Athena’s Harvest Farm
Last Updated On: November 1st, 2023 at 01:02PM MST
Contact information
Farm Address:4025 New Highway 7
Santa Fe, Tennessee, 38482
Primary Contact: Jesse Fleisher
Secondary Contact: Athena Childs Fleisher
Primary Phone:
Type: Cell
Number: 6154951614
Email: athenasharvest@gmail.com
Secondary Phone
Type: -----
Number: 561-315-4239
Email: jesse@athenasharvest.com
Email: jesse@athenasharvest.com
Website: https://www.athenasharvest.com/internships-employment
Website: https://www.facebook.com/athenasharvest/
Internship information
General Farm Description: FOR MORE INFO AND TO APPLY -- https://www.athenasharvest.com/internships-employment Athena’s Harvest is a small vegetable farm run by former Peace Corps volunteers in Fly, TN, 33 miles (as the crow flies) from downtown Nashville. While our property consists of 55 acres, we intensively produce a wide diversity of sustainably grown vegetables and some fruit on less than 3 acres of land, with the majority of our sales occurring at retail farmers markets we attend in Nashville, through our CSA program (weekly subscription box of produce), and via some restaurant sales. Our land consists of rolling pasture, wooded hills, and good bottom farm land. We have a long stretch of creek frontage and springs as well as our farm house, a greenhouse, two high tunnels, and two barns. We use a motley crew of interns (that’s potentially you if you are reading this), shorter term WWOOFers, and local volunteers to grow food and get it out into the community. Teaching and learning are integral parts of our mission, and we do regular check-ins with everyone to make sure that people are learning what they want, and so that feedback can flow both directions. To learn more about us, check out our website (athenasharvest.com) and Facebook page, and follow our stream on Instagram (@athenasharvest). We would be happy to answer any questions about us, our farm, and our internship positions via phone or email before you fill out an application, but reading this information and looking over our website should give you a good place to start.CRAFT Member Farm? No
Internship Starts: March 1 (or later if summer-fall only)
Internship Ends: November 23
Number of Internship Available: 4
Application Deadline: Dec 31, 2023 or until positions filled
Minimum Length of Stay: 9 months (shorter for summer->fall only interns)
Internship Details:
Seeking 3 or 4 full season interns from May – through late November, often recent grads who want to learn about farming or others with a genuine interest in the work and lifestyle of small scale sustainable agriculture, and sometimes college students taking some semesters off or looking for an internship, Preference is given to people with prior experience and demonstrated interest in farming as a probable or certain vocation, but all will receive consideration. We have had interns use this experience as part of an “official” academic internship requirement, and we can work with you to see if we meet the requirements for your program. Opportunities for continued employment and advancement may exist beyond the first season.
Over the course of a season, activities will consist of a wide variety of field work, greenhouse work, planting, transplanting, harvesting, weeding, washing, irrigating, pruning, flower arranging, covering and uncovering beds, packing, delivering, mulching, market prep, produce selling, equipment/tool/vehicle maintenance, construction, land maintenance, mowing, fence mending, organic pest control, wood cutting, social media engagement, and a multitude of other tasks. Though not certified, we exclusively use organic best practices to grow diverse fruits and vegetables while maintaining our farm’s soil health and ecological balance. No synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides are used, and we don’t plant any GMOs.
Ideally, our interns will begin at approximately the same time, arriving as a cohort for living and learning purposes. All of our interns will regularly do and be exposed to all of the types of work mentioned above (with planting, picking, weeding, harvesting, washing, food preservation/canning, and market related activities being the bulk of the work), but we prefer that our interns also take on a few areas of particular focus/interest, and increasing responsibility. Fear not, we will train you (or perhaps, you will train us, depending on your prior experience).
Possible areas of focus include (but are not limited to):
Cut Flower production and arranging for market
Using native farm wildflowers and plant materials in addition to some flowers planted specifically for cut flower harvesting. A relatively new area of interest for us. If you have significant experience in this realm, you may be able to teach us a thing or two… :). If not, then we can teach you what we know and all continue learning together.
Canning/fermenting/drying/food-preservation
A continuing focus in 2024 as in past years. We expect at least one of our interns in 2024 to spend a good bit of time on this set of tasks. We sell, eat, donate, or preserve as much of the harvest as possible each year, and food-preservation is an important way we try not to let our work go to waste. In some cases it also provides us with an additional revenue stream as a value-added product (ex. dried herbs). These are great skills for everyone to learn, but there is definitely a learning curve for doing it well, and practice is the only way to become proficient.
Mushroom Production
We plan to continue our production of oyster mushrooms in 2024. We use a production system based on pasteurized straw and 5 gallon buckets. New straw must be chopped, pasteurized and seeded with spawn on a regular basis, and growing mushrooms must be misted and harvested as needed. You could become the king or queen of fungi.
Social media engagement, and blog/newsletter management
We maintain a Facebook page, an Instagram feed, and a Twitter account in addition to a website with a blog and a CSA newsletter. You would regularly contribute to our social media output in all of these realms with input from us. Professional language, spelling, and online etiquette is a must.
Volunteer & School-Group Coordination
We plan to increase the number of volunteers and volunteer hours worked on the farm this year, while also continuing to host some school groups. A certain amount of logistics is required to reach out to people, respond to queries, and assist with volunteer/school visits. You would help plan and assist with these tasks as needed.
Light construction/carpentry
As a relatively new farm, we are still building out our facilities and infrastructure. The list of possible small construction/carpentry projects is nearly endless, and you would occasionally work/assist on some of these projects (to be prioritized together) in lieu of or in addition to agricultural work.
Farm equipment/tool/vehicle maintenance
We have a range of hand tools, small machines, and farm vehicles that need to be maintained (cleaned, sharpened, repaired, fluids changed, tires pumped, etc.). You would assist with these tasks and learn to take some of them on fully based on a schedule that we can work out together.
Orchard/woodlot maintenance
We have a small orchard (not yet in full production), berry plants, and a property full of old fences and field edges that need to be improved and maintained (pruned/ trained/ mulched/ mowed/ fertilized/ repaired, etc). Downed trees need to be sawed into firewood. Sawed firewood needs to be split with an axe. You would assist with these tasks.
Permaculture Design & Implementation
We are at the beginning of our permaculture design process. This is a good time to get hands on permaculture training in a real world setting. This year we will be doing base-mapping, examining flows of water, air, sunlight, people, and animals, researching food forest species appropriate for our site, and beginning implementation of our design. You would be a co-conspirator!
Other areas
Past interns have taken on projects ranging from worm composting, to baking, to sign painting, to farm systems design. 2020 interns built an outdoor shower and a wood-fired pizza oven. 2022 interns set up our new beehives. There are many possible ways to contribute to our farm livelihood and community life.
To be clear once again, everyone will learn/do a bit of everything outlined above, but we will specifically encourage you to pursue some focused interests (or nudge you in a direction we think you may be suited for) as time progresses.
Educational Opportunities: Extensive Hands-On Experience with ALL aspects of operating and maintaining a small sustainable vegetable farm, including direct mentorship. This is the real benefit of working with us. We are transparent with our interns about what it takes to start a small farm from scratch - farm finances, decision making, and past successes and mistakes. *We want more people to want to become farmers or at least serious gardeners!* You will learn a lot about what to do and what not to do and why, as well as gaining enough experience to begin forming your own opinions about which techniques and practices you might want to adopt yourself, and which ones you don’t agree with or would like to improve upon in your own future endeavors. We like to visit other farms with our interns as well. As a farm with teaching built into our mission statement, we purposefully build teaching/learning/sharing sessions into our daily and weekly schedule, pursuing both education and livelihood as a dual bottom line.
Skills Desired: Applicants should be in good physical, mental, and emotional health! Key qualities we are looking for in our interns are reliability, mental/emotional stability, genuine friendliness and enthusiasm for life, willingness to learn and to work hard, a high degree of self-motivation, and the ability to learn via observation and questioning in addition to "direct" teaching. In addition, patience, possession of a good sense of humor, adaptability, and the ability to respect and work with others in a team will serve you well. Being willing/able to interact with children and adults in social or farmers-market settings is a must. Finally, the ability to focus and maintain attention is highly desirable. Contrary to popular stereotypes, successful farmers must be intelligent, hard working, and proficient in a wide variety of disciplines, and we try to expose our interns to all of them. We like to think of ourselves as specialized generalists. Prior experience in this type of work is valuable and may help your application, but is not necessary or required. Potential applicants should consider their ability to adapt to unfamiliar and occasionally uncomfortable conditions, especially as one is becoming accustomed to the work. You will sometimes have to tolerate heat or cold, dirty skin and clothes, sore muscles, calloused hands, repetitive tasks, and direct contact with insects. You may also have to tolerate silly song singing, cute barn cats trying to “help” you work, sharing/cooking yummy farm meals, meeting new people from around the country and the world, having your jobs change over the course of the season or even a day, and taking refreshing dips in the creek at lunchtime or after work. Our past experience suggests that those applicants with some successful college experience usually have the maturity level we are seeking, but we will consider applications from anyone 18 years or older. The internship will provide you with many opportunities for learning and skill building, but how much you get out of it will in large part be up to you and how actively you pursue these opportunities. We will nudge you in some critical directions, but have found those who ask us more questions and pursue more paths of personal interest will ultimately find more answers (and more questions!) Having a drivers license, a safe driving record, and being comfortable/confidant driving a car or van (automatic transmission), will be a plus for your application, but is not required. Experience is preferred, and anyone comfortable driving their own car will easily be able to drive our van or pickup truck when/if need arises. Realistically, potential interns must be capable of sustained physical work outdoors in all weather conditions and temperatures. While we are not a huge wholesale operation that relies on a large labor pool of professional speed pickers, we do value efficiency and personal initiative, while also having fun. Farm work is more of a lifestyle than a typical 9-5 job, and it comes with a lot of perks even though we work hard. We do all the same work as our interns, and interns share in our lives, holidays, and fun events as we go through the year. We and our interns host a weekly community potluck that has become one of the events we most look forward to, but is also a bit of work to set up and take down from each week. For many people, practicing this kind of farming and living in community is a very satisfying kind of existence.
Meals: Surplus vegetables and unsold “seconds” are available free for all of us to share. We also provide some basic bulk food supplies for interns and WWOOFers, like rice, beans/lentils, oats, and other food staples (we’ve got a list) + toilet paper. Beyond these vegetables and staples, interns are expected to pool their money and purchase additional food items of their choosing. A system that has worked well in some past years is for each intern to contribute ~$17/week (or interns can mutually choose a different amount) to a pot that can be used as needed. If desired, we can make this contribution for you and deduct it from your stipend. We will also make this contribution of staples and $ on the behalf of any WWOOFers who may be present. In other years, interns have decided to buy extra personal food items individually. Interns are expected to bring their own sheets, towels, toiletries, and medications (we have basic first aid supplies available for everyone).Breakfast is usually prepared individually unless someone volunteers to prepare breakfast for all. Lunch is similar. Our daily shared potluck meal between Athena and I and all of our interns/volunteers is dinner, and we'll plan to cook and eat together at dinner each day. We usually set up a schedule of rotating cooking duties as needed. Athena is generally pescatarian (eats vegetarian + fish & dairy), as is Jesse by default, so we don’t usually purchase meat for our interns and WWOOFers, but we don’t mind if you want to cook and eat meat in our facilities. Because we use a shared kitchen, folks with extreme food allergies (peanut, celiac, etc.) may face challenges in our food system. Vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters have all had good experiences eating/cooking here. On almost every Thursday evening from April - November, we host a community potluck event called "Neighbor's Night" that is often the highlight of our week, with music, great food, bonfires, and a theme that people are welcome to follow or not. Hosting (including setup and cleanup) is part of the work on the farm, but most past interns have cited Neighbor's Night as one of the highlights of living here. The farmhouse and other spaces get dirty quickly with 3 or more people working in the soil and coming in and out on a daily basis, and 40+ neighbors coming in and out on Thursday nights. Interns are expected to share in cooking and cleaning and other household/ community duties as mature, responsible community members according to a weekly chore schedule. We don’t want or need to act as supervisors or parents when you are off-duty, but we can certainly be a friend/peer/mentor when you are in need.
Stipend: $415/month ($3750 for the full season) for folks who work March 1 – November 30. Full season interns get 10 "paid" vacation days. Shorter term interns also receive $415/month and some vacation days to be worked out with the farm manager. The intern stipends also include simple accommodation + water, electric, and internet utilities, surplus farm produce + partial board. There will be a $75 service charge for anybody who leaves prior to their agreed upon leave date. Stipend is based on a per day work period rather than an hourly rate. Our working hours can vary considerably based on the day of the week and the time of the season, and given the hazy overlap between farm "life" and farm "work," the whole concept of working hours may not be a useful way to think about the internship experience. As has been true in agriculture through the generations, we all do what needs to get done, and we make time for fun and relaxing, and often these elements overlap. (An example: we all shell beans or break up garlic cloves while drinking a beer and watching a movie on a Saturday night).Summer days are longer, and we take full advantage of the light, but even as we strive to get all the work done on any given day, the limits dictated by our needs to eat, engage in recreation, and take care of our physical/mental health ultimately decides how long we work. One way or another, Athena and Jesse generally work as long as our interns on any given day, and sometimes longer, as we tend to do some extra administrative/computer work and planning at night and in the very early morning. The stipend is essentially meant to help you offset expenses during the year and perhaps have a bit of money to take home with you at the end of the season. If money is primary motivator for your choice of work/internship, we advise that there are many other, more financially lucrative work options available in the world. You should only pursue our farm internship because you want to learn about farming and live a good, healthy, simple lifestyle in a fun community of other farmers and friends. Interns are expected to work 6 days a week with their one day off preferably occurring on Sunday. Taking a different day of the week off may be possible with consultation, but interns are required to coordinate so that no more than 1 intern is off-duty on the same day in any given week (unless it is Sunday). Sign-ups for days off can be made up to 3 weeks in advance. Interns working 8 months or more may take 10 days of “paid” (does not count against your stipend) vacation. It will be preferable not to take a large chunk of your vacation in August or September as this is the time when there is the heaviest grind on basic farm tasks and routines. Interns must coordinate so that their vacations do not overlap. Vacation days do not need to be taken all at once. It is possible to take half days. Most interns choose to take the bulk of their stipend in a single check when they leave, but interns may withdraw $100 or more in any given week, up to the prorated amount owed, or get paid monthly. Some interns have have found ways to augment their pocket cash by taking on occasional babysitting jobs, selling their crafts/baked-goods from the farm, or finding other odd jobs on their days off, but many prefer just to relax or do activities for fun. We support either approach, but note that a farm internship is probably not the best idea if you have serious debts, expenses, or financial obligations that you are struggling to pay off at the same time. Please consider realistically what your financial needs will be for the time period you are committing to, and place a strong value on taking some time each week for fun/relaxation/self-directed activities.
Housing: We provide a simple, furnished, climate controlled sleeping area in a converted utility building, or in a climate controlled room in the barn for full-season interns. Essentially it is a simple bunkspace just for sleeping and storing some of your belongings. Interns in the shared bunkhouse sleep in the three separate loft/floor spaces of the bunk house. Privacy is minimal, but we have rigged up curtains which do the job. Just outside, a dry composting toilet system is available for night (or day) use. Tent camping options on a tent platform are also available. For regular showers and bathroom and general hanging out, interns typically use our main farmhouse from 6AM to 10PM (keeping in mind that there are two indoor hot showers available for however many of us are living on the farm at any given moment). We also have an outdoor shower which is very popular. Past interns and visitors have also enjoyed bathing in the creek during the warmer months. We have a good, clothing optional swimming hole. In general, we try to provide interns with a bit of their own space, while also allowing access to our small home and it’s kitchen/ bathroom/living space during the day and early evening (6AM-10PM). Occasionally we have folks stay later as time or events warrant (we can feel it out together). Interns are also welcome to hang out in the barn, and store items in the cold room, house fridge, or barn freezer as space allows.
Preferred method of Contact: Email (athenasharvest@gmail.com)