Salvatierra Farms
Northfield, MN
Apprenticeship Mentor Farm
Partner Farm
Agroforestry Systems:
Silvopasture
Farm Information
Salvaterra Farms is a part of the Regeneration Farms network in Southeast Minnesota. A leader in regenerative poultry, Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin is the founder of the Regenerative Poultry System that is currently being used across the Midwest and internationally. They believe in a perennial future and farming system that regenerates the land and water, raising chickens under the Tree-Range™️ brand in their natural habitat: the forest. Salvatierra Farms values the fact that nature requires diverse systems to remain healthy and the interconnection of all species. The farm includes an alley cropping system where chickens are raised under a canopy of hazelnuts and elderberries, as well as reproduction methods, intercropping for food security, and fungal community management.
Farm Information
Located: Northfield, MN
Owner: Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin
Apprenticeship Opportunities
In addition to the details of the regenerative poultry system and energy management methodology, apprentices will learn about alley cropping, managing hazelnuts and elderberries as an understory and as perennial crops, soil health, and more. Salvaterra raises poultry for around 65 days from arrival to harvest, and apprentices are responsible for the daily care of the chickens throughout the week, including weekends (with some help). Apprentices are expected to record their experience in photos, videos, and writing. At the end of their time they produce high-quality record-keeping that can be tabulated to generate indicators of success and a profile of the flock.
Availability: Open
Qualifications
- Able to work part time from early June through the end of October covering flock management for 65 days at a time (with some help)
- Truly cares about animals and learning from them about their needs based on Indigenous ecological knowledge and practices
- Experience with animals helpful but not required
- Preferred: confident on a farm, able to find and deal with situations that are not possible to provide instructions for
- Willingness to learn basic mechanical skills (a pipe may need repairs or a piece of a fence)
- A true desire to learn, a willingness to be guided, a questioning, exploring, and curious mind but also with discipline for learning
Benefits
- Pay: $10/hr
- Housing: Apprentices will have the option to stay in tiny houses on the farm or camp in one of the farm campsites free of charge during their apprenticeship.
- Food: The apprentice will largely be responsible for providing/cooking their own meals, but lots of food is often available on the farm during the harvest season, and you can expect a few communal meals to be provided. In the tiny house you will have a small kitchen with the essentials for cooking, and at the farm campsites there will be a fireplace to prepare your meals. Fresh produce and/or local meats may sometimes be provided to apprentices, but it is not guaranteed.
- Remoteness: Northfield is a 15-minute bike ride from the farm, about 7 minutes by car. It is a lovely town famous in many ways, won second place by the Smithsonian as the best rural place to live (I think it was back in 2018).
“The critical thing of the design is No. 1, to restore the poultry to its geo-evolutionary blueprint, which is the jungle. Agroforestry hits all of those sweet spots and connects the dots for us. Healthy chickens, healthy plants, healthy hazelnuts, and all of that are central to the design of agroforestry.” Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquín, Salvatierra Farms
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