Massachusetts

01 - This is a 50-acre farm with a 72’ high-tunnel greenhouse and about 3 acres of native highbush blueberries, black currants, raspberries, and strawberries that produces value-added products and attends farmers’ markets.

Work to be done includes picking and processing berries, greenhouse work, weeding, pruning, transplanting, sales at farmers’ markets, delivery of products to stores, in-store demonstrations, and optional poultry care.

We need one or two apprentices from April through October, with a minimum of six weeks during this period.

Accommodations include a private bedroom on the second floor, shared bath, veggies and all crops being grown, some shared meals, and a potential stipend depending on experience and commitment.

The farm is near miles of hiking trails with a beach within walking or biking distance. Owner is a graduate in landscape design with horticulture, perennial/ornamental plant science background and an MS in conservation biology.  There is optional participation in beekeeping on-site, as well.

02 - Established in 1991, this is a small, diverse, sustainable, permaculture farm where the relationship of people with nature is constantly explored in myriad ways that include animals, crops, self-sufficiency, sustainability, conservation of heirloom vegetable varieties and seeds, conservation of historic livestock, and traditional and modern farming techniques, all the while attempting to fill the needs of today’s culture and society.  We raise heritage breed animals for meat (nearly 10,000 lbs. annually) and heirloom vegetables, eggs, honey, fruit and more, which we sell locally directly to families, partly through our unique CSA (community-supported agriculture system) at the farm and at local farmers’ markets.  We are involved in a great number of projects that involve community and education.

 The farm includes: a one-acre vegetable market garden, ten Dorset sheep (and 12-18 lambs for meat), about 150 acres of pasture and hay, two dairy cows and calves, 15 Scottish Highland cattle for beef, a young team of working Brown Swiss oxen, three large Black (Cornwall) pigs (and as many as 30 piglets being raised for pork), 40 New Hampshire laying hens, 100-200 meat birds, six Pilgrim geese (meat and eggs), 40-60 Khaki Campbell ducks (meat and eggs), two hives of honey bees, shiitake mushroom production, and more.

There are three categories of work-stay: Full-Year Apprenticeship, Seasonal Internship, and WWOOFer:

Full-Year Apprenticeship (three positions); This is a good position for someone who wants a full, deep understanding of small, very varied modern homestead-like farming, someone interested in learning about, and participating in, farm life and community building.  Running the full year’s cycle from planning to implementation, to harvest and back to planning, this is an intensive, in-depth, comprehensive program that results in a solid working knowledge of the many facets of a real farm: food production, CSA, community, marketing, organic techniques and farm life, science, philosophy, etc. An apprentice at MITP is required to learn and practice a broad range of skills and take responsibility for farm tasks.  The program starts in the winter.

This Full-Year Apprenticeship is intended to give participants a strong introduction to the life of farming and the breadth of knowledge, and scope of tasks, the logistics and the challenges of that life.  Applicants must demonstrate a strong commitment to the purpose of training themselves for a productive life of awareness and connection to nature through a real understanding of the source of their sustenance, food, and what it takes to produce and provide for themselves and others.  The very nature of farming is nurturing and is predicated on a functioning community.  So a very strong part of the study and learning within this apprenticeship is centered on understanding and building of relationships and social structure(s), independent relationships that begin on the farm and extend around and outside the farm, and on which the farm relies for its existence.

Seasonal Internship (four positions) and WWOOFers (one or two positions): For people who have a limited amount of time for an abbreviated version of our apprenticeship.  Any amount of time is considered, though longer terms (three to six months) will be given preference.  Generally interns are accepted for the spring, summer and fall months and stay in tents.  Seasonal Internship applications are accepted January through September of the current year.

Stipends for Seasonal Interns are $100/week (for interns staying twelve or more weeks); for Full-Year Apprentices, $10,400/year.

The Full-Year Apprenticeship is an educational program.  Teaching/learning segments for specific areas of knowledge, techniques and skills are integral.  Visits to the many other nearby organic farms are encouraged and can be arranged.  Here in the bosom of the Berkshires, a cultural and alternative-culture mecca, within view of Mt. Everett and the Appalachian Trail, in the middle of about seven hundred acres of protected land, nature abounds.  Hiking, biking, fishing, nature walking, birding and other activities are easily enjoyed.  Nearby one can ride, canoe, dance, and attend world-class concerts, and yoga classes, etc.

03 - This is a very special year at this farm, a farm and retreat center that was founded by Deborah (gardener, yoga teacher, sacred dance teacher and transwoman) in 1983.  After being closed five years ago by a town official who offered several times to buy our farm before he closed us, we are this year, after much struggle, re-opening the farm and the center.  It will be a joyous and very difficult struggle.  We do need inspired help.

The first major project this year is rebuilding the Dancing Barn, which houses a large yoga room as well as the farm kitchen, dining room, and bathroom.  Until this is finished and opened, the living conditions will be roughing it creatively.

Ongoing through the season is the planting, care, harvesting and marketing of food, herbal and flower crops (perennial and annual), as well as wildcrafting foods and medicines and the recovery of the apple orchard.  The food crops this year are centered upon winter storables and winter-hardy green crops.  Drying and canning foods, herbs and flowers is a part of this ongoing activity.  Any apprentice wishing to learn the “business” end of marketing as well as the “earth” end will be encouraged and guided to take over this area as much as they are able. (Empowerment of the gardener as well as the garden).

The second major project this year is the creation of a well and a holding pond for irrigation.  Through the summer we will be trying to perfect growing a slurry of algae in the holding pond for on-farm created fertilizer (we have another pool we use for swimming).  Success in this project could be revolutionary for small agriculture.

We will be lengthening the solar greenhouse attached to the southern side of the main farmhouse to 100”.  It is a multi-function solar structure, used for both winter greens and starter plants and for solar heating the main house.  (Deborah has offered numerous lectures on greenhouse construction).

Our approach for decades has been to co-create a farm lifestyle for the apprentices and guests in which it is not endless work but rather a balance of work, time for one’s self and social activity.  The word “organic” to us indicates a balanced lifestyle and relationship to the land and other beings, as well as an honoring of the land.

See the website for a portrait of the farm as well as a trailer of the documentary film made about us.