great reasons (and three well- paid positions) to move to the Catskills (for)
Image from the Otswego Land Trust. P.S. They're hiring for an Executive Director.
Tianna Kennedy, of Star Route Farm in the Catskills of NY, contributed this compelling argument to young agrarians and agrarian-minded professionals. She says, so you think rural areas like the Catskills are a dead-end: you're wrong. Make sure to read beyond the break to see the three amazing farm positions she's spotlighted-- two "professional" jobs and one farming incubator.
"So many great Ag jobs up at the moment in the Catskills.
People, it is time we for real reverse the trend towards urbanization - strong self-sufficient local communities and the thriving informal economies and the distribution routes they engender are more resilient than vulnerable urban centers. They are pockets of resistance and value. Quality of life skyrockets proportionate to distance from urban centers. Plus, the clean air, water (to swim in as well as to drink), farm-fresh food, views! The country has it all.
Sounds good, you say, but to mix metaphors, yours is a siren song luring us to a dead-end valley. What on earth would we do after we've frequented the three restaurants half a dozen times and worked over the bookstores in Hobart? What then? To Quote a dour friend: “The Catskills is on the cheap, beautiful outer orbit of something huge ... a seething conurbation of hopes, dreams, possibility. And so the debris of all that - the fragments and failures and glittering remnants of half-successes - gets stuck out here, space-junk, held in its pretty-but-sad orbit, circling endlessly.”
Ah but that was before there were real job opportunities available that would enable you to finance your Agtopian dreams while doing the good work. Come visit and see for yourself! There's life and energy and fun brainy people a-plenty. Then get a job and stay for a spell. See below:
Check out all the folks making it work at present:
help them. help yourself. Get out to where it’s beautiful and kind. Take one of these excellent jobs:
The Center For Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship
MISSION: CADE's mission is to increase the number and diversity of successful farm enterprises and related businesses in New York.
job: Program Manager - full description
MISSION: To protect and foster the environmental, cultural and economic well-being of the Catskill region.
job: Assistant to Executive Director - full description
MISSION: Otsego Land Trust conserves our natural heritage of woodlands, farmlands, and waters that sustain rural communities, promote public health, support wildlife diversity and inspire the human spirit.
job:executive Director - full description"