Maria Schumann

Milk sheep, thin apples, mulch berries, plant vegetables, pick currants, make apple cider, harvest wild wood nettles, feed pigs, bottle sour cherry juice, move lambs, fix fences, make cheese, wash dishes, harvest veggies, clean the milking parlor, pick apples, uproot burdock, make vinegar, stack wood, sell stuff at the farmers market, extract honey, bottle honey, make bear fat salve, pick balm of gilead buds, mow the orchard, wash wool, collect eggs, muck out the barn—these are some of the jobs you will do as a farm hand at Cate Hill Orchard in Greensboro Vermont. Located in the beautiful and remote Northeast Kingdom, we are a small, diverse permaculture/organic family farm, with a 5 acre apple orchard; 45 milking ewes; 60 lambs; usually a couple of chickens and pigs; and a 30 hive apiary. We are looking to fill two positions; one full time farm hand; one half time farm hand, half time childcare provider. 40 hours a week. Compensation $150/week plus room and basic board. Housing is a 2 room apartment in our farmhouse, to be shared with other farm worker. Board includes basic bulk foods (rice, beans, lentils, flour etc) plus fresh organic eggs, vegetables, berries and fruit from our farm, plus some dairy and some meat from our farm. May-Oct, with one-two weeks off in July, beginning and end time negotiable. The main job requirement is that you have a genuine interest in farming! To apply, please send a letter of interest ASAP to: maria@catehillorchard.com. For more info on our farm, and more detailed job description, see our website catehillorchard.com

Hi, We are looking for two people to work with us on our organic apple orchard and sheep dairy this season. Here's the partial job description: http://catehillorchard.com/2016-farm-workers-positions for more info, email me. A few things you wrote about made me think you might be a great fit on our farm: herbal brandies! That's something I've just been exploring this last year-- trying to recreate an amazing herbal brandy I got in Latvia, Balzam-- maybe there is something like that in Hungary? Dark, bitter, delicious.... And cheese, yes, we are making sheep cheese-- our dairy will be officially open this summer. Agro/food tourism is also something we are just getting into/thinking about getting into-- we have a farm store, and would like to do a few farm events involving food. We are in a remote yet touristy area of northern Vermont. Anyway, check out our website and let me know if it interests you. thanks!

Hi, We have an organic /permaculture apple orchard and sheep dairy in Vermont and are looking for 2 people to come live and work with us for the summer. Check out the job description http://catehillorchard.com/2016-farm-workers-positions and if you are interested, send me an email.

Great topic! (although I see it hasn't generated much response). We love singing and don't have much time to sing since we started farming-- so we are (hopefully) going to have a Sing and Farm internship at our place this spring. I am thinking that ideally we will learn ancient planting harvesting and milking songs-- and then get to sing them while we are planting, harvesting, and milking. I remember when i was in India I overheard someone singing a milking song (well I think it was a milking song)-- and it seemed so magical and so extraordinary-- . How come we so rarely sing while we work? Or maybe some people do? anyway, check out our website catehillorchard for more info.

Cate Hill Orchard is offering our first ever Sing and Farm Internship this spring, from May 28- June 19th 2012. We—Josh Karp and Maria Schumann, the owners of Cate Hill Orchard—met each other through our love of singing, and in particular, our love of songs from the country of Georgia. But since we started farming we scarcely have time to sing anymore, and as our farm has expanded we’re finding we need help to get our spring farm work done. So, we are inviting 6-10 people to join us for three weeks of singing and farming. Many traditional folk songs are agricultural—songs to ask for rain or sun; harvest and planting songs; milking and plowing songs—and we think singing traditional songs in an agricultural setting will bring a whole new level of appreciation for and joy in both the music and the work.

We are a small diverse farm, inspired by permaculture. We grow apples and other fruits and berries in our 5 acre orchard; raise Icelandic sheep for meat, milk, and fiber; and keep honeybees. We are working towards a low input, perennial based agriculture, modeled after nature’s complexity, and where all enterprises are multi-purposed and connected.

Interns will help us with all aspects of farming and homesteading, including haying, wood stacking, sheep shearing, gardening, apple tree mulching, and beekeeping. We’ll mostly sing ancient 3 part songs from the country of Georgia, and will also sing some rounds, Shape Note hymns, and folk songs from Russia and England.

Participants will live with us and our 2 kids in our farmhouse in shared bedrooms, or may tent on our land. For more information, see our website, catehillorchard.com, or contact us: Josh Karp and Maria Schumann, info@catehillorchard.com, (802) 586-2059. No experience with farming or singing is required: just a good ear, a love of music and a willingness to get dirty and work!