Agriculture Apprentice – Vegetables
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies at Rock Bottom Ranch
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Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) is a nonprofit environmental science education organization. Since 1968, ACES has inspired a life-long commitment to the earth by providing innovative and immersive programming for all ages. We have three locations: Hallam Lake, Rock Bottom Ranch, and Catto Center at Toklat. Our programs focus on ecological literacy, regenerative agriculture, forest and ecosystem health, land restoration, and environmental leadership. Through this, ACES meets our mission of educating for environmental responsibility.
Rock Bottom Ranch
Located mid-valley in Basalt, CO, Rock Bottom Ranch is a 113-acre site which dedicates approximately 70 acres to natural wildlands and about 35 acres to pasture-based, rotationally grazed multi-species livestock systems and intensive low-till vegetable production. Rock Bottom Ranch also serves as an outdoor classroom for summer camps, school groups, and community education programming to engage visitors and staff alike with questions about how humanity interacts with and impacts our ecosystems through a lens of nature-based scientific exploration and food production.
The Agriculture Program aims to spark a community of food-educated citizens through the demonstration of forward-thinking, environmentally, socially, and climate-aware agriculture and land stewardship practices. We seek to educate farmers on profitable, scalable, and replicable agriculture systems. Our livestock production raises sheep, laying hens, cattle, broiler chickens, turkeys, rabbits and bees. Our vegetable production grows 50+ crops on our ⅔ acre of intensively spaced outdoor production and in our four season extension structures. Rock Bottom Ranch’s livestock and vegetable products are featured at our summer dining events, weekly farmers’ markets, vegetable CSA, and on-farm sales.
Our production farm and educational site is open to the public five days a week during the summer and offers farm tours, youth and adult programs, and dining events. Agricultural staff are primarily involved in the diverse array of production agriculture operations, but have the opportunity to become involved in customer service, event, and educational experiences.
Position Summary
ACES Agriculture Apprenticeship is a hands-on learning and training program that is geared towards those with an interest in pursuing agriculture as a career. This production focused program exposes you to every aspect of the season from planning to production to sales, with the intent of making you a competitive candidate for future agriculture operations. Upon completion of this program, apprentices will feel confident and knowledgeable in a diversity of regenerative agriculture systems.
