CITY SPROUTS FARM

Urban Farm Crew Member

Center for Community Learning

Western Washington University

 

This urban farming position, hosted by the WWU Center for Community Learning, provides students the opportunity to engage with Bellingham’s food system through working at an off-campus urban vegetable farm. This farming program is focused on increasing food access, cultivating community, and exploring learning and connection to place through agriculture. Funding for these positions were sourced by a grant from the WWU Sustainability, Equity, and Justice Fund and is only open to enrolled Western Students.

 

Position Description: 

Urban farm crew members will work at City Sprouts Farm with a team of student employees, interns, volunteers and farm mentors. 

Tasks will vary greatly throughout the season and will include greenhouse work, weeding, preparing vegetable beds for planting, seeding and transplanting crops, harvesting and packing produce, site maintenance and building projects, and visiting other local food and farming projects in Whatcom and Skagit County.

Urban farm crew members will have the unique opportunity to participate in an urban farming and food access program, learn production farming skills, and engage with the community through food and agriculture! Students will have the opportunity to network with other local organizations and groups working to create food justice and food sovereignty in our community. 

We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and those with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.   

 

Additional Opportunities: 

Students who work on the farm crew in 2024 may apply for the farm assistant position in 2025. 

 

Required qualifications: 

• Curious; desire to learn all aspects of small-scale farm systems  

• Organized, responsible, punctual

• Good communication and leadership skills 

• Excellent work ethic and positive attitude 

• Conscientious and able to work with all kinds of people  

• Ability to lift 25 pounds repeatedly

• Ability to navigate rough and uneven ground

• Ability to work outside in all weather conditions  

• Must have access to reliable transportation (bike or bus included) 

• Must be enrolled at Western for entirety of employment

 

Our Farm’s Mission:

City Sprouts Farm builds community resilience by stewarding a productive farm space where people can come together to learn, increase food access, and demonstrate how community vitality can grow through our food system.  Our programming is embedded within Western Washington University's Center for Community Learning and we provide multiple entry points for students to engage in local food systems. We grow 1 acre of diversified vegetables using regenerative and ecological practices. Our primary goals are to grow nutritious produce that is accessible for food-insecure members of our community, to cultivate soil health and biodiversity, and to create opportunities for student learning, engagement and belonging. 

 

About the community we are serving:

The Birchwood and Alderwood areas of Bellingham are impacted by food apartheid. Since the only grocery store in the area closed in 2016, the lack of access to fresh, affordable, culturally appropriate food has particularly impacted low income communities and communities of color. Since City Sprouts Farm began in 2018, we have worked to address this problem by getting fresh produce into the hands of our most food insecure neighbors.  The produce grown at City Sprouts Farm is free/affordable for the people who consume it. We will do this by providing produce to Sea Mar Community Health Center’s FARMacia free food stand, the Birchwood Food Desert Fighter’s free food share spot, through WWU Food Pantry Donations, and through our sliding-scale CSA program. 

 

Position details/To Apply:

Hours/Week: ~24 hours/week. June 17-October 21, 2024 

(24 hours a week, Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays June 17-Sept. 27, 10 hours a week Sept. 30-Oct. 21)

Pay Rate: $18/hour

Time off: Farm employees may request up to 8 days unpaid leave throughout their seasonal position.

To Apply: Please email Urban Farm Manager, Ellie Duncan at ellie.duncan@wwu.edu with a resume and one page cover letter responding to the following questions:

 

• We assume if you are applying for this position you have a keen interest in farming and/or food justice. Please share some experiences you’ve had which have led you to want to apply for this job. 

• What’s something specific you’re hoping to learn from this job? 

• What’s something challenging you’ve done, and what did you learn that might help you contribute productively to the farm crew?