Nettle Valley Farm
Spring Grove, MN
Apprenticeship Mentor Farm
Partner Farm
Agroforestry Systems:
Silvopasture
Farm Information
Nettle Valley Farm is a regenerative livestock farm in the beautiful Driftless area of Southeast Minnesota on 70 acres of woods, pasture, pine plantation, ponds, and fields, with another 20 acres of pasture rented for hogs. The farm’s owners, Dayna Burtness and Nick Nguyen, raise pigs on pasture and with organic feed and sell the meat by the whole and half to area families. Dayna and Nick also care for seasonal brush-management goats (virtual Nofence collars starting in 2023!) and pastured egg-laying hens. It manages 90 acres near Spring Grove in total. Farm projects include all aspects of caring for the livestock (pastured pigs, brush goats, egg-laying hens), firewood chores, invasive species removal in the woods, silvopasture establishment, pork pick-up, packing, and delivering, and so much more depending on the month. The farm collaborates with the Xerces Society on a 4-acre pollinator-oriented silvopasture.
Farm Information
Acres: 90
Established: 2020
Located: Spring Grove
Owner: Dayna Burtness and Nick Nguyen
Apprenticeship Opportunities
Apprentices are involved with all aspects of running a pastured pig farm: daily feed and water chores; weekly and biweekly weighing, loading, and delivering; paddock creation and rotation; clearing fence lines; plant ID; annual cover crop pasture management; preventative medicine and veterinary care for pigs; gleaning crops from orchards and farms for fodder; and the list goes on. Apprentices will also help with daily care for our seasonal brush goats (12 in 2023) and pastured egg-laying hens (about 40 each year).
Availability: Open
Qualifications
- Able to work 4-5 hours per day for 4-5 days per week plus weekend goat and chicken chores (no more than 30 minutes per day), for an average of 20 hours per week from June-November
- Able to start work at 8-9am, depending on the weather and activities
- Passionate about livestock
- Excellent communicators, pleasant, helpful, and positive contributors to our farm
- Preferred: someone who is interested in starting their own regenerative agriculture farm/homestead someday
Benefits
- Pay: $10-15/hour depending on skills and experience
- Housing: Furnished room with a comfy bed in the farmhouse and access to a bathroom/shower, laundry, full kitchen, nice, big porch, infrared sauna, and farming library. Sorry, not set up for children or inside cats. Dogs are welcome depending on compatibility with farm animals and people. LGBTQ+ folks welcome!
- Food: Access to pastured pork and eggs, staples like salt, beans, and rice, veggies from our farmer friends, and groceries like fruit, dairy, coffee, and sweets. Breakfast and lunch will be the responsibility of the apprentice, while shared meals are available during dinner time.
- Remoteness: With no public transportation available, apprentices will need their own transportation. The Driftless is full of parks, trout streams, forests, and quirky places to visit, and Spring Grove is a cute, small town 15 minutes away with a grocery store, coffee shop, a couple of bars, a movie theater, an art gallery, a birding trail, and more. Decorah, IA, home to Luther College, is about 35 minutes away.
“All of us here are focused on regenerative practices, resilience-based practices working towards happiness and health of ourselves and our livestock and the land.” Dayna Burtness, Nettle Valley Farm
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Sponsor an Apprentice
Your gift could provide experience and technical education for aspiring farmers through on-farm training with a mentor farmer and community building opportunities for farmers, apprentices, and those interested in incorporating trees on farmland.
