Live It Up Homestead
Last Updated On: March 10th, 2026 at 11:47AM MST
Contact information
Farm Address:39 Oak Hall Dr
Leicester, North Carolina, 28748
Primary Contact: Leigh Senna Blessington
Primary Phone:
Type: Cell
Number: 360-774-0758
Email: liveitupfarms@gmail.com
Website:
Internship information
General Farm Description: Life here is hands‑on and seasonal: spring planting and calving rhythms, summer garden abundance, fall preservation, and winter planning. The farmhouse kitchen is as central as the barn, with a strong emphasis on transforming raw ingredients into nutrient‑dense everyday meals, ferments, dairy, and preserved foods. This is a place for someone who wants to experience the unpolished, day‑to‑day reality of homestead life, not a staged version of farming.CRAFT Member Farm? No
Internship Starts: Now
Internship Ends: Dec 1 2026
Number of Internship Available: 1-2
Application Deadline: Rolling
Minimum Length of Stay: Until Dec 1 2026
Internship Details:
This internship is an immersive, work‑alongside‑us experience designed for someone who wants to learn the rhythms and skills of small‑scale, regenerative homesteading. You’ll need strong self‑discipline, the ability to follow through on tasks without being micromanaged, and comfort managing your own schedule within agreed‑upon windows. Because we are not a for‑profit vegetable farm, there is genuine flexibility in how you structure your work time: you might choose to do most of your physical tasks in the cool of the morning and head to the river in the afternoon, or batch a couple days’ worth of projects into one longer workday and take the next day off, as long as responsibilities are met and the cow is milked on her set schedule. Applicant must be willing to consent to a standard background check as part of the application process.
As you gain familiarity with the homestead systems, there will be a mix of tasks we do together and clearly outlined responsibilities you can carry on your own. Because I also teach online, I will not always be outside, but I’ll provide clear instructions, demonstrations, and check‑ins so you feel supported and oriented.
A core, non‑negotiable part of this position is milking our family cow with a milking machine five days a week, both morning and evening. This is the main labor piece I need to delegate so I can focus on managing the micro dairy marketing, jar washing and sterilizing, and the many small details of customer service and distribution. You’ll be trained thoroughly on our milking routine, cleanliness standards, and animal handling so that you can carry this responsibility with confidence.
In addition to milking, typical responsibilities may include:
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Daily animal care: feeding, watering, moving fences, and observing health.
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Garden work: bed prep, seeding, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, wash/pack.
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Pollinator and perennial care: planting, mulching, pruning, and general tending.
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Compost and manure management, basic tool care, and simple infrastructure projects.
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Kitchen support: simple from‑scratch cooking, preserving, and working with surplus produce and milk.
This internship is a good fit for someone who is:
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Physically able to do outdoor work in all kinds of weather.
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Self‑motivated, reliable, and comfortable taking responsibility for farm tasks.
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Interested in both the land‑based and kitchen‑based sides of homesteading.
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Respectful of living in and around a family home with young children.
Educational Opportunities: You’re not just signing up for farm skills here; you’re stepping into the daily life of a family that has organized everything around organic, nutrient‑dense living and a kitchen‑centered home. Our homestead sits on a former Airbnb property with expansive mountain views, generous outdoor spaces, and a big stone fire pit, with two additional apartments on site so there are always a few other people moving through the space in a casual, neighborly way. Educationally, this internship is less like clocking in on a production farm and more like being woven into a living ecosystem of family, community, animals, and land. You’ll see how a micro dairy, laying hens, gardens, pollinator plantings, and a busy farmhouse kitchen all interact, and you’ll learn to move between them: morning milking, tending beds, checking on animals, then coming inside to can tomatoes, pickle vegetables, make big batches of sauerkraut, or invent new kefir flavors. There is room for your own experiments too—space in the garden beds to try your ideas, plus plenty of everyday moments (on the driveway, at the fire pit, on the porch) to absorb how this kind of regenerative, family‑scale homestead actually works over time.
Skills Desired: What is most important to us is fit, willingness to learn, and a natural ease with picking up new hands‑on skills. You do not need prior experience with everything listed above if you can point to real‑life examples of working hard physically, being outdoors in all kinds of weather, or following through on responsibilities when other people were counting on you. If there are particular skills you’re hoping to leave with (for example, “competent milker,” “comfortable running farm chores,” or “basic vegetable growing skills”), please share those in your application so we can see if this is a good mutual fit. Because we will be investing significant time and energy into training you and trusting you with real, on‑the‑ground jobs, we’re looking for someone who is reliable, grounded, and interested in the actual day‑to‑day work of homesteading—not just the idea of it.
Meals: We do not provide prepared meals on a set schedule, but there is abundant access to food from the land. You’ll be able to harvest from our gardens and enjoy seasonal abundance such as hundreds of pounds of blueberries, fruit from our 13‑tree mature orchard (Asian pears, peaches, plums, apples), and produce from our large flower and annual no‑till beds. On top of that, we’re the kind of hosts who love to share—extra home‑cooked food, treats from the oven, and overflow groceries often make their way to the intern kitchen. We’re also open to you using parts of the property for your own small projects—such as mushroom log cultivation, meat rabbits, or other homestead‑scale experiments that align with the land and our values
Stipend: We do not begin this internship with a money stipend; the primary exchange is housing, food access, and education in return for real, consistent help on the homestead. If, after some time together, it’s clear that you exceed expectations, there is mutual long‑term benefit, and you are committed to living here, we are open to discussing and negotiating a stipend for ongoing work.
Housing: Yes. We offer a beautiful, private apartment on the property at no cost, with all utilities included. This includes your own high‑speed wifi connection, well water, electricity, and trash/recycling service, plus a dedicated parking space and your own front yard space to take in the mountain views. You’ll also have access to shared outdoor amenities like the grill and the large entertainment fire pit, and you’ll be living next door to property owners who genuinely enjoy sharing life (and food) with others—think surprise baked goods dropped at your door, extra portions when we cook big meals, or passing along surplus groceries we can’t use fast enough.
Preferred method of Contact: Email