February is peak hiring season for several of Leelanau’s seasonal employers, so the Leelanau Ticker reached out to find out about some of the coolest opportunities: Ship cook, sheep shearer, wine pourer, and boat yard attendant to name a few. Most are paying gigs, others are life-transforming internships, all are work immersed in the peninsula’s natural wonders. Here’s the latest summer jobs report from the county:

Inland Seas Education Association in Suttons Bay is seeking a ship cook for the 2021 season aboard the schooner Inland Seas (pictured). The cook — a position that may be job-shared by two or more people — manages the galley and prepares meals for the regular crew and up to 45 guests, including students, on the schoolship. 

Inland Seas Captain Ben Hale tells the Leelanau Ticker that while the ship cook’s main role is to serve healthy home-cooked meals within a student-friendly environment, he or she is an integral part of the crew with responsibilities beyond the galley. The cook also works on deck when able and has certain safety responsibilities in the event of an emergency. 

Hale adds that the cook may live aboard the vessel if desired.

“We do overnight trips with students as well as transits with just crew. Sometimes we anchor for the night, but if we have a large enough crew complement, we will sail around the clock working in shifts during a transit between ports.”

Because of this, he says, “As cook, you get to travel to some of the most interesting places on the Great Lakes, some of which few people are aware of. We swim all the time when we are at anchor and the crew camaraderie makes for a very fun work environment and can provide a network of great people.” 

At Green Bird Organic Cellars in Northport, Farmers/Owners Betsy Sedlar and Tim Hearin say the internship program they launched last summer was such a success, they are expanding the 2021 program to include focus areas in animal husbandry, vineyard management, and winemaking.

Sedlar and Hearin were both teachers — then urban farmers — in New Orleans before moving north and buying Green Bird Cellars farm and winery in March of 2019. Their holistic farming approach, says Hearin, means “the vineyard, the orchard, the farm animals, the wildlife, the forest, and our families are all one living organism that make up our farm. By using sustainable, integrated, organic practices, we are taking responsibility for the long-term viability of the whole. We are neither waiting nor hoping for change, we are working to embody it."

For future winemakers, farmers, and tasting room employees with whom this philosophy resonates, the Green Bird Cellars gig — an unpaid position comprised of five hours of work per day, five days per week, 7am to 12pm — is a way to build a resume.

Says Hearin, “The internship allows us to both share our project with aspiring farmers and to help them gain hands-on experience at a diversified farm practicing regenerative agriculture.”

That, he explains, is the revival of age-old practices to give as much to the tended land as is taken, running counter to conventional farming which has eroded topsoil and, in some cases, rendered fertile places into deserts.

Hearin hopes what he and Sedlar practice and teach on their 15 acres becomes a universal agricultural trend in the coming years. “No prior skillset required,” he adds, of prospective interns. “Betsy and I will primarily oversee the program, making sure there is a lot of learning on the way.” 

Animal husbandry interns take care of sheep and chickens, moving their pasture weekly, collecting eggs, and shearing wool. Vineyard management will entail pruning, tucking and tying the vines, and planting. Cellar work involves fermentation and sanitation of tanks. “This internship will be hard agricultural work, and will require grit, but it’s a meaningful way to spend one’s time,” says Hearin. “The very best interns may find themselves employed by us.”

He adds that Green Bird Cellars provides food, shower, and tent camping on the property for the duration and those who wish to may have another non-conflicting job. Anyone who is fully vaccinated may be considered for the shared indoor quarters in Green Bird’s winery apartment.  

The application will go live March 1, on the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, USA (WWOOF- USA) website. For more information in the meantime, email hello@greenbirdcellars.com.

Katy Wiesen, co-owner of Crystal River Outfitters Recreational District — the umbrella business that includes the Glen Arbor outfitter and canoe/kayak rental, The Cyclery, M22, and Coastal — plans to add roughly 45 seasonal employees to join 10 year-round staff members for the 2021 summer and fall season. “We are lucky in that we typically get quite a few returning staff but will also have a good amount of positions to fill, [including boat yard attendant, bicycle rental associate and wine patio server]. We are hiring now for work to begin between May and June. The longer the staff can stay in the season — through October — is a bonus.”

Wiesen’s husband Matt started working at Crystal River Outfitters in 1994 and purchased it in 2004. As an employee to start, there is no job he hasn’t done himself, Katy Wiesen says, and both owners get in the trenches with their employees. “The majority of our summer staff is 18 to 24 years of age. They are our family.”

She adds that they advocate a work hard, play hard ethic — including “lake breaks so staff can ‘take 10’ and cool down in Lake Michigan” — and the seasonal jobs are character-building and make for an unforgettable summer. For instance, “to be a trip shuttle driver at Crystal River Outfitters you must be 18 years of age. The first place they often start is the boat yard ‘slinging boats’ and learning what is like to talk to customers at 15 years old. They patiently work their way up, and we’ve had employees turn 18 mid-summer, zip down to the Secretary of State to get their Chauffeur’s License and then take the wheel.”

Staff housing is available, for those who may not have local ties for lodging. “Based on that need, we bought a house about 7 miles outside of Glen Arbor three years ago,” explains Wiesen. “Staff living there pays a small amount of weekly rent that comes out of their paycheck. It’s worked out really well and has even added to that true summer Leelanau experience.”

Elsewhere in Glen Arbor: The Homestead also has dozens of job postings for the upcoming season, including in its recreation department, where the Beach Club staff position is billed as “a day at the beach…literally;” the Manitou Passage Golf Club associates are able to golf for free at the Arnold Palmer signature design course.

Finally, in a departure from the “summer job” category are two just-posted full-time positions, each with its own quintessential Leelanau County vibe. First, Leelanau Cellars is on the hunt for a tasting room manager to join its team in Omena and lead the winery’s retail space. And the Leelanau Conservancy — one of the nation’s top land trusts whose mission is to conserve the land, water and scenic character of Leelanau County — is seeking a writer and storyteller well-versed in digital and print media to join its team as a communications specialist.