Land Caretaker/Gardener

Healdsburg CA

Description

Land Caretaker Position in Sonoma County: 40 hours/week $25/hour to start Must have own car, auto insurance, and valid drivers license Proficient in Spanish/English High School Degree or GED Must have experience with gardening/land caretaking Desire for long-term steady employment We are looking for a unique individual to care for a large family property. Our current caretaker is retiring after 40 years of dedicated service. This job includes: tending to vegetable & flower gardens, fruit orchards, olive orchard related to an olive oil business, forest management, maintaining irrigation and compost systems, maintaining and caring for our spring drinking water, maintaining and caring for all machinery and infrastructure. You will be an understudy to our current caretaker (who only speaks Spanish) before he retires, for a minimum 6 month period of time. Responsibilities include: - Irrigation – maintenance & repair - Install, maintain, & remove seasonal plants - Prune and trim trees and bushes - Monitor and maintain the health of plants - Deal with pest problems - Maintain all garden equipment and machinery, like mowers, chainsaws, weedwackers, leaf blowers - Care of 700 olive trees related to an olive oil business; in charge of harvest responsibilities and crew - Hauling debris/garbage to dump - Cutting down trees for firewood, splitting & stacking annually - Year round focus on clearing forest & grasslands for fire abatement - Maintain submersible pump, pond weed, maintain small beach - Animal control - Maintenance of rock walls, wooden fences, pathways, stairs - Caretaking small gardens and parking lots surround 2 Santa Rosa office buildings (approx. 3 hours/week) Requirements: - Loyalty, willingness, “can-do” attitude, thorough execution, great work ethic - Creative thinking & ingenuity in accomplishing tasks - Experience as a gardener - Familiarity with landscape design - Knowledge of regional plants with focus on drought tolerant species - Knowledge of local pests and how to eliminate them - Knowledge of fertilizers & composting systems Please send resume, cover letter, and 2 references