business
You will also have access to the logic behind everything we do. We make a point of sharing the details of our farming, baking, and business practices, so we encourage you to ask about starting and running a business like ours.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Ben + Heather
In December, when the seed catalogues start arriving in the mail, I begin to think about the coming year’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program. Managing a CSA properly means planning for a diverse assortment of crops in each box. We don’t want to deliver a box with 10 pounds of summer squash in it and nothing else (though there are weeks when I could do that!). Of course, summer squash is one of the “anchors” of our CSA, along with tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, so we attempt to plant and harvest continuous successions of these anchor crops. So when I peruse the seed catalogues by the woodstove, sipping my morning cup of coffee, I am searching for a few untried but promising varieties of each important crop to add variety and keep things interesting both for me and our CSA members. And every year we like to try a completely new crop. In 2018 we are excited to try our hand growing celery and black-eyed peas.
Last year we had some special requests for mini butter croissant rolls, so this year we are offering them to everyone! We have also added bulk pricing on pastries and larger bread loaves to make it easier to feed your family.