Warrenton, Virginia
Regenerative Farming Internship
My wife and I started Whiffletree Farm in my hometown of Warrenton, Virginia in 2009 and have been growing the farm and our family since!
We have 8 kids that range from 13 to 2, are Catholic, and love our family, farm, and farm team! The Farm Team generally consists of about 5 full time employees, several part time employees, 1-4 interns, and a stellar poultry processing crew.
We work hard to do our work excellently, quickly, and with joy.
We raise and sell about 15,000 chickens, eggs from about 2400 hens, about 900 turkeys, and around 140 steers per year. We also collaborate with many other excellent farmers and producers to fill out the diet and offerings for our customers! You can see all we offer at www.whiffletreefarmva.com.
Everything is raised on fresh pasture, non-GMO feed, no antibiotics, no chemicals, and our beef is 100% grass-fed.
We sell through our Farm Store, Neighborhood Deliveries that range from Maryland to Central Virginia, and to many restaurants and wholesale customers.
If you have an eager-beaver attitude and are earnest about doing excellent work, we would like you to join us in our internship program!
LOCATION SPECIFICS
We are only three miles south of my beautiful hometown of Warrenton, VA. 50 miles from DC.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
The goal of our internship is that our interns will cheat their learning curve as they move toward starting their own farms, or as a low risk way of checking out the field to see if this is a good career for them.
Our internship is 4 months long. We have 3 sessions that start in April, August, and December respectively.
Interns will work with all of our animals from start to finish. Moving, feeding, watering, processing, packaging. Additionally interns will help with the many other parts of our direct-marketing business: customer service, packing orders, making deliveries, taking animals to slaughter, picking up meat from the slaughterhouse, transporting meat to and from our cold storage, fixing infrastructure, etc.
EDUCATION POTENTIAL
What Interns Learn:
FARM– Interns will become versed in all the pertinent farming practices of raising our animals, with exposure to all the animal work on a daily basis. Meat chickens, laying hens, turkeys, and beef cattle. This includes moving, feeding, watering, equipment, processing, packaging, etc.MANAGE– Interns gain exposure to how we operate (business, marketing, customer service, record keeping, sourcing, etc.)
NETWORK– Because we source from a diverse group of farming friends who are raising what we do not, interns have exposure to many knowledgeable people and farms.
FARM– Interns will become versed in all the pertinent farming practices of raising our animals, with exposure to all the animal work on a daily basis. Meat chickens, laying hens, turkeys, and beef cattle. This includes moving, feeding, watering, equipment, processing, packaging, etc.MANAGE– Interns gain exposure to how we operate (business, marketing, customer service, record keeping, sourcing, etc.)
NETWORK– Because we source from a diverse group of farming friends who are raising what we do not, interns have exposure to many knowledgeable people and farms.
EXPECTATIONS
We work hard as a team, to do our work excellently and with joy… moving, feeding, and watering the animals, cleaning eggs, processing chickens, building and maintaining infrastructure, making deliveries, helping customers in the Farm Store, record keeping, meeting other farmers, and more. Interns come to Whiffletree ready to learn, and leave our farm having cheated ahead on their learning curve to start their own farm!
Who We’re Looking For:
Candidates must be 18 years of age and have an excellent attitude and great work ethic. We are looking for people who are cheerful, tidy, professional, honest, willing to receive constructive criticism and desires to do the work excellently and quickly. No farming experience is required.
Candidates must be 18 years of age and have an excellent attitude and great work ethic. We are looking for people who are cheerful, tidy, professional, honest, willing to receive constructive criticism and desires to do the work excellently and quickly. No farming experience is required.
STIPEND, ROOM, AND BOARD
Intern receive free housing, a $800/month stipend, $800 bonus when they finish the internship, $100/month in food credit, and We have 2 team meals per week.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Please email us at internships@whiffletreefarmva.com to receive an application.
You can see more here: https://whiffletreefarmva.com/interns
You can see more here: https://whiffletreefarmva.com/interns
Happy farming to you all!
Jesse Straight