Regenerative Farm Internship

The goal of the Deck Family Farm intern and apprentice program is to train the next generation of farmers. The farm hosts 8-10 interns and apprentices year round. The program is immersive, highly diverse, and grounded in community.  Students become part of the “Farmily” and participate in all aspects of animal husbandry, nutrition, care, sales and marketing, market garden, and community building. Along with second and third year students the farm retains 20-30 managers & employees year round that help to run the farm and support the educational program. A typical week might consist of working a farmers market, milking cows/goats, making butter, yogurt, or cheese, cracking nuts, slopping out pig stalls, helping to bring in newborn lambs, piglets, and calves into the world, running spreadsheets, feeding chickens, collecting eggs, chopping wood, harvesting fruits and vegetables, and preparing a meal for the community. Opportunities at Deck are only limited by the imagination.

Deck Family Farm is located in Western Willamette Valley. The farm is a highly diversified operation that focuses on Regenerative Agriculture practices using pasture based animal systems. Own and lease approximately 300-500 acres. Animal groups include Heritage Red Wattle Pork, Heritage Galloway Beef, Pastured Poultry, Lamb, Jersey Dairy Cows and Organic Layer Hens. Products include beef, pork, lamb, chicken, raw milk, milk products & artisan cheese, organic eggs, fruit, nuts, and vegetable market garden. 

Deck Family farm stands on the principle of sustainability in all forms; energetic, environmental, and financial. Practices currently employed include riparian exclusion and restoration, managed intensive grazing, humane animal handling, reforestation and oak woodland planting, nutrient management, ethical business practice, transparency and traditional family values. The farm practices regenerative agriculture improving soil through nutrient management systems of assessing soil needs, applying composted manures, ash, and lime. DFF employs a 7-year rotation to graze, renovate and restore pastures. Over the last 20 years the farm has put 1 mile plus of riparian corridors into the Creek Restoration & Enhancement Program (CREP), performed 5 Environment Quality Incentive Program (EQUIP) projects to sequester and compost manure on farm, and planted over 100,000 trees through the Forest Trust Program. All forage produced on farm is certified organic with Oregon Tilth. Deck Family Farm maintains a humane handling certification with GAP (Good Animal Practices), is AGA (American Grass-fed Association) Certified, and holds Salmon Safe certification for our creek and riparian restoration work. Deck strives to build reasonable efficiencies and economies of scale for financial resiliency while acknowledging that the lives of the animals we raise and the people we feed are all sacred. 

DFF runs a year-round education program for 8-10 intern/trainees and apprentices that includes a cost of living allowance, introduces trainees to neighboring farms, supports externships and on and off farm research projects. Approximately 50% of DFF graduates continue into some sector of the agriculture industry.  The workday begins at 7 AM with an all farm meeting, milking, and farm chores. We break for an hour at noon and finish the day between 4 to 6PM. The work week is 5 days on 2 days off, 8-10 hours/day. We appreciate flexibility depending on the season and work load.

Accommodations are modest, either shared housing in an intern room, cabin or COB (Adobe) house.

Deck Family Farm is a multi-generational and community-oriented farm. The ideal applicant thrives in a full and rich environment of activity and diversity. The farm has an open gate; policy that welcomes visitors any day but Sunday. Deck is dedicated to being transparent in our practice and is committed to keeping our agricultural heritage alive and relevant for our farm community and beyond.

Farm Enterprises are as follows:

Raw milk dairy: Milking an average of 16-18 cows year round. The herd is held as a cooperative and owned by shareholders who pay for feed, care and milking of the herd. Butter, cheese, and yogurt along with fresh milk are produced for shareholders.

Heritage pasture-raised hazelnut-finished pork. Sows farrow in the barn in the winter. Piglets are fed raw milk from the dairy during weaning and finished on hazelnuts. We produce our pigs birth to finish.

100% Grass fed and finished Certified Organic Heritage Galloway beef. Management intensive grazing has brought greater fertility to farm pastures, and rotating crops of grains, legumes and grasses has extended our grazing season to 8-9 months of the year.

Poultry : Certified Organic heritage layers for eggs, and roasters for meat. All chickens are out on pasture during the day and housed in chicken trailers or tractors at night to prevent predation. Chickens are grazed behind and beside cattle. In addition to their great tasting eggs, the poultry is an integral part of breaking parasite life cycles and bringing fertility to the pastures.

Sheep: Our mixed breed flock of Cheviot, Dorset and Suffolk ewes ranges between 120-150. Lambs come in early Spring. Much of our grazing for the sheep flock is on leased organic, off-site ground.

Vegetables: Graziers Garden provides veggies for the Full Farm CSA (FFCSA) which is housed at the farm and supplies CSA members with meat, milk, eggs, veg, fruit, nuts, grains, ferments, and more.

Marketing: Students participate in all aspects of farm sales including CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, farmers markets, wholesale accounts, warehousing and financial analysis.  Deck is a for-profit business that strives to maintain a reasonable economy of scale. Our program is substantially rooted in what it takes to run a successful farm business rather than a subsistence homestead.