Internship

Interact with living history through farming! Feed the People Farms is now accepting internship applications for the 2020 season!

What to Expect

Internships last fo 12 weeks, with a minimum attendance requirement of 16 hours a week.
Internships are designed as an introductory course that focus on a single area of the farm. The skills and knowledge imparted during the internship program centers around folk-ways and sustainable methods. Applying interns can choose between vegetable production, pastured poultry, and grain trials. Please read the Hold Harmless Agreement at the end of this page.

Vegetable Production

Crops can include radish, collards, lettuce, arugula, various greens, tomatoes, peppers, okra, corn, watermelon, garlic, onions beans, sweet potatoes, spinach, beets, turnips, peas, carrots, squash, and wild foods such as dandelions, violet, pokeweed, lamb’s quarters, greenbriar, dock, plantain, and others.

We will learn traditional ways of raising and foraging for all of these crops as well as certain appropriate technology that creates a more sustainable operation. Skills and knowledge shared include natural soil fertilization, cultivation, sowing/seeding, transplanting, mulching, thinning, pest and disease control, harvest, washing, and packing.

Pastured Poultry

Our pastures are currently managed for poultry and hay.

Skills and knowledge shared include natural soil fertilization, pasture plant and animal species composition, hay-making, rotational grazing, egg production, animal shelter building and maintenance, fence maintenance, egg incubation, chick brooding, heritage breeds, anatomy, harvest, and packing.

Grain Trials

We are currently conducting trials to develop more regenerative ways of growing grains. The focus is on grains that have a tradition in the South, using existing folkways and heirloom varieties. Crops can include corn, rice, sorghum, buckwheat, wheat, barley, rye, dry beans, field peas, and winter squash.

Trials are designed after traditional companion planting of corn or sorghum, beans, and squash of Cherokee customs, and a Japanese custom revived by Masanobu Fukuoka of growing rice, buckwheat, wheat, barley, or rye with white clover, crimson clover, or vetch. Skills and knowledge shared include natural soil fertilization, heirloom varieties, seed sowing, raking, crib building, scarecrow making, scythe and sickle work, corn knife work, threshing, winnowing, storing grain, milling, and integrated enterprises.

  1. Internships are intended as introductory educational programs. Internship is not employment.
  2. Internships last 12 weeks; and require a minimum of 16 hours per week commitment.
  3. Internships are not paid.
  4. Interns must secure their own transportation to and from the farm.
  5. Due to our union shop agreement, internship applications will be reviewed by the General Executive Board (GEB) of the Industrial Workers of the World North American Regional Administration. The GEB oversees all IWW co-ops and sole proprietor businesses to ensure non-exploitative practices are adhered to.

FTP Internship Application

Feed the People Farms Ltd. Co. Hold Harmless Agreement:

Feed the People Farms Ltd. Co. hours for volunteers and interns are solely for education and experience opportunities. All volunteers and interns are offering their time and ability of their own free will and accord, and fully understand the risks involved in agriculture and forest work, including, but not limited to, fatigue, soreness, exhaustion, dehydration, blisters and other skin abrasions, sunburn, insect and animal injuries, disease, hypothermia, hyperthermia, frost-bite, heat-exhaustion, heat-stroke, loss of limb, paralysis, and death. All volunteers and interns are free to take a break at any time. All volunteers and interns are free to leave at any time during the duration of volunteer and internship hours. All volunteers and interns retain the right to not perform any work they are not comfortable performing. By filing out the required information above and checking the box, I am indicating that I am applying of my own free will, under no duress; that I understand the risks associated with farm and forest work identified in the Hold Harmless Agreement; that I have read and understand the Hold Harmless Agreement; and that I hereby release Feed the People Farms Ltd. Co. and Shackleford LLC and any owners, members, or employees thereof from any liability, in part or in whole, for any accident, ill incident, injury, or loss of life occurring during Feed the People Farms Ltd. Co. volunteer and internship hours; and that I waive any right to criminal or civil suit against Feed the People Farms Ltd. Co. or any of its owners, members, or employees.