Staff

Stafffing is an ongoing issue for Straight River Farm.  For most businesses I guess.  Our friend who is a manager in a food co-op is regularly hiring new staff.  At the library, we wish we could hire more staff because there aren't enough hands to do everything we need to do and we play perennial catch-up.  Farmer Bill does have some workers who have come back several years for the strawberry season & we really appreciate them.  He also has a couple of good, hard-working 'hired men' who come and help him on a regular basis.  It's hard to find good employees because Farmer Bill doesn't have year-round work for anyone, and he isn't eligible to pay unemployment so his seasonal workers can't collect unemployment.  [Who knew you had to be 'eligible' to pay unemployment?  Since the States and the Feds pay a big chunk of unemployment, they don't let everyone in because when we lay people off we just increase the costs to them...]

One year 2 or 3 years ago, when Farmer Bill advertised for workers in the local Workforce Center, we got zero inquiries for one of the jobs.  There were no unemployed persons who wanted to take a temporary, seasonal job on a farm -- even in the middle of a recession -- imagine that.  [It's enough to make one want to turn a little bit to the right.]

So every year is a bit of a scramble to find enough people to help manage the strawberry picking, go to the Farmers Markets, and keep up with the weeding, watering, and fertilizing.  Not to mention someone to do a little maintenance on the machinery.