We’re hiring Farm Apprentices for the 2024 season. View the job description.
Humans have produced food on the lands of Sylvester Manor continually for thousands of years. The archaeological record reveals that indigenous Manhansett people were growing multiple crops, and managing meadows to attract game. Europeans settled here in 1652 to establish a provisioning plantation, producing and shipping food to distant enterprises; multiple eras of agriculture followed. As farming ceased on Shelter Island in the 20th century, the Manor’s prime ag soils lay fallow, until a renaissance beginning in 2009 put the overgrown fields back to work growing food.
Today, these soils, fields and pastures have been nurtured back to robust health, producing delicious food at the hands of 15 years of Resident Farm Apprentices and part-time local farm crew, along with some determined Volunteers who help marshall the weeds. Farmers interact with subscribers to the Summer-Fall CSA program; help with every aspect of fruit and vegetable production, from seeding to harvest and processing; rotate livestock chores, and learn to cycle food waste into compost that feeds the soil. Crew accommodations are mostly single rooms in nearby shared dwellings.