Children's Farmyard Educator

Who We Are

Shelburne Farms is an education nonprofit on a mission to inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future. We offer transformative learning experiences to help educators and students create a better world. Our home campus is a 1,400-acre working farm located on the traditional, unceded and contemporary homelands of the Winooskik band of the Abenaki.

Shelburne Farms recognizes that justice, equity, and access are central to sustainability. We are committed to translating these values into action across the organization by improving equitable outcomes in our culture, programs, and services. Shelburne Farms is working to create experiences of belonging for all, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities, and people of all economic realities.

Position Title: Seasonal Children’s Farmyard Educator
Supervisor: Children’s Farmyard Manager
Employment dates: April 22, 2026 - October 21, 2026
Work Schedule: 3-5 days a week (including weekends and holidays)
Hourly: $17.50/hr
Employee Status: Seasonal
Location: On-site (1611 Harbor Rd, Shelburne, VT 05482) Housing is not available for this position.
Final date to receive applications: Positions are open until filled. We will start scheduling interviews the week of March 15.

We are currently seeking Farm Based Educators with exceptional guest service skills to work in the Children’s Farmyard. The farmyard is an outdoor educational space that is open to the public and school groups seven days a week, May through October. The goal of this public program is to educate and connect visitors to agriculture in a safe, engaging, and hands‑on environment.

The farmyard is part of our campus that supports our mission to inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future.

• Facilitate safe, engaging, hands‑on activities with our farm animals and gardens, fostering connections between visitors and their food and fiber systems.
• Welcome and assist diverse audiences in a warm, welcoming, and professional manner upholding excellent guest services.
• Orient visitors to Shelburne Farms – its mission, programs, products, and campus.
• Clean animal yards, barns, and pens as well as visitor and education spaces.
• Take care of our farm animals and garden while engaging visitors in your work. Animals include: sheep, goats, rabbits, cows, calves, pigs, chickens, turkeys, donkeys.
• Bring the cheddar‑making process to life for visitors through interpretive education in our cheese‑making and information hub.
• Support ongoing maintenance projects – e.g., string trimming, fence maintenance.
• Mentor Youth Farmyard Educators (ages 13‑18) through positive role‑modeling. During the summer, these younger educators‑in‑training work alongside Farmyard staff to learn about all that we do.
• Foster a welcoming and inclusive working and learning environment open to multiple perspectives, for all program participants, guests, and staff.
• Communicate honestly and effectively with the team to create a respectful and open work environment.
• Attend orientation, training, and staff meetings as required.

• Each morning, staff gather for a brief meeting to create a schedule of activities and discuss updates, projects, and animal care tasks for the day. This is followed by cleaning and preparing the farmyard for visitor arrival.
• Approximate breakdown of daily duties:
  • 30% Leading hands‑on activities and presentations with visitors such as spinning sheep's wool into yarn bracelets, hand‑milking one of our visiting dairy cows, visiting our sheep in their pasture, and afternoon animal chores.
  • 30% Welcoming visitors and engaging them in conversations around our animals and gardens and their connection to agriculture and our food system, as well as answering visitor questions about our campus, mission, history, and products.
  • 25% Completing ongoing farm tasks such as animal chores, deep cleaning barns, moving portable fencing, and string trimming.
  • 15% Bringing the cheddar‑making process to life for visitors through interpretive education in our cheese‑making and…