About Us

Seeking: Weekend Nursery Representative

Know something about perennials and fruit trees, and want to staff our retail nursery? We're looking for help on weekends May through early July.

email Nicko at easthilltreefarm@gmail.com to apply

Seeking: Nursery & Landscape Assistant

Seeking a hardworking, motivated assistant for all elements of our small, regenerative, landscaping and nursery business.

East Hill Tree Farm provides the resources to empower the communities in the Winooski Valley and beyond to engage the landscape, enhancing the physical and spiritual vitality for all inhabitants. We offer landscape consultation, design, planting and pruning; we grow fruit and nut trees; and we operate a retail nursery and annual bare-root sale. We grow and work with a wide variety of edible and useful woody species and soil-building techniques to improve the health of our earth and our communities. We work and learn with a spirit of constant curiosity. We endeavor not to plant single trees, but to establish whole ecosystems, in which people play an integral role.

The assistant will work alongside the owner for many tasks, creating opportunities for both on-the-job-training and shared learning. There will be abundant opportunities to to learn about all aspects of the business. The successful candidate will have a strong interest in the mission of the business, curiosity, and a drive to get work done efficiently.

Primary responsibilities include:
-Staff retail nursery (weekends required May through early July, and again in September and October), providing thorough, friendly assistance to customers.

-Handle orders and payments with integrity and attention to detail.

-Monitor and maintain the online store.

-Package and check orders for spring bare root tree sale.

-Prune fruit trees for shape, disease management, aesthetics and crop management at residences.

-Plant trees, shrubs and berry patches for customers following established protocols.

-Drive company vehicles to jobs.

-Weed and maintain nursery beds and plantings.

-Maintain a positive attitude and reliable work ethic as part of a small team.

-Check business email account and respond to inquiries, or refer questions to the owner.

-Take pictures for website and social media; update online presence at least monthly.

-Other responsibilities as assigned.

Desired qualifications:

Interest in trees, soil, farming or permaculture. Curiosity.

Motivated and able to work hard and get jobs done.

Reliable and a clear, positive communicator.

Interest and ability to take on greater responsibility and leadership for tasks or jobs.

Valid driver’s license, safe driving skills, and ability to drive a manual-transmission pickup truck.

Attention to safety and health in all contexts.

Ability to lift 50 lbs repeatedly; ability to free-climb small trees.

There is some ability for the assistant’s particular interests and
skills to shape the job. Work hours will vary seasonally and can also be adapted to the needs of the candidate. Pay begins at $17/hr with an opportunity for advancement within the first year.

email Nicko at easthilltreefarm@gmail.com to apply

Our Mission

East Hill Tree Farm provides the resources to empower communities in the Winooski Valley and beyond to engage the landscape, enhancing the physical and spiritual vitality for all inhabitants.

We understand that we live in a time of dramatic social and ecological change. Humans play a critical role in this change. We strive to actively engage our environment in order to enhance the physical and spiritual vitality of the landscape including all of its inhabitants.

We Provide

-Nursery for woody plant species for edible forest gardens, home orchards, and Edens in the northeast.
-Landscape planting.
-Ecological landscape design services.
-Management consulting and education.

We make long term sustainability, ecological integrity, and functional beauty the highest priorities in all of our work.

See our services

East Hill Tree Farm is located on unceded Abenaki land. We acknowledge that we are guests in this place and seek to listen to and care for the land while offering acts of repair for the deep privilege of being here. We donate a percent of income to support Abenaki Cultural Restoration and the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi.

  • Nicko Rubin founded East Hill Tree Farm in 2008 on the land where he grew up in Plainfield, VT, and he is the vision and action behind all operations. He holds a Master’s in Sustainable Landscape Planning and Design from The Conway School in Northampton, MA. Read a full profile of Nicko and the farm from Seven Days.


  • One assistant joins Nicko full time most of the season. Additional part-time employees help with pruning, retail and planting, and a larger crew makes the spring bare root sale happen. Interested in working with us? Reach out to Nicko by email or at 802-454-7874.