Laughing Earth

Last Updated On: julio 15th, 2020 at 07:50AM MST

Contact information

Farm Address:
3842 NY 2
Cropseyville, New York , 12052

Primary Contact: Zachary Metzger
Secondary Contact: Annie Metzger

Primary Phone:
    Type: Cell
    Number: 5188218449
    Email: farmers@laughingearth.farm

    Email: farmers@laughingearth.farm

Website: www.laughingearth.farm

Internship information

General Farm Description: Our diverse 175-acre farm includes 10 acres of certified organic vegetables and flowers, and certified organic pastured chickens, turkeys, and organically managed pork and beef. We also grow some hay for our animals. Almost all of our vegetables are marketed through our FarmShare, our Community Supported Agriculture program. Our meats and eggs are marketed on farm and at the Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market. Our farm is committed to promoting sustainable agriculture through biodiversity and community education. We are in the process of getting the whole farm certified organic, and the entire acreage is protected as farmland forever via an agricultural easement. Our farm team consists of Annie and Zack, the farm owners, as well as Aaron, our Vegetable Production Manager. Annie is responsible for Marketing and Livestock Management, and Zack is the lead on Accounting, Operations Maintenance, and Hay Production.

CRAFT Member Farm? Yes

Internship Starts: 4/1/21
Internship Ends: 10/30/2021
Number of Internship Available: 3
Application Deadline: open until filled
Minimum Length of Stay: through end of October

Internship Details:

Laughing Earth is seeking three interns for the 2021 season, April 1 through the end of October.
We offer internships as part of our commitment to community education. We enjoy sharing our farm and knowledge while offering agricultural training to others. Interns learn how biodiversity supports and enriches our farm operation, and are involved in most aspects of production and marketing.
We provide instruction in a wide variety of practices employed on the farm and discuss the objectives we seek to achieve through them. Our goals for the farm are shared and we discuss the decision making processes that are used. Interns have the opportunity to learn our crop and animal planning and management systems, production, and marketing. Most important is the exposure to the farm as a whole organism which thrives on the diversity of many components.

Hands On Training:
We are a small farm business and interns participate in all aspects of our farm operation including vegetable, flower and animal production.

Work includes, but is not limited to:
. greenhouse work
. fencing
. seeding
. composting
. transplanting
. planting
. cultivating
. pest management
. harvesting/packing
. marketing (CSA, farm stand, farmer’s market)
. applying and removing mulches and row covers
. trellising
. maintenance of equipment and tools
. weekly work planning
. mowing
. cleanup
. irrigation
. feeding and caring for animals
. rotation of animals and poultry in pastures
. poultry processing
. cooking, cleaning, homemaking
. food preservation
. flower production, harvesting, marketing

Interns work with the farmers most of the time. Interns occasionally work alone. We try to provide training that builds on skills already mastered, moving from fundamental work with hand tools, to more complex work involving mechanized equipment.

Educational Opportunities: We try to provide training that builds on skills already mastered, moving from fundamental work with hand tools, to more complex work involving mechanized equipment. Communication and Evaluation: We meet with interns individually on a monthly basis for an exchange of concerns and ideas and to evaluate the intern's progress. This is also an ideal time for you to give us input as well. We strongly recommend that you share your goals and objectives with us, so that we can help make this a positive meaningful experience. Off Farm Educational Opportunity: We are a member of the Collaborative Regional Association for Farmer Training (CRAFT). This group is comprised of about fifteen organic or biodynamic farms in the Hudson and Pioneer Valley regions who work cooperatively to better educate farm interns. Through our participation in this effort we hope to give broader experience to interns than they can receive on their farm alone. We also hope to provide a peer base to help interns connect with others who share similar goals. At bi-weekly meetings, program interns are exposed to a broad range of techniques being used by successful small-scale organic farmers in the Northeast. We consider this an important component in the educational experience that we offer and provide paid time to attend these meetings.

Skills Desired: Experience working outdoors in all weather

Meals: Yes, crew lunch during the work week, staple foods like beans and rice, and meat/eggs/veggies are an addition to the weekly pay.

Stipend: Yes

Housing: Yes, a rustic off-grid cabin - think of it like glamping.

Preferred method of Contact: email