Farm and Prayer Room Internship in Virginia

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Smoke In Chimneys Farm and Prayer Room Internship in Virginia 2019

Please look at our website at www.smokeinchimneys.com before applying to better understand what we are doing here at Smoke In Chimneys, and more specifically, to understand what we believe about God. 

We are a young family of three looking for someone(s) who wants to learn and grow spiritually and in farming, and who will become a part of the Smoke In Chimneys community throughout the season they are here. We are looking for intern(s) who will share in our vision for creating a space where people in our community can encounter God through time in the prayer room, nature, and clean food. 

The Prayer Room is central to our farm of 300 acres and will be open for sunrise and sunset worship and prayer. We have a small herd of Wagyu/Angus beef cows, a few raw dairy milk cows, chickens, trout, and pigs. We also have a small orchard in which we focus on the peach trees. We have 40 raised beds as our garden that will be used to grow food for five Farm Dinners throughout the growing season. All of our animals are rotationally grazed. Our garden, as well as our orchard, are in the process of becoming Certified Organic.

Your time here would be focused on farming and time in the prayer room. Additionally, growing and ministering through intercession, blessing, and praying with the Holy Spirit while also cultivating a deeper intimacy with God through silence, contemplation, scripture, and other readings. This will run alongside learning and working on the farm with us. The farming portion of the farm and prayer room internship will include learning soil management, rotational grazing all animals on the farm, milking, seeding, transplanting, garden management, learning to work with large animals, farm animal health, business skills for direct farm sales/ farm dinners, planning and orchestrating a farm dinner, bread making, raw butter/yogurt/cheese making, and basic butchering. We will also attend education based trips to other large and small farms in the area both nonconventional and conventional. We have been farm interns before, and understand the need for a strong emphasis on education and experience while you are here. 

In addition to active time in the prayer room and farming, we will all work through spiritual and farming assigned readings. The intern(s) will also be given an opportunity to develop his/her own farm project with what we can provide here on the farm in addition to their own personal funds. 

As part of the farm and prayer room internship we will provide you with food and housing. As intern(s), you will also have your own kitchen and composting toilet separate from your housing, but will share a shower/indoor bathroom with our family. We also have lots of extracurricular activities on our farm for days off (ponds, fishing, hunting, trails, dirt bike, fire pits, our small library of books both spiritual and farming oriented, and a river that borders the property). The small town of Rocky Mount is 15 min away and the city of Roanoke 35 minutes away. 

Farm and Prayer Room Internship Details:

Full-Time – 45hrs a week
Seasonal – March 1st – October 1st
Schedule – Monday-Friday, some Saturdays, includes 2-day weekends
Compensation – Housing, food, and $250 a month

Desired Abilities and Skills:
Humble and teachable 
Flexible
Desire to learn spiritually as well as physically
Openness to the Holy Spirit
Positive attitude, fun 
Hard working and motivated
Ability to lift up to 50 lb.
Ability to work outside in all weather conditions, for long periods of time
Willingness to fully commit to the farm for the season
Ability to live well in community with other people
Shows care for people, animals, and property

Farm and Prayer Room Internship Weekly Schedule:
Day and a half off a week 
8 hours a day for 5 days and 5 hours on the half day 
Monday 7-4 with hour lunch break [8hr day]
Tuesday 6-8AM (Prayer/Meditation), (8-9 breakfast), 9-1(Work), 6-8 PM (Prayer/Meditation)  [4hr day]
Wednesday 7-4 with hour lunch break [8hr day]
Thursday 6-8AM (Prayer/Meditation) (8-9 breakfast), 9-1, 6-8PM (Prayer/Meditation)  [4hr day]
Friday 7-4 [8hr day]
Saturday 7-12 [5hr day]
Days for Farm Dinner (5 dinners) – Approximately 14 hour day
Days off – Sunday and half of Saturday 
(Times subject to change with sunrise and sunset) 
Assigned reading/ personal projects done during time off 

To apply for the farm and prayer room internship, please send us three of your most recent references from folks who know you and would give you a great recommendation to smokeinchimneys@gmail.com. Please include the specific dates that you worked or interned for those references and a brief description of what that work was or how you know that person. And please answer the following application questions:

Tell me about your spiritual journey thus far, both ups and downs.

Why are you interested in farming/growing food?

What do you hope you gain from being here at Smoke in Chimneys?

What are your long term goals, dreams or desires both spiritually and in farming?

Tell me about your most important accomplishments.

Talk about an embarrassing moment or a big failure.

How did you handle that embarrassment or failure?

What is your greatest weakness?

What is your greatest strength?

What is the hardest you’ve ever worked on something in your life?

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

What kinds of hours do you generally work?

How would you describe your personality? 

What do you do that others in your personal life might find annoying?

What kind of people annoy you the most, and how do you deal with them? 

Would your colleagues say that you are a team player?

 

• Learn more about farming and food jobs and internships, or learn how to post a job, internship, or apprenticeship opportunity on beginningfarmers.org by going to https://www.beginningfarmers.org/internship-and-employment-opportunities/