Dartmouth YMCA Seeks Volunteer Leader/Educator 

Position:  Volunteer Leader/Educator
YMCA: Dartmouth YMCA
Location: Dartmouth, MA.
Class: Non-Exempt (Part-Time)

Job Description:

The Sharing the Harvest Community Farm Project is currently seeking a seasonal part-time volunteer leader/educator for the 2008 growing season. The Sharing the Harvest Community Farm Project is a collaboration between the Dartmouth YMCA, United Way of Greater New Bedford, and the Hunger Commission of Southeastern Massachusetts (a program of United Way). Sharing the Harvest is a community farm run by volunteers.  It was established in 2006 as a grassroots effort to alleviate hunger for children and families throughout the Southcoast region.  Through the efforts of more than 500 volunteers of all ages and abilities, thousands of children and families from Fall River to Wareham received over 6000lbs of produce in 2007.   In 2007 more than 200 volunteers had in service to Sharing the Harvest and logged over 2000 volunteer hours. The Volunteer Leader/Educator will play a key role in the management of our volunteer programs on the farm.  The Leader/Educator will work independently and alongside the project coordinator to manage community volunteers in the 2-acre vegetable garden.  The focus of the position will be leading volunteer groups through an educational volunteer experience on the farm and managing individual volunteers in the garden.  The primary activities will include: presentation of basic material about vegetable production and fieldwork including planting, cultivating, and harvesting a wide-range of vegetables.  The Volunteer Leader/Educator should be comfortable working with people of all ages, especially children.  Prior farming/gardening experience is not necessary; but would be helpful.   Position is part-time, requiring a minimum of a 15-hour a week commitment April through October, including some Saturday mornings. 

Applicants please mail or send electronically a letter of interest plus resume or equivalent description of your relevant experience, background and skills to:                

Deadline: March 21, 2008 or until filled.  Qualifying candidates will be invited for an interview.  

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Farmstand - Looking for someone to run a small farmstand in Swansea MA near Warren, across the street from Johnson's Market on route 136. Rent is $2,000 for the season (negotiable), you can open and close whatever month you want but must sell owner's corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and squash until runs out, you are free to sell anything else you buy or raise. Could be a long term deal, would like the stand to be open from July to October if possible. Contact Al Bettencourt, 508-647-3570.

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Small Wareham Cranberry bog for Sale

Location: Tihonet Road, Wareham behind St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery.
400'+ frontage on Parker Mills Pond.

Access: 20' driveway to Tihonet Road. (NOT a right of Way or Easement)

Size: Total = Approximately 5 acres.
Upland = 3.5 acres
Bog = 1.4 acres

Irrigation: a. Sprinkler irrigation system powered with 18 HP propane fueled pump.
b. Flooding irrigation system using vertical lift pump powered by 25 HP propane fueled pump.
Canal provides sufficient year-round water supply for the lift pump.

Other: Two (2) flumes.
Three (3) buildings, including two pump houses.
250 cu yd of bog sand on property.
Upland provides complete drive-around access to bog.
~1 acre wooded area on pond side provides wind-break.
Average annual cranberry yield = ~250 barrels (20 years)

Tentative asking price: $40,000

Contact:
Jim Murphy
56 Cleveland Way
Bourne, MA 02532-3634
508.759.3298 (home)
508.287.0170 (cell)
james.b.murphy@comcast.net

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MASSACHUSETTS LAND CONSERVATION TRUST, INC.

HILLTOP FARM
21 HIGHLAND ROAD
LAKEVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The Massachusetts Land Conservation Trust, Inc. (MLCT), an affiliate of The Trustees of Reservations, a Massachusetts conservation organization, seeks proposals from individuals or organizations to lease and rehabilitate Hilltop Farm in Lakeville, Massachusetts. In seeking proposals, MLCT is principally interested in locating a qualified long-term tenant who, in exchange for a reasonable monthly rent, will commit to a schedule of structural improvements to the farm buildings and the main house and continue the property's traditional use as a small-scale farming and/or livestock operation.

Hilltop Farm comprises three parcels of land totaling approximately 40 acres of woods and fields and a circa-1920 farmstead core including a house, two barns, a corn crib, a studio, two sheds, and a caretaker's house (which may not be salvageable). Over the decades, the property has supported a small dairying operation, row crops for market, hay production, and a modest horse-breeding and training operation. The late Lydia Rotch, an accomplished artist, avid horsewoman, and one of America's first female flight instructors, left the property to MCLT after she passed away in 2005.

The rapidly growing Town of Lakeville, Massachusetts is located approximately 38 miles south of Boston and is an increasingly suburban bedroom community of about 10,000 people; it is well-served by both interstate highways and the commuter rail network. The town functions primarily as a residential community, but also has limited agricultural operations

Hilltop Farm is located southeast of Highland Road and west of Long Pond between Apponequet Drive to the north and Robins Lane to the south, roughly two miles from the center of Lakeville and about four miles from the Middleborough/Lakeville commuter rail station.

To receive the Complete RFP, contact
Wayne Beitler
Land Protection Specialist
The Trustees of Reservations
396 Moose Hill Street
Sharon, MA 02067-1028
781-784-0567 x7015
wbeitler@ttor.org