Internship Program
What it is
Summary of Internship Program
The Institute of Soil and Soul (ISS) is proud to offer internships for students and beginning farmers seeking comprehensive training in regenerative farming, horticulture, and ecopsychology. Our internship offers participants an experiential immersion in all the operations involved in running a small-scale regenerative farm (e.g., composting, planting, propagation, harvesting, animal husbandry orchard care, holistic management, and more) and a theoretical exploration of essential texts related to ecology, spirituality, and depth psychology.
Goals of Internship
The internship at ISS provides outlets for meaningful collaboration and skills-based training in regenerative farming. The internship opportunities for teens, college students, and adults will be amble. Besides providing educational components of Jewish connections to regenerative farming, our internship will:
Most importantly, interns will experience what it means to engage in meaningful work in a supportive environment, and be given an opportunity to unplug from normal distractions, and discover and embrace an alternative vision in line with core values. Prior experience is not necessary. Internships are unpaid.
Sample Schedule
Tasks will vary depending on the season. In the spring months, as soon as the soil is workable, tasks involve bed and soil preparation, propagation/planting, harvesting, and daily animal management. These tasks continue into the summer with the addition of orchard care/management. In preparation for winter, soils are fed with cover crops and put to sleep. [1]
8:00am: Arrive, distribute tasks
8:15am - 10:15am: Work
10:30am - 1:00pm: Resume work
1:00pm Lunch and depart.
Physical and Emotional Safety
Physical Safety: Interns are never put into any situation that risk their physical harm. During work hours interns work alongside and are under constant supervision from seasoned agriculturalists. Interns do not handle power tools or harvesting equipment but do use minimalist hand tools (shovels, spades, hoes, harvesting knives, broad forks, trowels, dibblers) following a tutorial.
Self-Disclosure: Assignments and class discussions, which offer the opportunity for self-disclosure, may generate anxiety. There is no requirement that an intern disclose personal history and participation in the experience will not be affected by your decisions not to disclose. It is, however, important to note these disclosures may offer opportunities to expand how you understand human behavior and its role in addressing the climate crisis and revisioning our food and farming systems
How to apply
We ask that candidates interested in proceeding with the application process send a resume and cover letter detailing your background and interests, addressed to Gabriel directly at info@soilandsoulfarm.org.
Please write honestly and from the heart, reflecting upon what Masanobu Fukuoka, the founder of Natural Farming once wrote: "The ultimate goal of farming is not the cultivation of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”
*Prior experience with horticulture is not necessary. We look forward to meeting you!
Our Past Interns
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