Market gardening, Organic farming

Hiring: Field Crew Member for the 2025 season
Farm: Sundance Harvest
Location: near Mount Forest ON, about one hour away from Guelph
Accom.: On-site housing (see bottom of post)

Hours: 30-40 hours a week, full-time beginning of May until end of October

• Potential work in November on a part-time basis
• Monday-Friday, the workday starts at 7am spring and 6am the workday starts in the summer

Compensation: $21.30-26/hr depending on exprience ($21.30 is the Mount Forest living wage)

• Paid lunch breaks
• Gear stipend of $100
• Produce
• Cost of living annual raise for returning employees

Background:

After leasing land for the last 4 seasons, Sundance Harvest had the ability to purchase a farmhouse sitting on 3.5 acres along highway 89 in Mount Forest, Ontario. In 2025, we will be growing on two acres using organic practices. We will be growing vegetables, cut-flowers, perennials, flock of layer hens, fruit in our small orchard, culinary herbs and mushrooms. As we are farming more north, season extension is an important piece of our farm.

Main Areas of Work:

• Planting Crops
• Harvesting Vegetables
• Weed and Pest Management
• Washing / Packing Vegetables
• Bed Prep
• Seedling Care
• CSA Packing
• Season Extension
• Building Projects
• Fertility and Land Management

We have six caterpillar tunnels and and 2 greenhouses.We farm with a focus on no-till management practices such as deep mulch composting, hedgerows, interplanting and soil web health. We sell to mutliple farmers markets, a weekly Community Supported Agriculture box and to some wholesale accounts. If you have an interest in starting up your own farm operation one day (or doing so cooperatively) this is a great opportunity to see how we set up our new farm from scratch.

Work Environment and Expectations: 

Every person on the team is critical to the farm’s success and the farm is truly a living ecosystem as everyone’s role matters. Our farm is a fast-paced environment where you will be sometimes working under pressure doing repetitive tasks that can be physically demanding and require attention to detail and hand-eye coordination. You will be standing, bending and kneeling for extended periods of time and working in all weather conditions.

You will be expected to work independently and in a team environment. Working at similar speeds to the other crew members and the farm operators is crucial once harvest season starts in June. Working fast while working safely is key as this keeps the farm viable and allows us to reinvest into the farm crew with returning benefits such as paid sick days and wage increases in year two if you are asked to return the following year.

Sundance Harvest is a sister to the non-profit Sundance Commons. Sundance Commons is an agricultural non-profit that operates at four farm locations in southwestern Ontario. They provide the tools, guidance, and access for new farmers who face barriers to entry in the agricultural sector and land access more broadly. One of the Sundance Commons incubator farm sites will be at our Mount Forest farm. Through this collaboration we host intensive field days, bbqs, gathering with fellow farm friends and social events on a regular basis at our Mount Forest farm. We believe these community events strengthen our social lives and build on our existing community networks we have been able to build over the past 4 years. We find these events and gatherings quite important, especially in a rural setting throughout a go-go-go farm season as they allow us to rest and take in the beauty of our landscape and lives.

Cheyenne will conduct a one-on-one check-in meeting with you on a monthly basis where we will discuss any goals, hear your feedback, learn more about how you are finding the work and if you need any additional training or support. On Mondays we will have our team meeting to work out what’s happening for the week, major goals and set tasks. These meetings will also be a place for any general week-to-week feedback and questions.

Job Requirements:

• Healthy and positive attitude that contributes to an efficient and healthy work environment
• Experience with physical labor or outdoor work (landscaping, factory work, farming etc.)
• Physically fit and capable of repetitive physical tasks such as weeding, harvesting, planting and other farm tasks
• Repetitively lifting 50 lbs safely during the day
• At least one season of farming / horticulture / outdoor labour work experience
• Ability to work efficiently alone or in a group
• Willingness to work during all types of weather (windy, rainy, hot, cold etc.)
• Personable and have a strong positive history of working well with others (history of practicing nonviolent communication is a strong asset)

To Apply:

Please fill out an application through our Google Form. Please do not email a resume. Please mention you saw this at GoodWork.ca.

Fair Hiring Statement

Sundance Harvest is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color,religion, gender, gender identity of expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability or age. Sundance Harvest encourages applicants of all backgrounds to apply.

 

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On-Site Housing Details:

Below market rate on-farm housing for crew members is available. It includes wifi, hydro and laundry access. On the farm there is a large farm house with 2 separate entrances, there is one that goes directly up into the second floor of the house through a sunroom. On the second floor there is a full bathroom, large living room with storage closet, 2 bedrooms which both have closets, main common area and a kitchen. The living accommodations upstairs are furnished but we can remove the furniture if you prefer your own.

2nd Floor Measurements
4pc Bath: 7'2" x 8'1"
Bedroom: 13'2" x 11'3" (Wood)
Bedroom: 13'2" x 9'4" (Carpeted)
Kitchen: 8'5" x 9'10"
Living Room: 13'7" x 18'5"

The room with the wooden floors is $500 a month and the room with the carpeted floors is $450 a month.

For an average month with two pay cycles of $21.30/hr for 40/hr week, the rent-to-income ratio is 14.67%. Please note, this is before any EI, CPP or income tax deductions are made.