Openings

We generally advertise for open positions in LinkedIn. To stay updated on our openings follow us at:

• https://www.linkedin.com/company/vakeworks/
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/midgardr/

Job title: Few Days Farm Apprenticeships

Company Description

Miðgarðr is a family farm (lantbruk) at Ljungan Systems Field Station of VakeWorks AB, located in Ånge. The farm focuses on production, research, and development in agroecological food systems and serves as a Gene Bank for the Swedish Heritage Breed of Pigs (linderödssvin).

Role Description

This is a full-time on-site role for a Few Days Farm Apprenticeship at Miðgarðr. The apprentice will be involved in day-to-day tasks related to agroecological food system production, research, and development. This role offers hands-on experience in farm management and conservation efforts. Work may involve helping with daily farm chores around pig care, helping build dynamic electric fence corridors and partitions through 10 hectares of forest and plant breeding experiments with about 23 varieties of millets in controlled and natural environments, conducting biodiversity surveys of plants, insects, reptiles, amphibians, etc., in about 18 hectares that includes an isolated forest lake and a watershed, including a natural all-year-flowing stream that flows into Ljungan, one of the seven elves or large rivers in Sweden. Biodiversity surveys can be done either through classical taxonomy or using openly available Apps on smartphone or helping build a federated species identification system in field using our AI drone. For those with construction skills there are several small infrastructure projects based on skill-levels. Thus, this apprenticeship is one of a "build-your-own" kind.

Perks

• This is NOT a paid position
• You will get free accommodation in a simple classical two-room Swedish summer cottage with shared bedroom (bed, blankets, pillows and sheets provided) and a separate shared kitchen with cold running water, electric and wood-fired stove and electric fridge and freezer with dining table for four, composting toilet and outdoor solar heated shower (you are welcome to swim in the river and lake of course).
• You will get a Certificate of Apprenticeship from our Experiential Education Certifier VakeWorks AB, upon successfully completing your apprenticeship in a few days after mutual agreement on the deliverables at the end of Day 1, your start date.
• Note that you need to buy and prepare your own food (available from local farm shops and a large grocery store within 10 minutes by foot.
• You also need to pay for your own return travel (reachable by Swedish rail + 15 minutes walk)
• We start each day with a Stand-Up organising tasks for the day in small teams and end with a Chill-Down after usually a normal work day at the farm of about 8-12 hours with lunch and fika breaks.
• You will interact intensely with two Farming Docents, Raazesh Sainudiin and Elisabeth Bolund, who manage and run the farm and have access to their hands-on and theoretical expertise across mathematical, data engineering, and life sciences.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience or genuine interest in farm work or agriculture
• Strong interest in agroecological food systems
• Strong work ethic and willingness to learn
• Ability to work in a team and take direction
• Physical stamina and ability to work outdoors
• Interest in conservation and heritage breed and seed preservation
• Basic knowledge of animal husbandry is desired but not required, provided you are not afraid of other beings; there are several animal-interactions-free possibilities for the apprenticeship
• Relevant coursework in agriculture, environmental studies, or related fields, including AI, data engineering sciences and autonomous systems can help build your own strong program for the few days
• Swedish high-school/gymnasium students can apply as part of their UF or Ung Företagsamhet where one can experience various aspects of end-to-end rural farm-shops in action; adding value to natural products in Swedish meadows and forests; running seed-banks or propagating berries and currants from cuttings, building any-scale processing units for slaughtering chicken conforming to Swedish regulations (this requires carpentry and other building/fabrication skills), etc.

Mixing Work \& Pleasure/Fun

• Yes, in some cases you may have a day or two off from the "bootcamp"-styled apprenticeship, provided you pay for the non-working night yourself.
• You are welcome to go to other local camp sites and hotels across the river if you pay for it yourself, especially if you require conveniences like warm showers, freshly made beds, someone else to cook your meals and/or private kitchens. This is an optimal way to turn the beginning or end of your apprenticeship into a vacation in the middle of the Kingdom of Sweden (see for example https://midadventure.se/ with fun activities).

How to apply?

• Kindly go through Miðgarðr and absorb information on our operations at Miðgarðr Family Farm and Genebank
• Miðgarðr is affiliated with VakeWorks AB and it is important to familiarize yourself with what they are about, and their pledge, people and mission. Check out their channel https://www.youtube.com/@livingsystems_vakeworks/ for quick insights.
• Write to raazesh@vake.works with Subject line "Few Days Farm Apprenticeship at Miðgarð" and/or apply via LinkedIn by uploading a Statement of Purpose in PDF format of at most 1 page for this position explaining briefly what you think you would like to do for this highly customizable role based on your past experience and current interests, expertise, learning goals and existing skills.
• If you are approved by mutual agreement then we need to agree on the exact days you will be available for the apprenticeship. The accommodation will only be reserved upon producing your travel bookings and paying a reservation fee that will be refunded when you complete the apprenticeship; we had two accepted students from Chalmers in Goteborg simply not show up last year and thereby prevented others from the opportunity.
• The apprenticeship may involve 1 day without over night stay, 2 full days of work with one or two nights of overnight stay, three days with two or three nights of overnight stay, or four days of work with three or four nights of overnight stay, etc. Note that these are consecutive days and nights of work and rest.
• Yes, it is absolutely fine to apply as a group of at most 4 women and at most 2 men (unless you bring your own tent and sleeping bags to pitch your own tent). However, no group can be more than 6 individuals and no apprenticeship can be longer than a week.

Contact

For more information email raazesh@vake.works.