Sleight Family Farm

Last Updated On: February 10th, 2025 at 10:00AM MST

Contact information

Farm Address:
163 Woody Farm Dr.
Marion, North Carolina, 28752

Primary Contact: Wesley Sleight
Secondary Contact: Anna Sleight

Primary Phone:
    Type: Cell
    Number: (828)803-3130
    Email: sleightfamilyfarm@gmail.com

Website: https://www.sleightfamilyfarm.com

Internship information

General Farm Description: Sleight Family Farm is an organically minded farm near Old Fort, NC. We are 30 minutes east of Asheville, where we sell the majority of our produce direct to our customers. Our farm is in the lush Catawba River Valley, where we cultivate about 5-7 acres of intensive vegetable production, as well as indoor grown microgreens. We are near an abundance of mountain trails, creeks, rivers, and Lake James.

CRAFT Member Farm? Yes

Internship Starts: April-May
Internship Ends: August-November
Number of Internship Available: 3
Application Deadline: May
Minimum Length of Stay: 2 months

Internship Details:

Internship on our farm consists of a thorough experience of organic farming including crop planning, seed starting, transplanting, weeding, irrigation, trellising, harvesting, washing, and packing field crops, as well as growing and harvesting indoor soil-grown microgreens.  There is also the opportunity to work at our busy Saturday morning Tailgate Market in North Asheville, the oldest Farmer’s Market in Western North Carolina. Along with our direct-to-consumer Tailgate Market, we also distribute to local produce distributors and restaurants, as well as the Foothills Food Hub and Equal Plates Project which provide healthy produce and meals for underserved communities.  On our 30 acre farm we grow a wide variety of annual fruits and vegetables on 5-7 acres of fertile river-bottom land using all organic practices, such as cover-cropping, crop rotation, companion planting, rotational grazing in fallow fields, organic soil amendments, cultivation, soil testing, and weeding with tractor implements and hand tools.  It is important for those who work with us to be detail oriented, hard working, efficient, and kind, able to work well in a group environment as well as unsupervised.  Work starts slower in the early months of Spring, with 20-30 hours per week, and peaks July-August at 40 hours per week.  We work hard, have fun, and produce a lot of amazing produce to feed a wide range of customers.

Educational Opportunities: We share our knowledge of many facets of the local food system and production practices gained from over 25 years experience. This consists of everything from farm planning, production, tractor and equipment operation, distribution, marketing, community connection, feeding underserved communities, and more. We also offer CRAFT membership to our interns to be able to tour and learn from other regional farms.

Skills Desired: Farming experience is helpful, but not required. Spanish speaking applicants are welcome.

Meals: No

Stipend: Yes, we start at $15-$16hour DOE with regular review periods and opportunity for raises. We also provide up to $40/week of fresh produce and occasionally eggs from our farm hens.

Housing: No

Preferred method of Contact: email