Job Description

Blooming Hill Farm is currently looking for an assistant farm manager to join our already strong team. We are a working farm with a restaurant, market, and event venue. We have properties in Blooming Grove, Chester, and New Windsor, NY. 

As Assistant Farm Manager you will have broad responsibilities across all farm activities. The farm team is not very big, and everyone on the team does a variety of tasks that change throughout the season. Your time will be split between our main property in Blooming Grove, which is where all nursery/greenhouse production and wash/pack activities take place, and our fields in Chester where all outdoor and a majority of our high tunnel cultivation takes place.

We work 7 days a week on the farm, but you will always be entitled to 2 days off per week. Monday- Friday schedule, or Tuesday - Saturday schedule is preferred for this position. This is a full time position and over time, that pays time and a half, will be available during our busy season. The starting pay for this position is 25$/hr

Responsibilities and duties of this role may include:

Planning and Coordination Work

We use various digital tools to coordinate most things on the farm. We mainly use a combination of Google spreadsheets, email and WhatsApp groups to keep everyone abreast of all the info that is relevant to each person and part of the team. Here are some planning tasks you may be asked to do:

• Work with the Farm team to plan out daily, weekly and seasonal tasks
• Work with the Market and Restaurant to coordinate harvest, resolve any issues with harvest schedule, current and future availability, produce quality etc.
• Work with the Farm team to plan out greenhouse transplant production, coordinate and resolve any issues with greenhouse operations. 
• Maintain various record-keeping, produce availability, and scheduling spreadsheets for farm, greenhouse and Market

Nursery/Greenhouse Work

Overseeing the nursery and greenhouse will be a major part of this role. We have various techniques we use for seedling production, which you will be trained on, but we are always open to trying new methods. Some of this work may include:

• Develop & maintain seeding/transplant schedule - Use or modify existing greenhouse spreadsheets or develop new ones if desired
• Start seeds in nursery trays & pot up seedlings according to schedule
• Monitor all greenhouses for pests, disease and general plant health
• Keep a close eye on upcoming weather/temperature to ensure greenhouses will be open/closed for venting and temperature control at appropriate times.
• Water all greenhouses using manual watering, sprinklers & drip irrigation
• Apply amendments, fertilizer, and spray for disease/pests when needed
• Oversee part time employees who are doing greenhouse work 
• Ensure part time employees are using proper technique during seeding, transplanting, watering etc

Farmstand Work

Our farmstand/market is open Fri-Sun year round. During the main season we set the market up outside, and during the off-season we set up inside our barn. Farmstand work will include:

• Setup and break down all vegetables and necessary items each day
• Use the Square Register POS system to check out customers
• Restock items during the day
• Keep an eye out for items which are running low and need to be harvested for the following day, or reordered if they are not vegetable items.
• General quality control, keep an eye out if something looks bad/shouldn't be put out for sale

Harvest and Packing Work

We typically harvest Mon-Thurs, with the most harvesting taking place Tues/Wed. We sell wholesale through an online service called Farms2Tables, which picks up at the farm Tues-Thurs, usually around 1:00pm and delivers to restaurants in the Hudson Valley and NYC the following day. The Farms2Tables app allows orders up until 3am the morning of pickup, so there are often orders that must be picked in the morning for pickup that day. We try to harvest for our restaurant as early in the week as possible, as they are closed only Mondays, and begin prep for the week on Tues. Harvesting and packing work will include:

• Coordinate with Field team to keep track of what is ready/upcoming for harvest in the fields and tunnels
• Maintain availability spreadsheets for Blooming Hill Restaurant, and Wholesale List on Farms2Tables app
• Communicate vegetable availability with Farm, Market and Restaurant teams to time harvest and the movement of vegetables from Chester to Blooming Grove
• Ensure packed orders and needed vegetables are in the right locations/coolers when they need to be
• Oversee packing of all wholesale orders, including timing of harvest/packing, cleaning, labeling, quality control, and communicating with customers whenever necessary.

Field & Outdoor Work

The majority of our growing is on the blackdirt in Chester, which is about 10 minutes to the west of the home farm down Route 94. We grow on about 25 acres there, with our largest crops being Garlic - about 2-3 acres, and Winter Squash - about 4-6 acres. The tunnels in chester are all located in one field, they are unheated, and we grow in them year round. There is no electricity other than a small solar array in Chester, so all irrigation is done using gas pumps out of the irrigation/drainage ditches. Field and outdoor work for this role will include:

• Coordinate seedling quantities & schedule with field team
• Transport seedlings to Chester and arrange plantings
• Transport harvested vegetables from Chester to Blooming Grove to be washed/stored in coolers
• Direct seeding of certain crops using the Jang push seeder
• Weeding using hand tools & wheel hoes
• Covering crops using insect barrier fabric and row cover to protect from pests/frost
• Laying out landscape fabric for crops
• Occasional Application of amendments & pesticides using backpack sprayer. All required protective equipment, respirator, Tyvek suit etc will be provided. All amendments and sprays we use are OMRI listed organic products:
• PyGanic - pyrethrin
• Fertilome - Spinosad
• DiPel/Valent - Bacillus Thuringiensis
• Bed prep using various tools such as BCS Rototiller, Tilther
• Occasionally assist with transplanting out seedlings
• Arrange and lay out drip irrigation and overhead irrigation 
• Basic field and tunnel cleanup/maintenance
• Monitor tunnels for any damage

Please respond to this ad with a resume that highlights your relevant experience and a brief note that lets us know why you are interested in the position. You can also email us at jobs@bloominghill.farm. We look forward to reviewing your application!

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Job Tags

Full time, Part time, Seasonal work, Outdoor, Day shift, Saturday, 2 days per week, Monday to Friday,

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