Seeking Paid and/or Live in Opportunity in Piedmont, NC

Hello everyone,

I am desperate to break away from AmeriCorps office job and go live the life I want to live - healthy and outdoors. I have done a few months of wwoofing around the south, a full year of a live-in apprenticeship on a no-till organic farm in Western NC, and 4ish months of Trail Work with Conservation Corps North Carolina. Skills include:

-Native Nursery management
-Chainsaw usage (bucking, limbing/felling small trees and branches, chainsaw maintenance)
-Use of Tractor Front-End Loader
-Sustainable Trail Construction including features such as switchbacks, retaining rock walls, check-steps
-No-till farming practices (including soil amendments, compost spreading, tarping, etc)
-General vegetable production (seeding, harvesting, packing CSA orders, etc.)
-Light animal husbandry (caring for chickens, goats, etc.)
-Cooking and Baking (amateur)
-Very amateur/still learning and experimenting with fermentation and herbalism. I make kombucha and herbal teas a lot, and I want to learn more about these skills and areas!

I am tied to the Triangle area and am looking for local folks who would hire me to work on their farm, and/or consider a work trade. I have a lease that ends in July 24th but am willing to relocate before then.

If anyone is in the area and has an opportunity, let's talk!

Rachel Diane,

Hello! I am new to Permies and it just so happens that while familiarizing myself with the site your post was one of the first I read.

I may have an opportunity for you- though it may not be what you are looking for…… and I haven’t thoroughly vetted it with the family yet (I have a lot of “wild” ideas, haha. So they have heard of this idea and no one said “no way” so that’s my green light to blaze away.)

My family and I live on a suburban type lot in Pittsboro, NC. It’s what I would considered on the edge of rural…..lots of farms around but we are definitely not on a farm lol! It is large for a suburban lot.

We have lived in NC for almost 2 years and have a long dramatic story of how we ended up here, but this is where our roots will now grow and we are committed to establishing a new home here. Someday I’d love to have a small farm. I’m interested in permaculture and sustainability, herbal medicines, ferments, and building things, home based education….

It will be hard to describe the trade/ partnership I envision…. So I’ll try to describe it briefly and if you are interested at all we could discuss further.

I would love to transform my small area into a medicine growing, food producing, beacon of inspiration. Last year we put in a 12 row no dig garden (not a huge success story), started a compost heap, and are hoping to get the barrels sitting around the garage transformed into a rainwater catchment system. We cook A LOT and try lots of techniques. There is a lot of room for creativity in our home.

The job would tackling some of these things and more and the compensation would be room and board for now. (A bedroom with private bath on the second story of our family home, which we also are living in) I believe there would be plenty of room in your schedule to also pursue other local work simultaneously.

We have three young-ish children- two with a rare undiagnosed disease, and so my time is spent caring for them and I just don’t have the physical and mental energy to accomplish everything that is in my heart to do on our property.

So…… that’s the vibe of what my opportunity is, not sure if that’s at all what you had in mind- and still lots to consider if we go further to make sure it’s a good fit and experience for all parties involved.

Peace and blessings,
Lori