How to Apply
Meet Radical Roots Apprentices

Goals of the apprenticeship program:
    - To offer apprentices an example of a working organic farm so that they can learn the cycles of the growing season.
    - To share the skills involved in organic farming and the tools of the trade.
    - To give apprentices. first hand working knowledge with specific crops, so that they can have a solid foundation of gardening experience.
    - To support the hands on learning that comes through hard work in the fields with educational resources, garden reading, classes and field trips.
    - To give apprentices the experience and the confidence to start their own organic farm or garden.
    - To maximize the productivity and potential of this small-scale intensive farming method with more people per acre.

Farm Information:

Our mission is to grow high quality certified organic vegetables and herbs in a sustainable way. We farm five acres of intensively cultivated beautiful garden soil and grow nursery crops in a 3,000 square foot greenhouse. We sell vegetables, herbs, fruit and plants at the Charlottesville & Harrisonburg Farmers Markets, to restuarants and wholesale accounts and have a 100 member CSA.

We started our first farming season in 2000 after apprenticing with successful small scale farmers for four years. Lee is passionate about growing herbs and is a practicing medicinal herbalist. Dave teaches permaculture design and organic gardening classes for community groups and has experience in landscape design. We are both committed to farming in a sustainable way that creates connections between the people and the land.

The apprenticeship is an exchange of time and learning between experienced and new gardeners. We exchange our experience, mentoring, housing and vegetables for your hard work and willing attitude. The natural outcome is learning, a successful farm and confident, experienced new gardeners.

Radical Roots Community Farm is located in the Shenandoah Valley seven miles outside of Harrisonburg, Virginia. The farm is four miles away from the George Washington National Forest which has hiking trails and nice swimming holes and three miles away from the great mountain bike trails at Massanutten Resort.

General Apprenticeship Information:

Internship starts: Mid-March
Internship ends: Mid-October
Application Deadline: February 1, but we will review all aplicants any time of the year if there are open positions
Minimum Length Stay: We prefer when apprentices commit to the entire 7 months (5 month minimum)
Number of Interns: 3-5
Contact Preference: Phone

Work/Experience Desired: We are looking for 3-5 people who are interested in learning about organic agriculture by working with their hands . A good attitude and communication skills are essential. Must be able to work as an essential part of a team as well as take on responsibility and work independently. The apprenticeship starts in March and continues through October with a minimum length stay of five months. The work we do involves a lot of hand labor instead of using fossil fuels. We farm five acres using only a walk behind roto-tiller and we cultivate our crops with a lot of hands on care. Our time will be spent with the work of sowing seeds, potting up young plants, setting out transplants, mulching, weeding, watering and harvesting. Aprentices will participate in all aspects of sustainable vegetable production. We work a 40-60 hours and five and a half days week. A good attitude, a willingness to work hard and a passion to learn are the most important skills.

Education Opportunity: We organize field trips to other organic farms which is a great way to explore different techniques and compare different farming methods. We also offer the organic gardening curriculum that Dave teaches at UVA with a class time scheduled once a month. A farm design project will be assigned to apprentices to encourage them to begin thinking about their own farm.

Stipend/Compensation: $400 month starting
Housing: Housing available in a shared strawbale studio with private bedroom.
Meals: We will share a group meal ounce a week and lots of vegetables will be provided for other meals.