Harvest Worker for native tree nuts

Manzanita Cooperative Inc (MCI) is launching the first modern processing facility for Acorn, Bay nut, and other native tree nuts. We are seeking seasonal workers to join our harvest team to gather acorn and bay nut in privately owned forests across Mendocino, Lake, and Sonoma Counties. This is a great opportunity for someone who loves nature and the outdoors.

To succeed in this role, you will need a deep respect for wild ecosystems and the creatures that call them home. We are committed to low or no impact harvesting and so you should conduct yourself with consideration and respect and make sure to leave no trace behind. You will also need to be able to work in the heat and the sun, operate an ATV safely, follow instructions, and work cooperatively to sustainably harvest wild tree nuts. We will provide training.

You will work 10 hour days, 4 days a week. A typical day will begin by meeting at our HQ and loading up early. From there you will travel to the harvest site with the crew, load out and conduct harvest operations, and then haul the harvest back to our facility, unload, and finally clean vehicles and equipment. Depending on the distance to the harvest site, we may stay on-sight for multiple days and camp to reduce travel time.

Harvest operations will begin in late August and go through November. The base pay for this role is $3,680.00/month + per diem payments for transit time as appropriate. Bonuses will be awarded if your team exceeds your harvest targets.

The ideal candidate is deeply aligned with our mission to make high quality native foods available and accessible. Tree nuts are an $8B industry in California, but our native nuts are completely ignored. We are going to change that.

About the Company:

Manzanita Cooperative is a majority worker-owned Cooperative. Our mission is to address the growing crisis of food insecurity as climate change causes rapidly increasing crop failures by bringing dry-farmable climate-adapted native Californian foods to the mainstream. We’re starting with permitted wild harvest of native tree nuts, but over time, we will be replanting and restoring former oak forests, as well as developing and launching additional crops to be grown alongside the trees. Our mission isn’t just mainstreaming acorn flour, our goal is to change the way Californians eat; recentering native foods that are adapted to our unique climate and dramatically reducing the ecological impacts of agriculture.

We believe in what we call "Redwood culture." Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world and they achieve those heights by twining their roots together to support each other - they literally hold each other up. We expect a similar level of collaboration and accountability from all team members.

Qualifications

• Familiarity with Acorn and other native wild foods or an eagerness to learn
• Ability to safely operate an ATV
• Experience working in the forest in some capacity is a bonus but not required
• Experience ethically and sustainably harvesting acorn is a bonus but not required

Candidates who are women, indigenous people, or who belong to other historically marginalized groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

Job Types: Full-time, Seasonal

Pay: From $3,680.00 per month

Benefits:

• Employee discount

Schedule:

• 10 hour shift

Application Question(s):

• Do you have any prior experience working with tree nuts or acorn?

Ability to Relocate:

• Ukiah, CA: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Willingness to travel:

• 25% (Required)

Work Location: On the road