Agroecology Intern
Submit your application at https://santacruzpermaculture.com/intern/
A 26 acre organic and regenerative farm 20 minutes north of Santa Cruz on the coast. It’s been the Swanton Berry U-Pick for the past 35 years and is now turning into a center for permaculture education. Currently the farm has 7 acres of berries and is the site for our many permaculture courses. We have an ocean view and access to Ano Nuevo Creek. We’re immersed in our first CSA/market season and have cropped 5-10 acres of vegetables and flowers. In the coming years, we'll be implementing an extensive permaculture food forest, animal integration, watershed management, natural building, and more.
Our farm crew will work together with our farm manager on Fridays from 8:00-12:00, break for lunch (and beach time!) from 12:00-1:00, and then work again 1:00-3:00pm. Additionally, we have an opportunity for an intern with a truck or van to work the Saturday farmers market on the Westside of Santa Cruz. We anticipate this being a very fun, community-building, and holisitic experience. 2-unit interns will come only on Fridays or Saturdays and 5-unit interns will come on Friday and Saturday or other days to-be-determined. Interns will come for one quarter and receive academic credit. Further internships can be explored if desired. Work ranges from composting, planting, harvesting, pest and disease management, irrigation, food processing, herbalism and other farm+garden experience to forest management, watershed regeneration, natural building, fencing, and animal husbandry, as well as managing the farmers market booth, including customer education about our farm. We aim to suit the work to your interest and skill level.
Learning objectives include:
- Understand the processes involved in a successful harvest and market delivery & sales
- Learn methods of integrated pest management
- Be able to design and install simple drip irrigation and set up typical overhead irrigation in an agricultural setting
- Learn best practices for building market garden beds and transplanting crops
- Understand how permaculture principles can be integrated into an agroecological market farm for a more sustainable outcome
Submit your application at https://santacruzpermaculture.com/intern/