We offer 1-year Apprenticeships to enthusiastic, hard-working, self-motivated individuals interested in engaging in sustainable agriculture and social justice.

Apprentices help out with all aspects of the ranch. Work includes sowing, planting, weeding, irrigating, and harvesting a variety of crops; animal husbandry; experiential education with youth and other groups; developing infrastructure; and direct marketing through our farm stand, Cow Share Program, Community Supported Eggriculture program and sales to Mission Pie in San Francisco.

While the Apprenticeship model is mainly focused on learning by doing, our weekly farm meeting/walk and monthly workshops are opportunities to expand your knowledge around sustainable food production. Our goal is to provide an intimate learning and reflective context for people to develop and hone their farming and marketing skills and to assess their readiness to farm independently.

Our Apprenticeship program runs from January 1st to January 1st. We seek people who are able to dedicate the entire year to this effort and in return there is the opportunity to experience from cover crop to cover crop, the full cycle of a farm.

Payment to apprentices includes room (we have two 14’ yurts), some board (all you can eat from the farm, with some group meals, and lots of pie), and a $500/month stipend. Apprentices have access to their own garden space and a dedicated simple kitchen. We also consider the opportunity to live, learn, and work on a beautiful farm engaged in meaningful work as a form of payment. Two weeks of vacation and the equivalent of traditional holidays are honored.

We will be accepting applications for the 2011 growing season through December. For an application, call or email Nancy Vail at 650-879-0971 or nancy@pieranch.org. Or, download an application now. Applicants are strongly encouraged to visit the farm.