Explore the world of organic gardening through OAEC’s annual Garden Internship in our 50-year-old biointensive gardens—a rich setting for experiential learning. Work closely with our Garden Manager, engaging in all aspects of gardening. We are seeking passionate individuals excited about small-scale food production and curating beautiful and bountiful gardens for our retreat guests and community. Many of our past interns have achieved leadership roles in farming and gardening. Join us for a transformative experience!
Typical Tasks
- Bed preparation and transplanting
- Plant propagation and greenhouse work
- Compost pile building and food waste management
- Fertilization
- Hand watering and drip irrigation
- Pest and disease management
- Gopher trapping
- Weeding
- Harvesting
- General garden maintenance
- Assisting in coordinating volunteer activities
- OAEC Nursery and Plant Sale assistance
Qualifications
- Physical stamina is a must! We work outside rain or shine doing lots of manual labor and repetitive tasks.
- An excitement and desire to learn gardening through hands-on experience is essential.
- Prior garden or farming experience is helpful but not necessary.
- We are looking for motivated, self-starting people who can be comfortable occasionally working alone.
- Interest in helping to coordinate volunteer activities and work with groups of people in the gardens.
- We encourage garden internship applicants to attend a Garden Volunteer Day at OAEC sometime in October. This is a great way to meet us, see the garden, and get a feel for the work, especially if you’ve never been here before. On the RSVP page, please indicate that you are applying to the garden internship.
