Internships

We are no longer accepting applications for the 2012 February – August internship program; if you are interested in applying for the 2012 September-December internship program please be in touch with us in July.

The Fat Toad Farm Experience

Fat Toad Farm is a small, family-owned and operated goat dairy in Central Vermont special­izing in farmstead Goat’s Milk Caramel sauces and fresh goat cheeses (chèvres). Led by husband and wife team Judith Irving and Steve Reid and a supporting cast of offspring and friends (Josey, Calley, Hannah, Nick, Tim & Katie) as well as a crew of invaluable interns, Fat Toad Farm was one of the first small-scale producers of Goat’s Milk Caramel (the traditional Mexican confection known as cajeta) in the United States.

Our family has spent the last several years building a high quality Alpine and Saanen goat herd and expanding the production and sales of our hand-crafted caramel sauces throughout the country. The Fat Toad internship program represents an honest, hands-on farm immersion experience that, while super fun and rewarding, is definitely not for the faint of heart.   While we have a great deal of knowledge to share – from goat husbandry and pasture management, to food production and preserving, from business planning and budgeting, to organic gardening and canning, our interns play a crucial role in farm operations from February to December.  Applicants should be ready to drive right in to the fray and become a critical and beloved member of Fat Toad Farm and our family.  Please read and consider the internship description below carefully before filling out an application.

A Fat Toad Education

Fat Toad interns will be exposed to every facet of farm life and operations.  Interns will do chores, learn to love goats, stir caramel, move fencing, drain cheese, plant seedlings, stir caramel, shovel poo, learn to hate goats, stack hay bales, get huge muscles, stir caramel, manage green houses, compost, harvest potatoes, and learn to love goats all over again – right along side the Fat Toad family members.  To begin with, all interns will be responsible for chores, moving goats and fencing, gardening, shipping and handling, and shifts in the caramel production room.  Once everyone gets the hang of life on the farm, interns will be trained on cheese-making, milking and other areas of the business including sales, marketing and advertising.

Our goats are milked twice a day at 6:30am and 4:30pm, chores occur three times a day at 6:15am, 11:30am and 4:15pm.  In the summertime the goats spend their days outside grazing in the sun.  We use roughly 20 acres of neighboring land for our rotational grazing program ensuring that our herd has daily access to fresh,  high quality grass – an extremely beneficial though labor-intensive system for us farmers.  Fat Toad Farm is also home to a flock of laying hens and  raise and pen full of heritage breed piggies for farm consumption and bartering with neighbors.

We make fresh goat cheese every week, and while our cheeses are a critical part of our farm and business, our caramel products represent the majority of our business and time/labor investment.  All Fat Toaders spend a significant portion of time in the caramel production room pouring milk, monitoring and stirring pots of caramel, filling, capping and labeling jars.  The hours can be long and hot, (think bikram yoga) but you’ll come out of that kitchen smelling delicious!  Fat Toad Farm is a soup-to nuts (or in our case, grass to FedEx) operation – we start with good Vermont grass, goats eat grass, we milk goats, we use milk to make ultra tasty caramel and cheese, said caramel and cheese is packaged, labeled, packed up and shipped out to stores and individuals across the country. Everything happens right here on the farm, which makes us unique in the world of food production… and also make us work very hard!

In cooperation with our good friends and neighbors John and Lynn Lipkvich of Spruce Lane Farm, we also grow roughly 80% of our own food and spend a great deal of time in the gardens and greenhouses.  John and Lynn know just about everything there is to know about all kinds of organic vegetables, fruits and berries and they are wonderful teachers.  In addition to growing food for themselves and Fat Toad Farm, they sell their mouthwatering goods at the Norwich Farmer’s Market every Saturday throughout the summer.

Fat Toad Farm interns can expect to learn about:

• managing a small goat herd, including general goat health & husbandry, kidding, milking, structure and shelter, feed & nutrition, pasture & and parasite management, etc…
• making goat’s milk caramel and fresh goat cheese
• creating a value-added product
• the ins and outs of a large homestead garden including fruits and berries
• farm construction and renovation projects
• how to sample and sell product in stores and at events
• a direct mail order business
• food processing rules and regulations
• the ins and outs of a small family run business
• creating and implementing advertising, marketing and sales strategies

Other possible learning opportunities include: sugaring, raw milk production, wreath making, greenhouse production, bee keeping, wine-making, etc.  Many of our interns have gone on to further farming and culinary work, one former intern, Katie, has stayed on at the farm as full-time employee, while another has begun her own goat’s milk cheese operation.

Intern Expectations

Fat Toad Farm’s internships require a six month minimum time commitment.  The farm schedule starts between 6 and 7am and finishes between 5 and 7pm depending on the day’s adventures.  We work our tails off from dawn until dusk and we expect no less from our interns.  All Fat Toaders work six days a week, and enjoy an extra day off once a month.  While we do our best to accommodate day-ff requests, all vacation days are at the mercy of the farm schedule.  Our six month internship program includes 2 additional professional development days that can be applied to workshops, farm visits and other learning opportunities.  Each intern will have a $100 stipend to put towards professional development and learning opportunities.

We are looking for interns who:

• are very hard working and responsible
• are committed and dedicated to high quality and efficient work
• work well independently and in teams
• are self-directed and highly motivated
• are eager to learn a variety of production room and on farm skills
• are comfortable with and eager to contribute to communal living
• are able to accomplish hard physical work (lift 50 lbs, stand for long periods of time)
• are flexible and have tirelessly positive attitudes
• have previous farm experience and/or with construction or carpentry (added bonus – not prerequisite)

Room and BoardAt Fat Toad Farm, room and board isn’t just room and board.  It’s a quaint, private room in a farmhouse, a comfortable bed, two bathrooms, a monster wood stove that will heat your right out the house,  internet access, and most importantly – unbeatable food.  The vast majority of our food is raised right here on the farm or bartered for with friends and neighbors. You couldn’t find fresher organic ingredients at Wholefoods, and you’ll seldom enjoy tastier, heartier meals than those prepared in our warm farm kitchen.  Each house resident is responsible for one dinner per week, which we enjoy along with each other’s company and a beer now and then.  We encourage individual pursuits provided the farm work gets done.  Past interns have experimented with bread making, aging cheeses, beer brewing , construction projects, and taken the lead in various areas of farm management.

Community

One unique feature of our farm is our membership in the Floating Bridge Food and Farms Cooperative, an association of local farms and businesses devoted to promoting Brookfield, VT and surrounding communities as a premier agricultural destination.  Interns have access to decades of expertise in a variety of agricultural pursuits through this group of people, including CSA and commercial vegetable businesses, cheese and yogurt making, cow dairy operations, raising sheep beef, yarn crafts, sugaring, soap and candle-making, apple cider pressing and much more.  We often volunteer with neighboring farms and cooperate on large projects together, so interns will have opportunities to meet with our neighbors and learn about their enterprises.  Check out our farming colleagues and nieghbors at www.fbffc.org.  

Entertainment

We won’t lie to you, life in rural Vermont can be a little on the peaceful side. Our farm is several miles down a lovely, windy dirt road, and while a personal vehicle is not a prerequisite, it is a mighty helpful escape mechanism when you just need to feel pavement under your feet.  The town of Randolph is a quick 15 minute drive and boasts a couple of grocery stores, a drug store, a book store, an Internet cafe with yummy lattes, a couple of restaurants of varying quality and a cute, one-screen movie theater.  The state capital of Montpelier is 30 minutes north on the interstate and offers an even wider range of entertainment, including The Three Penny Taproom, our most favorite pub.  Closer to home is Sunset Pond, home of the famous almost-floating bridge – a five minute drive from the farm and the perfect way to cool down after a hot day in the caramel room or gardens.  While our internet access does not allow for streaming/downloading movies, we do subscribe to Netflix and are open to movie requests.  Also, we are pretty awesome if we do say so ourselves – there are will be at least 5 twenty-thirty-something young folks running around the farm, plus significant others, and Steve and Judith, although they are on the wrong side of 50 and fall asleep at 8:30pm, are wicked fun to hang with!

What to bring

• Farm-tough clothing (everything you own will eventually smell like a goat – even your PJs – so don’t bring anything precious)
• Rugged, comfortable water proof boots (We heart The Muck Boot Company)
• A good warm barn coat
• A good rain coat
• One presentable outfit that your grandmother would approve of  to wear to farm events
• A bathing suit and towel
• Flip flops
• A flashlight or headlamp
• A good pocket knife
• A water bottle
• Musical instruments, games, iPod, books and general articles of entertainment
• And most importantly – your sense of humor! (For the long days when you stub your toe getting out of bed, a goat pees on your leg, the caramel burns, the pigs get out, and we’re out of beer.)

Download the application here: Intern Application

Please send your application to info@fattoadfarm.com or call Judith Irving at 802-279-0098 for more information.