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louisiana farms seeks interns

Posted: February 12 2013

Cajun Grain is a non-certified rice and vegetable farm in south central Louisiana.  We are looking for one or two people to fill an internship for our vegetable CSA.
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We are hoping the candidates will commit to at least the spring season, which should run from mid-February to the end of June.  We had two wonderful interns last season that ran our first ever CSA, and we have a lot of people interested in us expanding the offerings for 2013.  At the moment, we have a lot of seeds planted in trays and will be ready to transplant in the next few weeks.  Kurt, the owner and farmer, will be working alongside the interns for the morning hours.  If for any reason, such as extreme weather, the vegetables are not producing and we are not able to fulfill the CSA, we will not need the interns to stay through to July. This is the same reason we only make our CSA members pay one month in advance, and monthly during the season.  As long as everything goes as planned weather-wise, we are looking forward to a productive spring season!
Candidates will first realize that it gets hot in the South!  Temperatures will reach 90 by late May.  The duties will include almost all aspects of running a CSA.  This will include planting, weeding(although we use mulch to lessen this duty), picking, cleaning, packaging and handing out boxes on designated days.  Workplaces will need to be kept clean.  There are days where you will be working independently if we get a pressing and larger than normal rice order. There will be a general 40-hour work week, most likely Tuesday through Saturday, with occasional garden watering on Mondays.   We are open to interns implementing ideas on the farm, subject to approval.
We have a camper on the farm that will accommodate up to 2 persons that approve of living together. This is free for the interns.  On occasion, there may be a visiting guest that will bunk down in the camper for a night or two, but not longer unless okayed by the interns.  Wifi should reach from our house to the camper.  There are places to rent in our small town for an average of $400/month, if the intern prefers to do this.  We live 1 mile
A stipend is provided.  Until the first boxes are sold, a stipend of $300/month will be provided.  Once the boxes begin selling, we will pay the intern 50% of the income from the agreed upon number of boxes they can grow vegetables for(you will earn either the stipend OR the 50%). All income will be set up as payroll, so taxes will be deducted.   If they can grow vegetables above that number of boxes, there are outlets such as local sales and farmer’s markets to make additional sales, and thus income.  The interns are, of course, welcome to all the vegetables, eggs, and rice from the farm.  We have grassfed beef, which the intern is welcome to have an agreed upon amount per month for free.
If interested, please email [email protected] or call Kurt at  337.207.0966

hudson, new york