farm work/harvests?

[smitty]

hey,
i need some cash money and i figure a way to do it would be working on a farm for a bit. maybe trying to do a harvest. i dont really know anything about it, and was wondering if anyone had any experiences they could share.
how much they got paid, how terrible the work conditions are, what to expect..how they got the job. stuff like that.
thanks,
-smitty

 

[savage_brad]

i did some work last year for a farmer, most need help when it comes time to bail the hay and straw, pay was decent about 7-8 bucks an hour and they fed me too

 

[bakerdoo]

i have worked on a farm a few different summers... i think the pay can be anywhere from like 7-10 bucks an hour. I think that the best place to look is in the local newspapers of the small towns. kinda sucks because you cant really get one unless your there...or know someone there. I think most farmers arent going online and posting job openings..

 

[bakerdoo]

oh i forgot...i had to pressure wash a pig barn in the middle of summer once....it was pretty bad...but you get through it. not unbearable

 

[Bendixontherails]

I work on a farm in kentucky during the winter. they needed help, so they let me drag an old airstream trailer I 'found' up into their woods. that's where I am now. I come back here in late fall and do stuff they can't do cause they're gettin old. cut firewood for winter heat, repair barns and sheds and shit. they feed me through the winter, gave me a computer to use, and I do the odd jobs. in the spring I till their garden, and depending how hot my travellin' blood is I may help them plant their garden. then I'm gone, till next october-november. it's awesome havin a place I can come back to, store shit at, hide out at if need be. we've been doing the garden for the last week. I don't know if i'll make it through planting... my feet itch.

 

[G_Jones]

i also bailed hay once. the pay was decent but i didn't have any gloves on me. never again. having straw and shit stabbing under your fingernails does not feel good.

 

[panik]

I don't really know how to go about finding work on farms and whatever. I mean I don't even know how to come across harvest work!

what the hell do you guys do to get hooked up with folks who'd hire you?

I know about woofers and all of that but there's gotta be another way? I'd like to get paid for working...

someone care to fill me in on this?

Post edited by: panik, at: 2007/09/27 05:05

 

[monster]

I want to revive this thread with a couple of questions.

Mostly, I was wondering about the beet harvest, which is geographically conducive to my summer plans. I'm not sure how to get hooked up with it, but I'm also under the impression that it requires a license. I don't exactly have one of those. And by "don't exactly have" I mean, "never bother to get" and therefore barely know how to drive. Have any of you done the harvest before?

Are there other short term harvests I should know about? As rad as it would be to complete a full season on a farm, I think I'm incapable of staying on one place for that long just now.

 

[Beegod Santana]

I know nothing about the beet harvest but if you're out east in sept. or october you can always do the carnberry harvest on cape cod. The pay is good ($10-15/hr) and the farmers will hook you up with an awesome camp site a lot of the time. Lots of punks and train people work the harvest and it can be a great way to meet other travelers. If you find the right farmer you won't need any licsence or identification.

 

[spoorprint]

Is there a way now, online,to look into who you might be working for?
In the summer of 90 I worked for an organic farmer in what was supposed to be an apprenticeship project.We got room, board, and about $200 a month (it increased incrementally) but the guy was one of the worst employers I ever had.He gradually turned against each of the 7 of us in the order we were hired, we figured it was so
he didn't have to pay us the promised stay on bonus at the end of the summer.
He was sloppy about safety-and used a lot of pyrethriams- technically organic but potentially toxic stuff.

His nearest competitor at market had a different approach-buying lots of stuff from a wholesaler and claiming it was all organic when it wasn't.

My point being I guess look these guys over the best you can.