Grassroots Farm & Dairy
Last Updated On: diciembre 16th, 2024 at 10:04AM MST
Contact information
Farm Address:538 Graham Rd
Marshall, North Carolina, 28753
Primary Contact: Andrea Van Gunst
Secondary Contact: Tim Gallaugher
Primary Phone:
Type: Cell
Number: 828.545.9202
Email: avangunst@gmail.com
Secondary Phone
Type: -----
Number: 828.545.4619
Email: tim.gallaugher@gmail.com
Email: tim.gallaugher@gmail.com
Website: https://www.grassrootsdairy.com
Internship information
General Farm Description: We run a small-scale sheep dairy just outside Marshall and we currently sell Grade A sheep milk yogurt, fresh cheese and aged sheep milk cheese at four weekly tailgate markets in Asheville and Black Mountain. We also sell raw milk through a herdshare program and we sell a small amount of our products into local grocery stores and to chefs. We milk 50 ewes from March 15th to October 1st and in the spring we have close to 100 lambs. We graze our flocks intensively and we use whole grain non-GMO feed and local hay to supplement their diet in the milking season. Work on a dairy is quite different from work on a vegetable operation. We don’t have “crew days” where everyone works together. Quite often you will be working by yourself or with one other person, carrying out tasks that can be seen as quite repetitive. We are a small team and we (the farm owners) also juggle 2 small children and 1 off-farm job. You need to be sure that you both enjoy working alone and that you can stay focused and productive while working alone. We are very transparent about all parts of the farm and we want you to feel comfortable asking us questions about how things run! We are also a relatively new farm (2025 will be our 6th year in full production) so there are still a lot of figuring things out on the fly. Your patience with this process and your ability to communicate openly about what works and what doesn’t is essential.CRAFT Member Farm? Yes
Internship Starts: March 1
Internship Ends: Dec 1
Number of Internship Available: 2
Application Deadline: none
Minimum Length of Stay: 6 months
Internship Details:
This position is from March 1st – December 1st. You can expect to work no more than 40 hours / week in the height of the season and fewer hours in late fall. During lambing and at the start of milking (mid March thru mid April) you may be working up to 50 hours / week, as learning to milk requires a lot of training shifts.
You get 2 days off / week but these days are usually not back to back. You get 1 week of paid vacation time (5 work days). We ask that no one take vacation days before July 1st as the spring is quite busy. We require clear communication well in advance of requested days off. Please be ready and willing to work weekends.
Our goal is to give you a full experience of what it means to run a small dairy with a farmstead creamery. As such, the workload is split fairly evenly into four categories: milking, working in the creamery, running tailgate markets and fieldwork with the sheep.
We milk twice a day (6:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.) every day from mid-March through October. Milking requires a lot of attention to detail, patience, responsibility to a schedule and willingness to find value in repetitive work – please apply only if you’re up for this! We have large guardian dogs that live in with our different flocks and we have a border collie that moves the milking flock. We will train you on the basics of working with our border collie and he will be your daily helper bringing the flock in and out of the fields for milking.
Kitchen work in the creamery involves bottling for markets, mixing and packaging soft cheese, helping with yogurt and cheese makes, washing glass returns and labeling. Work in the creamery requires diligence and great care as we are transforming milk into safe and delicious value added products.
You will also be running 1 – 2 tailgate markets/week (Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon or Saturday morning). Once trained, you run markets by yourself. Market requires you to be super personable, on-time and fluent in all aspects of the farm. You need to be good at record keeping, math and holding up under the pressure of busy markets.
Field work involves morning chores, helping move fencing, flock health checks and weed eating. We use a lot of temporary net fencing for our 2 different flocks and fencing work on our terrain is hard! You need to be up for hiking steep hills dealing with fencing that loves to tangle and exasperate. A sense of humor and a desire to be in very good physical shape is a must.
Educational Opportunities: We are an active member of the CRAFT program and we support our workers in being able to participate in all aspects of this program. We are well connected in the local farming community and are happy to connect workers with any other farms in the area should they wish to learn more about other farm enterprises.
Skills Desired: Our ideal candidate would have dairy experience (doesn't have to be with sheep), manual labor experience and / or kitchen experience. This position can be very strenuous and we work in all types of weather so it is important that you love to be outside and that you have a great attitude about hard work.
Meals: We do not provide meals.
Stipend: We pay first year workers $1,200 / month. This position also comes with housing and we pay up to $50 / month in utilities. You are also given farm food (1 dozen eggs, 1 gallon raw milk, 2 quarts of yogurt and 1 type of cheese each week).
Housing: Yes. Housing is a 40’ skoolie or a 30’ RV that’s parked on flat land by the creek with its own drive separate from our house. Both have AC units and the RV has a wood-burning stove to keep it cozy in the colder months. Both have large outside living spaces as well. There is a shared garden plot if you’re interested in growing your own veggies. There is wifi in both of these dwellings and there is a shared washer/dryer up at the barn. Our road is a dead-end road and we’re all very friendly folk! The town of Marshall is about 15 minutes away and Hot Springs and Asheville are both 30 minutes away. You will most enjoy your time here if you have your own car.
Preferred method of Contact: email or phone