Sweet Water Apprenticeship

Last Updated On: February 18th, 2025 at 08:43AM MST

Contact information

Farm Address:
7007 Hugo Road
Hugo, Oregon, 97526

Primary Contact: Kait Crowley
Primary Phone:
    Type: Cell
    Number: 5415883550
    Email: training@roguefarmcorps.org

Website: https://www.roguefarmcorps.org/host-farms/sweetwater

Website: https://www.roguefarmcorps.org/

Internship information

General Farm Description: Sweet Water Farm is located in Hugo, Oregon about 15 minutes north of Grants Pass and 15 minutes east of the Rogue River. Cool and wet winters contrast with hot and dry summers. Spring and fall are world-class beautiful and mild. Pine and oak savannah is the native ecosystem here with fir, cedar, and manzanita as other dominant species. The home site is ¾ of an acre of sloping 75-foot beds for annual vegetable production, a circle garden with perennial flowers and asparagus, and a small variety of fruit trees and berries. We also lease 2 acres from our next-door neighbor which has a section of 100-foot beds and a section of 200-foot beds for annual vegetable production plus potatoes, onions, winter squash, garlic, and hemp. We have a propagation hoop house and two hoop houses for hot-weather crops in the spring and summer and cold-weather crops in the fall and winter. We use a BCS and a 4-wheel Kabota for soil prep and mowing. We aim to leave soils covered with growing plants, mulch, or tarps as much as possible to limit erosion and preserve soil life. We only apply OMRI-certified amendments and compost to the soil. Lots of 5-gallon buckets are lifted, carried, and dumped at Sweet Water Farm. Weeding and cultivation in beds are all done by hand and hand tools. Transplanting is done by hand, but this year we are going to experiment with the paperpot transplanter. Sweet Water Farm is entering its 19th year as a primary vendor at the Grants Pass Growers Market. This farmers market is a bustling event every Saturday all year round and is the oldest market in the state of Oregon. We also provide produce for a few local restaurants, a natural food store, and a food co-op. Plans for 2025 include a half-acre expansion of veggie production, construction of a 90’x24’ foot hoop house and a 20’x18’ equipment building, the raising of a new flock of chickens and a couple of pigs, and planting of fruit trees, medicinals, and perennials.

CRAFT Member Farm? No

Internship Starts: June
Internship Ends: December
Number of Internship Available: 1 FULL TIME (30-40 hrs/week)
Application Deadline: 03/30/2025
Minimum Length of Stay: 500 hours / Full Season

Internship Details:

Training and Expectations

We will teach Apprentices every aspect of running a successful season of farming.

These include:

• Farming mindset and self-care strategy

• Understanding and implementing a full-year planting calendar/schedule

• Understanding time/labor requirements regarding calendar/schedule

• Record keeping

• Seed propagation and prop-house management

• Soil preparation and transplanting

• Soil cultivation and weed management

• Greenhouse management and trellising

• Cut Flower cultivation and bouquet/floral design

• Harvesting,  washing, and packing of produce

• Growers’ market setup and marketing

The Apprentice will be expected to work 35 hours a week, split into five 7-hour days, with two days off per week. During the height of the season, the Apprentice may work extra hours if desired. A week off for a vacation mid-season can be scheduled. Tasks are physically challenging and repetitive at times, but the Apprentice will not be asked to do anything Sam and Denise have not done countless times each year for decades. The Apprentice will be taught body positioning for all tasks to maximize efficiency, avoid injury, and increase strength.

Apprentice will be integral to the success of Sweet Water Farm for the 2025 season.  As we plan to increase yields this year, develop farm infrastructure, and grow more food and independence than ever, Denise and Sam will develop a schedule and plan that is specific and realistic and aims to coincide with the non-negotiable flow of the Earth. As planting and harvesting dates are crucial to success, the Apprentice will be given significant responsibility in making this plan a reality. They will help Sam and Denise seed, germinate, transplant, irrigate, weed, harvest, clean, and sell hundreds of thousands of plants. Getting healthy food to the people is the mission. Simply put, this is how you can make farming an occupation that allows you the freedom to be your own boss and work from the land where you live. Managing the landscape in a way that keeps things neat and organized, manageable, productive, and beautiful while also doing so in a way that nourishes the Earth will be our goal.

When the Apprentice arrives on June 1, much of the initial steps will already be rolling for the year. The first two large veggie successions, storage onions, leeks, the main flower patch, five salad/lettuce plantings, and one greenhouse will already be planted. The Apprentice will step right in and take over many of the day-to-day tasks that keep the farm running. Maintenance/Mowing Monday focuses on keeping the seeding and soil prep schedule flowing and the grass and edges mowed and trimmed. Trellis/Transplant Tuesday focuses on trellising greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers as well as getting the next transplants in the ground. Weeding Wednesday keeps our beds cultivated and our plants healthy and charging without too much competition. Thorough Thursday is our day to finish any needed tasks and start harvesting for Market. Friday is all harvesting, washing, and packing of produce.  Saturday is Market day when we get to bring the goods to the people!

We will harvest and cure garlic as well as transplant the summer veggie succession, melons, and winter squash in June.  Every 2 weeks we will transplant head lettuce and salad mix. In July we will transplant our second to last veggie succession, keep the onion and leek patch well-weeded, and plant out our hemp field.  In August we will transplant our final fall succession of overwintering veggies, harvest and cure storage onions, and seed overwintered onions. In September we will start to enjoy the warm days, cool nights, and the bounty of fall, harvest the potatoes and begin to pick and cure the hemp crop. In October we will harvest and cure winter squash, flip a greenhouse from tomatoes to greens, and pick sensitive crops and dried flowers before the freezes hit.  In November we will plant garlic and overwintered onions, fill up another greenhouse with cold-weather veggies, and clean the fields up and seed cover crops before things get too wet. In December we will rest and get ready to do it all again!

Educational Opportunities: An Apprenticeship at Sweet Water Farm is part of Rogue Farm Corps' beginning farmer training program. Hands-on field training at the Host Farm is complemented by a series of classes, farm tours, discussions, and networking events organized by Rogue Farm Corps.  EDUCATIONAL EVENTS Apprentices join other beginning farmers for an Educational Event Series facilitated by Rogue Farm Corps. The full event series includes: 24 classes and discussions focused on foundational sustainable agriculture concepts, skills, and the food system- with topics including Decolonizing Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Next Steps for Beginning Farmers. 7-11 farm tours which showcase practical skills and individual farmers’ stories and provide insight into diverse production and marketing systems. RFC strives to make all educational events inclusive and welcoming to people from all backgrounds and identities. Classes, tours, and discussions are led by Rogue Farm Corps staff, agricultural professionals, and expert farmworkers/farmers. For more information on these events, please visit our event series page and sample schedule. APPLICATIONS Apprenticeship applications are accepted on the Rogue Farm Corps website until positions are filled, no later than late March, but early applications are considered first. Please apply ASAP if you’re interested! Host Farms decide which applicants to interview and offer placements to. Applicants must be 18 years or older and have authorization to work in the U.S. FEES / SCHOLARSHIPS Program fees are $700 for Apprentices in the Portland, Rogue Valley, and Willamette Valley chapters and $485 for Apprentices at one of our Satellite Host Farms in other regions of Oregon. RFC has scholarships available with priority given to participants who identify as  BIPOC, LGBTQIA2s+, veterans, those who have been impacted by the carceral system, and low-income participants. 

Skills Desired: QUALIFICATIONS The Apprentice must have at least two full seasons of farming experience and have the goal of operating their own farm in the future. 

Meals: Produce surplus is available to the apprentice.

Stipend: Waged Position at $17/ hour

Housing: Accommodation is a tiny house on the property with electricity, a kitchen, a shower, a sleeping loft, and a composting toilet for $600/month. The cabin is separate from other housing on the farm, is private, and has a nice little deck.

Preferred method of Contact: Email