Mano Farm Seeks An Intern/Apprentice for Late Summer & Early Autumn 2011
Mano Farm is a 1.3-acre plot of land operated by Justin Huhn and Quin Shakra in the Meiners Oaks neighborhood of Ojai, California. We grow annual vegetables, seed crops, and both medicinal and culinary herbs and sell them through our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, where individuals and families commit to supporting the farm on a seasonal basis in exchange for a weekly share of whatever the farm is growing.
We’re presently seeking an intern/apprentice to join us on the farm for stays of four to six weeks. The ideal candidate will have a serious interest in learning to practice small-scale, ecological farming. Prior experience is not required, but a passion for learning is essential. Our farming methodology emphasizes human labor and hand tools as primary energy inputs. The broad-fork/U-bar, wheel hoe, stirrup hoe/hula hoe, cobra head/hook weeder and Earthway direct seeder are critical tools that we use to cultivate a series of permanent beds that comprise the bulk of our farmland. We also have a 40-tree edible food forest, with many of the trees in their first year of growth. We aim to improve the overall health and fertility of the farm’s soil through the additions of compost, cover cropping, crop rotations, and amendments of our custom organic fertilizer blend.
Apprentices who stay with us will be involved in learning both the generalities and idiosyncrasies of bed cultivation and planting, harvesting (we pick vegetables for our CSA every Sunday, and for local restaurants and grocery stores sporadically throughout the week), weeding, irrigation setup and maintenance, trapping (we have persistent gopher and ground squirrel predation on our crops), and last but not least, seed saving. This summer (2011) we have made the first gestures toward beginning a seed business — All Good Things Organic Seeds — that will sell the farm’s open-pollinated seed crops. We’ve also been doing a lot of food preservation (canning, lacto-fermentation, et al.) with the surplus food that comes from our fields, so there is the potential to learn about that as well. This autumn (2011) we will be preparing about a third of our field to plant allium crops — garlic, onions, and leeks.
We have the greatest need for an apprentice for the month of October, although are also accepting applications for late August and September. For living accommodations we can offer a tent/tent space (the weather will still be quite nice during this period of time), access to our communal yurt, bathroom / shower, and outdoor kitchen. For food, we offer daily meals composed of bulk organic grains, legumes, oils, and the farm’s fresh vegetables (whatever is in season or storage!). We largely eat a vegetarian/vegan diet, but this choice is not ideologically driven. For instance, we eat chicken that comes a small-scale chicken operation on the front of our land and have diary to bolster our nutrition.
Only one of us has a truck, but there are bikes around, and most of Ojai (including a local grocery store and café) is accessible via bicycle.
A willingness to integrate into our work rhythms and the exigencies of farm life are absolutely essential for participation on the land. Other skills that are crucially important for having a healthy and successful experience here are: 1) focus 2) self-motivation, 3) the willingness to take initiative to take on new tasks, 4) the ability to work both independently and in groups, and lastly, 5) a willingness to be flexible. Our farming doesn’t operate on a set amount of “work hours”; it is woven intimately into how we live our lives and determined by the environment around us (day length, temperature, etc.). We need folks who are readily able to adapt to these fluctuations and plug into new projects as necessary.
With that said, we are not martinets and are well aware of the physically and sometimes emotionally draining aspects of what we’re doing. We strongly value leisure time as well as personal solitude and showing care for others. We understand these to be vitally integral to our farming practice. We each take days off every week, and strongly believe in supporting the personal health and well being of each other. Cooking is an important facet of this. We share a lot of meals together, and regularly express awe at the flavors and nutrition that exists in our lives.
If you are interested in joining us, please email manofarmers@gmail.com and offer a brief statement of interest (this can also include biographical information), along with a list of any unique skills and specific desires you have for your time on our farm.
Thanks so much for your interest!
-Quin and Justin