Farm to Table Culinary Trainee

Would you like to experience farm-to-table learning while staying on the Taliesin estate, Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin home? Taliesin Preservation of Spring Green, WI, is looking for students of all experience levels  to join the 2024 Culinary Field School program. The Field School is embedded into the operation of the Riverview Terrace Café located at the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center.

Field School participants live in shared housing and work paid shifts at Taliesin's Riverview Terrace Café. Participants support catering for on-site events, maintain a kitchen garden, assist local farms and food processors, and participate in classes led by an in-house chef and guest experts.

Participants earn $17.25 per hour while working assigned café shifts, 25-30 hours per week.  Participants can expect to spend approximately 40 hours a week on the program. 

There is a $3,000.00 up-front fee to cover program expenses. Participants who complete the program will be refunded $1,000.00 of the fee.

The program operates on a six-month schedule, from May to October. However, arrangements can be made for interested students who cannot commit to the entire six months. Don't hesitate to get in touch with our HR Coordinator for more information. 

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CULINARY FIELD SCHOOL PARTICIPANT

As a Field School Participant, you are part of a program that draws inspiration from Wright's organic vision that art, community, agriculture, and learning are integrally connected with the land. You share rural housing on the Taliesin estate, grow your food, and partake in communal meals, immersing yourself in the experience.

Taliesin's Riverview Terrace Café menus feature ingredients mainly sourced from the surrounding Driftless region. While working at the café, you survey product origin, kitchen fundamentals, proper food handling, read and create recipes, menu planning, service systems, and vendor relationships.

Besides your paid work, you participate in hands-on learning through curriculum activities, which include cultivating a kitchen garden on the estate, guest lectures, culinary sessions, individual study, and special event hosting.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR A CULINARY FIELD SCHOOL PARTICIPANT

• Keen interest in learning by doing.
• Full commitment to participate in both educational activities and paid work.
• Open to working with all foods, including all types of meat.
• Passion for preparing local, sustainable foods and being an ambassador for a seed-to-table curriculum.

ABOUT TALIESIN PRESERVATION

As stewards of the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, our dual mission is to preserve the cultural, built, and natural environments that comprise the Taliesin property and to conduct educational and cultural programs that provide a greater understanding of his architecture and ideas. We are different from other historic sites because we are not satisfied with just being a museum. We want the estate to stay filled with life.

There is an energy here that captures and engages people. And the staff, without exception, are creative people who care passionately about their work and are full of ideas. We are a small organization, and, as such, we offer a lot of flexibility and opportunity for people to develop within their areas of interest--and we are invested in their success!

The Field School naturally builds on this by using an approach to food that integrates ecology, art, craft, community, and region.

READY TO JOIN OUR WORK-STUDY IMMERSION PROGRAM?

To learn more about this program, view our informational pdf.

If this program sounds right for you, fill out our initial 3-minute, mobile-friendly application. We look forward to meeting you!