Education is a central part of our mission. We offer tours as well as internships, and are planning to develop workshop programs in the future.
Tours:
Tours are available upon request. Call to schedule. Depending on your interests and experience, tours can take 45 minutes to 2 hours. We ask $10 per person per hour for our time. Tours for groups of three or more are $25 per hour. We can usually accommodate up to 10 people at a time. Children 12 and under are free and should be well supervised.
Internships:
WE ARE ESPECIALLY LOOKING FOR AN EARLY SEASON INTERN TO HELP WITH PLANT PROPAGATION (STARTING EARLY MARCH); this is the time when most experience with plant propagation (grafting, cuttings, seeds) will be available.
(the following is copied from what we have posted on ATTRA’s website, so we apologize for any repeat information)
General Description: Brambleberry Farm is a small permaculture-based market farm with about an acre-and-a-half of garden beds with a maturing fruit-tree based "food-forest" cradling the northern arc. We use sheet mulch on our beds and do not till them--all tools used in the garden are simple hand-tools. Thus we have a great model that can be applied to smaller home gardens without use of gas-powered machinery. We do have occasional tractor-based chores like mowing, hauling, and occasional disking for forage plantings.
We manage a small flock of Welsh Harlequin laying ducks that contribute both eggs and many duck hours of work on the garden beds via movable pens and fences. We are also starting to develop a goose-based weeding program via movable fences. We value these poultry almost as much for their serious work ethic as for their sellable products!
Currently we are developing a 3.5 acre pasture by rotating different species of livestock through it to improve the soil with their grazing, manure, and trampling behaviors. Plans are in place to start planting a mixed orchard within this system to increase the yields of the given acreage once the trees mature. We incorporate a small drove of pastured hogs to our rotational grazing routine. These are American Guinea hogs, a rare breed that is smaller, friendlier and more adapted to foraging. We now are also managing a fledgling herd of Finnsheep which we will breed up to be a major species component to the grazing regime. Finnsheep grow fabulous fine wool sought after by hand-spinners, and also have very fine flavored meat. American Buff geese are the third species we graze--these will eventually be breeding and we plan to sell pastured geese for the table at Christmastime.
A growing component of our farm is a small fruit and berry nursery. This has met with great success from the public, and we have been able to turn good profit from it. There will be opportunities to learn about plant propagation. Hands-on opportunities for grafting and rooting cuttings will mostly be available earlier in the season.
Our home systems utilize a variety of permaculture models, such as rainwater collection, greywater treatment wetlands, composting toilets, and a passive-solar greenhouse in which we raise our own seedlings and cuttings. It also heats our home and provides some fresh foods for us in the winter.
We have finished our beautiful straw bale home this past year, and have moved in! While we won't be working on it as much this coming season, there will still be opportunities to work with earthen plasters as we still need to apply the second coat of plaster to the outside. We will also be building a buried root cellar/cistern structure and may start on a cedar/glass greenhouse on the south side of the house.
Internship Starts: March 2010
Internship Ends: November 2010
Number of Interns: 2
App Deadline: One month before desired starting date.
Minimum Length of Stay: 1 month
Meals: We'll provide the basics for all meals. Most meals will be on your own, but on work days lunch will be with us (unless arranged otherwise). We do eat meat from our own animals and this will be available for your use but we're happy to accommodate vegetarian diets.
Requirements: Will give preference to those with gardening experience and the ability to work well on their own. We require a resume (can be informal list of work experience), and 3 references: 1 former employer, 1 living situation (i.e. roommate/housemate), and one personal reference (such as a mentor or friend).
Educational Opportunities: We will be working on a variety of projects all summer, many of which you will be able to gain firsthand experience with including shiitake mushroom logs, grafting fruit trees, natural building methods, possible beer/winemaking, animal care/butchering/processing, possibly some permaculture design projects. Possiblity to attend a local Permaculture Basic Design Course (mid-summer) and receive your Designer's Certificate. We will not pay for the course--however if you are interested we can work out to let you off internship duties for those two weeks.
Compensation: Room & board, hands-on education, and $10/week entertainment stipend.
Housing: This year we add our former home, a house trailer, to the internship quarters. This has electric and running water, but is in the center of the gardens so is not as isolated nor as quaint as the cabin. Also available is a cute little cedar cabin nestled in the woods at the edge of a pretty holler, with rain barrel, composting toilet, gas cooktop, outdoor gravity-fed shower, bunk bed, but no electric. Your choice of quarters!
Preferred method Of Contact: Phone, e-mail or regular mail.
Internship Details: We will be dividing our work time this summer between market farming, propagation of nursery stock, animal/pasture management, and also some building projects. Thus, we seek an intern who is willing to be flexible with work duties, helping with building when needed, but mostly focusing on garden tasks, depending on personal interest in either field. Will give preference to those with gardening experience and the ability to work well on their own. Interns will be expected to work 4 full days a week, with opportunity for more if desired. We try to limit work days to 8 hours. We feel strongly about not overworking ourselves, as crazy long farm work weeks are unsustainable for anyone in the long run.
