CSA Workshare
We will be in contact with previous workshare employees. This info is for those who have never worked on the farm before:
The CSA workshare is a great option for those looking to pay off their CSA share by working on the farm, helping with anything from planting, harvesting, cultivating, etc. In the Spring, most of the work consists of planting, weeding, and laying down mulch. June through October consist of some planting and weeding, but harvest is the main focus. The work is labor intensive, requiring, bending, kneeling, stooping, and lifting up to 50 lbs. It's a great learning experience, as we try to explain why we do things, teaching our employees along the way, while enjoying the outdoors and each other's company.
With the CSA workshare, you pay off your CSA share by working on the farm during the 2024 farming season. The season runs from April through October. The total amount of work hours required to pay off a CSA share depends on the size of the CSA share selected. To figure out how many hours are required for any given CSA share, you would take the total price of the CSA share and divide it by ten. For example, a weekly single share costs $527. When you divide this by ten, it comes out to 52.7. We round down to the nearest quarter hour, so someone with this size share would need to work a total of 52.5 hours on the farm to pay off their share.
A workshare employee will typically work a 3-4 hour shift one day per week or one day every other week. Depending on the number of people per household working, shifts can be done in smaller increments as hours are applied to each person working. For example, 2 people working from the same household for 2 hours, would count as 4 hours towards their CSA share. Also, any given household or employee can put in more than one shift per week, if that works better for fulfilling all of their hours.
A workshare employee’s schedule will be laid out for the entire season, and this will be done over the phone with the farm manager. Example of one shift per week: A workshare employee signs up for a weekly single share. The total amount of work hours needed to pay off this share would be 52.5 hours (see above for how this number was calculated). The farm employee signs up to work a 4 hour shift every Tuesday, starting the first week of May. The employee would then be scheduled to work every Tuesday for the next 13 weeks to fully pay off their share (4 hour shift x 13 shifts = 52 hours). Obviously, the .5 hours is not accounted for in this scenario, so the employee would simply work an extra .5 hours for one of their shifts.
We consistently rely on our workshare employees to show up and work when they are scheduled. This ensures CSA members’ orders are fulfilled on time, and that planting, harvesting and other tasks are completed on schedule. Employees are allowed to reschedule up to two different shifts, as long as at least a one week notice is given to the farm manager. Additional rescheduling or not showing up to work without at least a one week prior notice will result in a forfeiture of their next upcoming CSA share. If an employee has an emergency or becomes ill at any time leading up to their workday, their upcoming CSA share will NOT be forfeited, and their workday will be rescheduled. The farm manager may reschedule anytime leading up to the scheduled workday due to inclement weather.
All workshare employees will be required to pay a $75 security deposit. Once an employee has fulfilled all of their hours for the season, they will receive their $75 security deposit back. Workshare employees who quit before having fulfilled all of their hours for the season will NOT receive their $75 security deposit back in order to cover the inconvenience fee of the farm manager needing to find a replacement. Due to the no refund policy, any previous or future shares not covered from hours worked, will be required to be paid for in cash.
To sign-up for the CSA workshare, please click here. We will then be in contact with you shortly thereafter to discuss further details.