We enjoy showing everyone what goes on at Live Earth Farm.

If you have photos you'd like to share, please send them to us! We'll try to update our selections regularly.

Also, if you upload photos or videos to sharing services such as Flickr, tag them "live earth farm" so that others can find them! (Live Earth Farm on Flickr)

Credits: Live Earth Farm thanks –

  • Taylor Brady
  • Constance Broz
  • Elisa Broz
  • Tom Broz
  • Tana Butler
  • Molly Culver
  • Ken Eklund
  • David Evershed
  • Debbie Palmer
  • Jessica Ridgeway
  • and you!

Copyright is held by the photographer. All rights reserved. Let us know if you should be credited.

Permissions and privacy: if you are depicted on our site and wish not to be, please contact us.


FARM APPRENTICESHIPS

Interested in preparing yourself for a career in farming on the Central Coast? We take on one Farm Apprentice each year, February through November; our apprentice works on all aspects of the farm. Interested? Reveal the details!

Description: Live Earth Farm, established in 1996, is a 100-acre organic farm overlooking Green Valley in the Santa Cruz area of California. We offer a year-round CSA with over 800 members during the regular season. Our Environmental Education programs include 1 or 2 apprenticeships per year, from February through November. Our apprentices work on all aspects of our farm, including animal care. You will be exposed to all of the following areas of farm operation in the first year, and be expected to gain expertise and take responsibility for at least one area if you stay on for a second year:

  • Farm equipment and machinery use in the field

    First Year - general practical hands-on experience including mowing and hauling
    Second Year - specialized field experience including disking, cultivation, and sewing

  • Field production techniques including large scale, garden scale and year round production
  • Crop planning for a four season production cycle, including fertility management, pest and disease control, planting techniques, perennial and orchard management, annual cropping systems
  • Harvest and post-harvest operations including propagation, greenhouse management, storage, packing, and distribution
  • Marketing including CSA, farmer’s markets and direct sales
  • CSA and farm administration
  • Animal care including sheep, goats, chickens, and pigs
  • Sustainable Agriculture Education.

Qualifications: Prior experience is required and a desire to participate in all activities on the farm is a must. This is an opportunity for those intending to pursue farming as a career path. It is a learning experience; we expect you to arrive with a good work ethic and a positive attitude. Please be aware that farming is hard work and we require a full season commitment, with the potential for a multi-year experience. We offer you an eye into the life of a farmer, and a solid knowledge base to pursue such interests.

Duration: We ask that you arrive on the farm in February. This gives Farmer Tom an opportunity to work with you one-on-one before the busiest part of the season begins. We ask that you stay through mid-November so that you have a chance to be honored at our end of harvest celebration.

Hours: An average of 45+ hrs/wk

Compensation: A private room and communal kitchen, a stipend of $400-$750 per month commensurate with experience and responsibility, and all of the fruit, vegetables, eggs, and goat’s milk you could want.

Application Procedure:
Please download and fill out this application (Word document), and then mail it along with a cover letter and resume to:

Jessica Ridgeway
Live Earth Farm
PO Box 3490
Freedom, CA 95076
LEFeducation-at-baymoon-dot-com

Questions? Call Jessica at (831) 728-2032

 


ORGANIC FARM EDUCATION APPRENTICESHIPS

The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program offers one Farm Educator apprenticeship each school year, from October to June. This apprentice focuses on our educational programs, which may include weekly visits and farm tours by students of all ages. Interested? Reveal the details!

Summary: We offer one Farm Educator Apprenticeship each school year, from October to June. This intern has a unique focus on our education programs. The intern will spend at least 50% of their time on these activities and the remainder on farm tasks. Education programs include: a weekly visit by 7th and 8th grade Montessori students, half day farm tours for students of all ages and two afternoons a week with middle school students from a local charter school. For more information and to download an application form, reveal the details.

Background: Live Earth Farm, established in 1996, is a small, diversified, organic, family farm overlooking the Pajaro Valley in the Santa Cruz area of California. We offer a year round CSA with 800 members during the regular season. We grow 40 different fruits and vegetables ranging from perennial fruit trees to a wide variety of annual crops. We sell our produce at four area farmer’s markets and through our CSA program.

The Work: The position will involve leading farm tours, working with ongoing farm education programs and some office work such as scheduling farm tours and processing deposits and payments. Farm tasks include vegetable and fruit production and marketing, animal care and greenhouse management.

Qualifications: The right person for this position will be able to demonstrate experience and basic theoretical knowledge in organic and sustainable food production systems. Ideally, you will have worked an entire season on a farm or garden project and be bilingual in Spanish. This is a learning experience, we expect you to arrive with a good work ethic and a positive attitude. Please be aware that farming is hard work and we require a full season commitment. This is a position for someone seriously interested in sustainable farming, food, and community education. It can serve as a stepping stone to pursue a career as an educator and/or farmer, as we offer the opportunity to learn the ropes of a small scale organic farming operation and farm education nonprofit.

Duration: We ask that you arrive on the farm at the end of October. This will give our Education Programs Coordinator, Jessica, an opportunity to work with you one on one. We ask that you stay through the end of May so that you can participate in the full school year cycle. An additional summer internship is also a possibility.

Hours: 40 hrs/wk.

Compensation: A private room and communal kitchen, a stipend of $400/month and all the fruit, vegetables, eggs, and goat’s milk you could want.

Application Procedure: To apply please download and fill out the application (Word document), and then email it along with a cover letter and resume to Jessica Ridgeway: LEFeducation-at-baymoon-dot-com.

Questions? Please call Jessica at (831) 728-2032.

 

Note: we usually make our apprentice decisions after the Eco-Farm conference in January.

 


APPRENTICE PHOTO GALLERY

Live Earth Farm has been hosting apprentices and interns since... can't exactly remember, 1998 at least! To see photos of some of our interns, reveal the details!


Taylor


Jeff


David and Molly


Jillian


Amy (with Jonathan)


Linnea (on right)


Annie


Dorle

 

More to come!