Organic Nursery and Permaculture Internship in CA

Rolling River, an online organic plant nursery and permaculture homestead in Northern California is seeking interns for 2015. www.rollingrivernursery.com

Our homestead is a dynamic permaculture forest garden which Includes a wide diversity of temperate and subtropical fruit trees, bushes and vines as well as many medicinal and culinary herbs and flowers . We also care for 10-15 goats, 30 chickens, 10-20ducks, 5-10 turkeys, and Honey Bees. We own and operate www.rollingrivernursery.com an on-line container grown, Edible Landscape mail order plant nursery with a diversity of over 300 fruit trees shrubs and vines.  We have intensively planted about 2 acres to pomegranates apples pears persimmons, paw paws, peaches plums citrus, cherries, figs olives and jujubes, table (and a few wine) grapes, kiwis and berries, as well as perennial vegetables such as asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish, artichokes and a large homestead annual garden.

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Our location is paradisaical, a southwest facing slope right above the Klamath River. We use minimal tilling and make extensive use of perennial cover crops and rotational animal grazing throughout our orchard and gardens. Marc has been a homesteader, market farmer and orchardist for the last thirty years. He also has carpentry experience, knowledge of alternative building and solar power systems. Corrina has been farming and growing medicinal herbs and flowers for the past 15  years. Together we are working to create a loving, low input, productive and self-sustaining homestead that can also serve as a model for others. We have 3 children, 19 and 17, and 5. We are passionate about our family, homesteading and home schooling, the outdoors, simple sustainable living, plants, eating healthy and a TV free environment. In our leisure time we enjoy doing fun things with our kids, hiking in the mountains, making music, swimming in the river and working on craft projects. The spirit of the farm is one of hard work and good family fun. We eat a mostly vegetarian diet of fresh ground grains, legumes, goat dairy, eggs, and some meat (mostly raised at our farm) for protein

Our Edible Landscape Nursery produces about 7,000+ starts annually, which includes nut and fruit trees, shrubs, berries, citrus and other subtropical plants, and California Natives. We propagate through seeding, budding, grafting and cuttings and stool mounds. Interns will have the opportunity to learn a variety of propagation techniques and growing a diversity of plants with a focus on the edible landscape and natives. We market our plants through our website Rollingrivernursery.com.

Orleans is a small remote town located one and a half hour NE of Arcata, the nearest city on the coast. It is surrounded by National Forest Land including three wilderness areas, the Marble Mountains, Siskiyou and Trinities. This area is popular for hiking fishing, swimming and rafting. We also live amidst three Native American tribes, the Hoopa, the Yurok and Karuk. The local community is a mix of forest service personnel, Native Americans, old timers, artisans and organic farmers. The climate here is Mediterranean. We have rainy falls and winters, and hot dry summers.

As a work exchange you will have a chance to learn about; a very wide diversity of plants, different permaculture systems, Perennial plant care, pruning, seeding and germination techniques, intensive plantings, bed preparation, soil amendments, fertilization, cultivation, seed saving and harvesting, organic orchard management, organic disease and pest management, medicinal herbs, making tinctures, salves and teas, and poultry, goat and bee care and management systems. You will also have the opportunity to help us plant trees as part of our reforestation project. We also have different seasonal building projects.

A bulk of the work will be divided between the nursery and taking care of our trees and perennials as well as planting and maintaining the annual vegetable garden. The nursery work will be part propagation and a lot of potting on. We work Monday thru Thursday in all kinds of weather, cold and rainy and 95-100 degree heat.

We also provide a basic farming curriculum and have bimonthly discussion dinners on related and requested topics.  These have been very popular!

We are looking for high energy people who possess a positive attitude, sense of humor, who like kids, animals and working hard outdoors and who have the ability to listen, easily follow direction and clearly communicate. We find those who have a strong interest in sustainable living and homesteading and a love for propagating plants, get the most out of their intern experience.  On your days off you are also welcome to participate in farm activities, which might be of interest such as making cider, canning, extracting honey, and butchering livestock.

We ask for people to work 36 hours per week plus 3-4 days of animal chores and occasional care taking.  We provide 2 small cozy, wood heated cabins with kitchen and outdoor bathroom and shower, as well as eggs, milk and farm grown veggies, fruit and some staples. We have indoor and outdoor sleeping space.  We cover utilities and a small stipend of $100 per month.  Though a small town, there is potential for finding outside work.

We have four positions open which start January 2014 and go through mid December  2014. We have one opening starting February and another starting in April that also go through mid December.   We are open to shorter stays but give preference to people who can make 6 months to 1 year commitment.

If you are interested in an internship please email for an application at corrinaandmarc@rollingrivernursery.com.