Applications accepting on a rolling basis.
Cricket Creek Farm is a small grass-based dairy in Western Massachusetts. We make seven award-winning cheeses from the milk of our herd of Brown Swiss, Jersey, and Milking Devon-cross cows. We bottle raw milk which we sell from our small self-serve farm store, along with our own grass-fed beef and whey-fed pork, our cheeses and a variety of other local and regional products.
We have shifted to a seasonal calving system creating greater seasonality in the work. Spring and summer are the busiest times with calving, hay making and numerous farmer’s markets.
Apprentices will work on the farm or in the creamery and we encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply.
We are located in Williamstown, Massachusetts – a small college town in the northern Berkshires. Williamstown has a great independent movie theater, the Clark Art museum, a wonderful theater festival in the summertime and several great restaurants. We are surrounded by preserved land with many hiking trails. Nearby is Mass MOCA, Tanglewood, and many lovely small towns. Williamstown is 3 hours from Boston and 3 1/2 hours from New York City.
Creamery Apprenticeship
Those interested in the creamery apprenticeship must be comfortable learning the technical aspects of cheese making, including some chemistry. Applicants should be very meticulous and detail oriented. Cleanliness is key. Work includes making cheese, affinage, and creamery maintenance. Work in the creamery is fun and rewarding and also requires long hours on your feet washing dishes and caring for the aging cheese.
Farm Apprenticeship
*At this time, we are only considering applications for the Farm Apprenticeship from those who have previous experience working with livestock.
Apprentices will participate in all aspects of a small dairy farm, including milking cows, calf-rearing, hay making, and pig husbandry. Educational opportunities include rotational grazing, pasture management, bovine health and breeding, as well as the challenges of running a small dairy farm. Morning milking is at 6am and evening milking is at 5PM – apprentices should expect to milk some mornings and some evenings every week.
All apprentices must have good people skills and enjoy interacting with the public. We’re looking for apprentices who are excited about taking on significant responsibility. All apprentices will be attending weekly farmers markets and occasionally making deliveries and helping with general farm maintenance. All apprentices work 5-6 days per week. We are looking for self-motivated people who are interested in learning through hard work. Apprenticeships are a minimum of one year but may be extended.
CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training): Cricket Creek Farm participates in the CRAFT program. This means that our apprentices will have the opportunity to visit many other small farms during their time here and connect with the apprentice community in this region. We are thrilled to be part of this group and offer this exciting opportunity to apprentices. To find out more about the CRAFT program, check out the CRAFT website.
Compensation: We provide housing, a stipend, and some food. Apprentices will share the farm house with the other apprentices, located on the farm. The house has wireless internet, heat, two bathrooms, and a fully-equipped kitchen. Each apprentice will have their own room. We also provide a stipend starting at $500/month, that can increase up to $1,000/month over the course of the year. Raw milk and cheese is free and available to all Cricket Creek staff and apprentices. Staff and apprentices receive a 20% discount on all items in our farm store.
Communication: Communication is of paramount importance here. We strive to create a work environment that is comfortable, open, clear, and honest for everyone. Every week we have a staff meeting, during which we review the week and upcoming schedule. Everyone also shares personal highlights and difficulties of the previous week and we take time to discuss a financial aspect of the business.
On an individual basis, we have regular scheduled check-ins with apprentices to give and receive feedback. Though managers are always available to discuss any issues or challenges. The check-ins take place quarterly.
We rely on email to communicate important, though not overly time sensitive, information. Apprentices should be willing to check email at least once daily.
Farm upkeep: While not directly related to raising livestock or making cheese, we all share the responsibility of farm upkeep. Apprentices who come here for a year are expected to take part in this in both a structured and unstructured capacity. Everyone has regularly scheduled tasks which include sweeping, mopping, dusting, restocking the farm store, taking out the trash, etc.
Other related work is property maintenance such as tending the green spaces around the farm store, mowing the lawn, simple repairs etc. We consider all this work to be part of operating a farm, especially a farm that is as visible and public as ours. Customers come through the store every day and it is our shared responsibility that we are presenting a professional, clean, and productive space. A clean and organized farm also makes a more comfortable place for all of us to work and reside, and also is a critical part of the high quality food we produce here.
Work Schedule and days off: All apprentices work 5-6 days per week. Work days vary from 8-12 hours, depending on the day of the week and the time of year. The average work week is 50-65 hours. Apprentices should come with the confidence that this schedule will work for them.
All apprentices also have 18 vacation days to use over the course of the year. There are no farm-wide holidays.
If you have any doubts about your ability or enthusiasm for working long days, this position is not for you. The people who enjoy and get the most out of their apprenticeship are those who enjoy a long day of work, who find tasks to occupy any down time, and who are highly self-directed and motivated. Taking a proactive role in your learning experience is critical — if you are curious and like asking questions you will learn so much, you may not want to leave after just one year!
Daily Structure: The day begins at a different time for each person, depending on their work for that day. Morning milking is at 6:30am, and therefore whoever is milking in the morning should start sometime between 5:30 and 6am, depending on how long they need to set up, bring the cows in, etc.
Other work — on the farm and in the creamery — begins at 8am with some exceptions.
On a smooth day work ends at 4:30pm (with the exception of evening milking and certain creamery tasks) but it is often necessary to stay later to complete critical tasks, and we are committed to staying until the work is done. We are all here to learn and work, and we look for apprentices who are interested in fully committing themselves to this farm while they are here.
The structure of the day varies depending on whether you are working on the farm or in the creamery. Every person who works here has an individualized schedule that they follow each day, whether working on the farm or in the creamery. The tasks in the creamery are very structured as we follow the same production schedule most weeks. Tasks on the farm side are a bit more variable, and respond to the changing seasons, changing needs of the livestock, forage production, feeding, animal health, grazing, etc.
Meals and Breaks: Meals are not scheduled at a particular time, and are not shared in any formal sense, with the exception of Monday group lunch. Everyone except for the morning milker is expected to eat breakfast before starting their work day.
Lunch can be taken at any time that seems logical and comfortable, and fits in with the work of that day. For example, when making cheese, lunch can be taken during a time when attention is not needed in the creamery, but not during activity while the make process is going on.
Each individual working here is responsible for being aware of the schedule and deciding when to take lunch. No one will tell you when to stop for lunch. The time allotment for lunch is one hour, except for days when the schedule does not allow it, and in that case it will be between 1/2 hour and 1 hour. For instance, if we are rushing to bring hay in, if a cheese make is going on, etc.
Visitor Policy: Visitors are welcome at Cricket Creek Farm. Visitors are encouraged to work with the apprentices to see what life and work on the farm is like. Any apprentice who is planning to host a visitor overnight must obtain explicit verbal approval from all the other house mates. Please check with all house mates each time an overnight visitor is planned; never assume that everyone is okay with it. Visitors are welcome to stay for up to two nights on the farm. If an apprentice would like to host a visitor for more than two nights, they must ask for explicit permission and understand that the visitor will be expected to lend a hand and work in a helpful and productive capacity. Long-term guests are not permitted.
Length of commitment: We look for a full year commitment from all apprentice applicants.
Application process and timeline: Positions are filled on a rolling basis. We highly encourage a visit from any serious applicant. We do have space available to house an applicant overnight, and a 2-day visit is ideal. Working and spending some time together will help let us determine whether you will be a good fit for the farm, and will help give you a better sense of us.
If you are interested in applying for an apprenticeship here, the first step is to answer the questions below and send us the responses along with a current resume to info@cricketcreekfarm.com. Based on the responses, we will contact you to set up a phone interview and potentially a visit.
A list of interview questions is below.
The more information you provide, the better. This will help us determine if you would be a good fit for the farm.
1. Are you interested in working on the farm or in the creamery? Note: apprentices work either on the farm or in the creamery, but not split between both.
2. How did you hear about working at Cricket Creek?
3. What interests you most about working here?
4. What is your availability? Are you able to commit to a full year? When can you start (please provide an exact date)?
5. What is your experience working/living in an intimate setting like a small farm?
6. Do you have a valid driver’s license? If yes, how many years of driving experience do you have? Can you drive a manual transmission?
7. Is a starting stipend of $500/month (with the possibility of increasing up to $1,000 per month) financially feasible for you?
8. How do you feel about our work schedule – 5 to 6 long days per week? Do you have experience with a schedule like this? If so, please describe the context.
9. How would you describe your communication skills? Are you open, honest, and communicative?
10. How would you describe your interest/ability to be a public face of the farm (attending farmers markets, assisting customers in our farm store)?
11. Have you ever lived in this area? Do you think Northern Berkshire County would be a good fit for you?
12. Would you be available for a 1-day work visit between now and your start date?
13. Please list anything else you think might be helpful in describing yourself such as personal interests, etc.
If you are applying to work in the creamery
A. Please describe in detail any cheese making experience.
B. What specifically interests you in cheese making – details are helpful.
C. Please describe any commercial food preparation/handling experience.
D. Would you describe yourself as meticulous, detail oriented, clean, and through?
E. Cheese making involved a lot of dish washing, cleaning, and maintenance. Do you think you are well suited to this type of work?
F. Apprentices take on tremendous responsibility in the creamery; there will be tasks that you alone are responsible for completing (especially in the area of cheese maintenance and care) – do you think you are well suited to this type of arrangement?
G. Are you able to repeatedly lift 40 or more pounds of weight?
If you are applying to work on the farm
A. Please describe in detail any farm experience you have, specifically work with animals.
B. Do you have experience milking cows? Please describe the set-up in detail.
C. Please describe any experience you have with tractor maintenance and repair.
D. Please describe any general building/maintenance/construction experience you have.
E. Farm apprentices often work alone – getting up to milk in the morning, doing chores, driving the tractor all day and making hay – do you think you are well suited to this type of independent work?
F. Please describe any experience you have making hay.
G. Why are you interested in working with cows specifically?
H. Are you able to repeatedly lift 40+ pounds?
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