ALM Organic Farm - Apprenticeships

http://www.almfarms.org/apprenticeships.html

Sooke, BC
1-250-642-3671
1-250-642-2131
alm@islandnet.com

What you will get from an apprenticeship at our farm?

Apprentices learn how to grow, harvest, market and preserve vegetables, herbs, flowers and seeds. There are also a number of other tasks that we work on such as raising chickens for eggs and pigs for meat; natural building, baking bread, making beer, and preserving our fruit, herbs and vegetables.

Everybody goes on a walkabout each week to review all the work on the farm and then plan out our individual tasks for the week. Much of our work is done in groups of two or more. The farm gets many visitors for you to interact with.

Each month you will have three different opportunities to learn about organic farming at other farms:

• apprentice enrichment days - Once a month apprentices receive instruction in a major farming topic such as composting, record keeping, marketing, propagation, or seed saving, at one of the established farmers in our area. It is a chance for you to meet other aprpentices and farmers and see how other farms operate.
• Canadian Organic Growers - Vancouver Island Chapter meetings. These take place on the 3rd Thursday of the month at different farms. The meetings include a farm tour, discussion of a topic by the host farmer, and discussion of farm issues and event.
• Visiting days - Once a month we try to visit a farm, garden, or natural building project in the area that is of particular interest to individual apprentices on our farm.

Other formal training: Funds and time are set aside for you to attend workshops or conferences of your choice during the season. The farm has an excellent library and subscribes to various farming journals. You will be encouraged to write articles for local and national organic farming journals.

Retrieved from ALM Organic Farm website on 4/17/2010.