EarthDance Farm and Garden Apprenticeship Now Accepting Applications

Growing Food and Farmers at EarthDance

Do you daydream about the farming life? Does your love for heirloom tomatoes border on obsession? Are you secretly convinced that earthworms make the best pets?  Most important:

Are You Ready to Get Your Hands Dirty?

Then apply to join EarthDance’s 2014 Farm and Garden Apprenticeship!  The apprenticeship consists of hands-on training in farming and gardening techniques, weekly classes on topics such as soil stewardship, organic pest management, preserving the harvest, and more.  Additionally, apprentices make monthly visits to neighboring farms and gardens, to gain inspiration and network with agricultural professionals. Increased access to fresh produce is a benefit as well—apprentices take home a share of the harvest each week.  The program is a time commitment of 9.5 hours per week, and tuition for the program is $750.  Some full and partial scholarships are available.   Application instructions are available here.  Want to learn more about the program? Read more here.

Since 2009, EarthDance’s Apprenticeship Program has offered St. Louis area residents a means to gain hands-on experience in organic farming on a part-time basis at the historic Mueller Farm in Ferguson.  In 2012, EarthDance was able to purchase the Mueller Farm, and since then, we’ve been very busy developing The Seven Generations Garden, a place to learn the diverse techniques of organic gardening, and to inspire visitors to consider how they might adopt sustainable habits at home.

In 2014, in addition to plenty of experience working on the 2.3 acres of EarthDance’s primary production fields, the apprenticeship curriculum will include expansion and maintenance of The Seven Generations Garden.  Find out more about the garden here.

Potential apprentices are encouraged to visit the farm while the 2013 program is still in progress, through early November.  You are welcome to schedule a tour or a volunteer opportunity.  To set up a date, please contact Matt Lebon: volunteer [at] earthdancefarms [dot] org

For questions about the program, contact rachel [at] earthdancefarms [dot] org