Wild Living Internship
Permaculture ~ Wilderness Skills ~ Herbalism
2014 Experiential Education Opportunity
We are offering a unique experiential learning opportunity to gain skills and experience living and working on a small-scale permaculture homestead, along with developing strong naturalist skills and learning about primitive living technology.
Chris and Laura live on a beautiful wilderness property on the edge of Algonquin Park between Dwight and Dorset. We are private, yet easily accessible from Hwy 35. From our property there is access to a secluded lake where you can go for a paddle, swim, fish, and watch wildlife. Lake of Bays is a very short drive/bike/or run for gorgeous sunset swims. We are minutes away from Dwight and Dorset where you can get just about anything you'd need day-to-day. Huntsville is 25 minutes away and is our main shopping center. Chris is a educator with the p.i.n.e. project, Sticks and Stones Wilderness School, and is contracted by a variety of other organizations to teach wilderness survival and naturalist programs. In 2014 Laura will be starting a new herbal products business, works as an ecologist, is a permaculture designer, and also teaches with a number of environmental organizations.
Learning Opportunities:
- All aspects of home-scale organic agriculture
- Medicinal herb growing, harvesting, preservation
- Forest gardening
- Herbal medicine making
- Beekeeping
- Edible and medicinal mushroom cultivation
- Edible and medicinal plant and mushroom identification, harvesting, preservation
- Applied permaculture principals and design
- Wildlife observation and tracking
- Primitive living skills like pottery, friction fire making, shelter building
- Nature connection mentoring, volunteering with p.i.n.e. project summer camps.
Expectations:
- Available from mid-April to October. Special consideration will be given to students returning to school in September, but this is harvest time and you'll miss out on the reaping!
- 25 hours a week of work on the land. This can include work in the garden (weeding, watering, seed starting, creating new garden beds), infrastructure work like painting, building simple structures, erecting fencing, general odds jobs around the land. Emphasis will be on gardening and permaculture tasks though.
- Be able to 'hold down the fort' for several weeks throughout the summer while we are away for work. This includes being on the land every night during these periods to care for animals and tend gardens and greenhouse. Outside of these times, which will be set prior to internship, you can take up to 3 weeks of time away from the farm for summer canoe trips, visiting family and friends, etc.
This is an unpaid internship, but we will provide accommodations, basic food (grains, beans, garden fare, etc, and regular homecooked meals with us. Specialty items are your own responsibility), and abundant learning opportunities. Accommodations will be rustic in a large 13'x15' canvas wall tent with outdoor kitchen facilities, but our home will be available during daytime hours several times a week for showering, laundry and cooking. We also have a very nice gazebo by the water with electricity and which has always been a favorite hang-out spot for visitors. This internship is open to a single person or couple. For a couple we will ask for more hours per week (30), as it will take more resources from the garden and house.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Chris & Laura Gilmour
Wild Spirit Permaculture Homestead