Organic market garden / vegetable farming

Hiring: Organic farm / market garden help
Farm: Spring Tide Farm

Location: Lapland, near Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
Housing: Reliable personal transportation to and from the farm is required (no accommodations available)

Hours: full-time: 32 hrs/week
Dates: seasonal: from May to October

The Farm:

Spring Tide Farm is a market garden producing certified organic vegetables, cut flowers and honey in Lapland, Nova Scotia. The farm is owned and operated by sisters Jessie and Rebecca MacInnis. We market directly to customers through the weekly Lunenburg farmer’s market, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, and through a General Store in Petite Rivière.

Going into our 5th season on this land, we have 1.5 acres in production and continue to open new field blocks. We grow an extensive variety of crops - lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, legumes, alliums, flowers, etc. We also have a small apiary. We practice low-till agriculture and adhere to the principles of agroecology, which is defined by the National Farmers Union as a holistic approach to food production that uses—and creates—social, cultural, economic and environmental knowledge to promote food sovereignty, social justice, economic sustainability, and healthy agricultural ecosystems. We are proudly certified organic and do our best to implement ecologically-minded practices in all of our systems. We know small-scale farming is hard work and we do our best to take lots of breaks and have fun!

The Position:

The farm worker reports to the 2 farm owners and works alongside them plus another employee. The farm worker will participate in all production in the fields and greenhouses and will have a specific focus on cultivation, irrigation and the restocking and delivering at the Petite General Store.

This is a full-time position, 4 days per week (32 hours). The typical schedule will be from Monday to Thursday from 8 to 5 during shoulder seasons (May and October); from 7 to 4 during high season (June through September). Note that this schedule includes a 15 minutes coffee break + 45 minutes of unpaid lunch break. The position will run from May 5 to October 31, 2025.

Please note that the candidate must match one of the two following criteria:

1. 30 years or younger; unemployed or underemployed; and a citizen, a permanent resident or a status refugee
2. Unemployed; a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident; and a permanent resident of Nova Scotia

The Ideal Candidate:

• Some experience or interest in working on an intensive organic market farm
• Valid driver’s license with a clean driving record
• Reliable personal transportation to and from the farm is required (no accommodations available)
• Motivated to work in all weather conditions
• Able to lift approximately 30-50lbs on a regular basis
• Organized, efficient, proactive and with good time management
• Flexible to change tasks often
• Willingness to learn and take on responsibilities around harvest planning and market preparation
• Good communicator and team player with a positive attitude

Tasks include:

Crop production

• Support implementing the crop plan, seeding and transplanting schedules and keeping records.
• Prepare garden beds for seeding and transplanting using manual and mechanical tools.
• Install field materials (landscape fabric, irrigation, row cover, tarps, fencing, tunnels, trellis, etc.)
• Maintain field and greenhouse crops (weeding, pruning, trellising, scouting for pests and disease)
• Participate in seasonal reviews.

Post-harvest

• Help closely with the harvest and coordinate with the team to implement the harvest, post-harvest and marketing plans.
• Clean post-harvest facilities
• Keep records harvest and sales date
• Delivery and sale at CSA pick-up location and Petite Store retailers twice/week.

Compensation:

• $18/ hour for 32 hours/ week
  • Some variation week to week due to rotating scheduling of markets, CSA pickups
• 4% vacation pay + 1 week unpaid vacation
• $200 gear/workwear stipend
• Worker’s compensation benefit coverage
• Access to the equivalent of a share of vegetables and flowers from farm surplus every week
• One shared lunch prepared on the farm per week
• Thorough on-site training and access to many instructional books

Equity Statement
We welcome and encourage Black, Indigenous, POC, folks from the LGBTQ2A+ community, women, and others that have historically faced systemic barriers in agriculture to apply and work with us!

Please send your resume (with 2 references) and a cover letter to: springtide.organics@gmail.com with the subject “[YOUR NAME] 2025 farm worker”. Please mention you saw this at FoodWork.ca. Application deadline March 28, 2025.