Thank you for your interest in our internship program. Please read through this overview, then fill out the intern application and return it as soon as possible. The more information you can give us the better we can assure a workable and enjoyable situation here on the farm. This internship is for people who are planning to become market farmers, have begun educating themselves on market farming, perhaps have prior farming experience and want to further their hands-on learning experience.

Whistling Duck Farm is a small-scale family farm and since 1992 we have developed a business and farming system that financially sustains us without outside income and provides us with a very rewarding right-livelihood. Interns and grower's assistants that wish to participate in this sort of farming and/or accomplish this for themselves in the future will fit in best here.
2006 will mark our third season on our new property, which means we'll not only be farming but also continuing to set up a completely new farm system using the knowledge we've gained over the past 14 years. This year we are also renovating a barn and building a strawbale home. And just to make things more interesting, we're also expecting our second child in July. While this means there will be lots of interesting things going on, with excellent opportunity for participating and learning, it also means there will be lots going on, so self-directed individuals that can handle a bit of chaos, take direction and follow through without full supervision and can go with the flow will have a better experience.

Due to the full schedule we've created for ourselves this season, we are focusing this year on working with grower's assistants rather than interns. What this means is that we will show preference to folks with some level of experience and enough knowledge of farming to feel confident of their desire and ability to work productively on our farm for a season. We likely will not provide as much learning experiences as an entry-level intern may be looking for and will be focusing instead on placing workers at tasks they are best suited for for the overall productivity of the farm.

We will not be able to provide on-farm housing for workers this season but there are many opportunities for housing in the area. Interns will start at a monthly stipend of $800 and grower's assistants will receive $8.50 per hour. We do not provide meals but all workers are welcome to on-farm produce.

We will be farming 10 of our 22 acres this season, growing just about every vegetable that will grow on our site that our customers like, while continuing the planning and development of our new property. We work our farm with two tractors for field preps and an AC-G for cultivation, both of which we run on biodiesel; additionally we will be converting a second AC-G to electric, have two walking tractors and use assorted hand tools when necessary.

As our farm is so diverse, we have a great opportunity to provide interns and grower's assistants with a wide range of knowledge and hands-on experience in many aspects of small-scale farming. The following list points out a few of them.

• planning, growing and harvesting over 50 different crops
• bench and in-ground greenhouse culture
• organizing and running a CSA, though not in 2006
• marketing to stores and restaurants
• doing growers markets and farm store
• farm systems design and implementation, ie. irrigation,
• field layout, harvest and packout facilities
• long-term permacultural land and crop development
• long-term land and crop development
• infrastucture and building projects.

How Interns and Grower's Assistants Fit In At The Farm

Everyone's main task here is to be present, pay attention, be alert and observant, follow instructions, think, provide feedback and ideas, develop the ability to anticipate what needs to be done, oversee tasks and workers when needed and be productive. Through doing these things we all learn more about farming and contribute to a successful season. A passionate, enthusiastic attitude towards farming and life in general is also vitally important. The days can be long and hard, and a good attitude is sometimes the key that will get you, and the rest of us, through.Duties that may be required include the following: greenhouse work, namely making soilblocks, seeding, maintenance, watering; making compost; field work, including bed prep, tilling, seeding, transplanting, weeding, thinning, fertilizing, irrigation, pest control and cover cropping; harvesting, prep, packout and cleanup; marketing, including filling orders, preparing for deliveries and participating in grower's markets; record-keeping and maintaining the daily log; and observing and analyzing what is happening in the fields to provide useful feedback.

Our main-season schedule is roughly as follows:

• Sunday - a day off for some; half-workday devoted to harvest; farm store open
• Tuesday - field work; deliveries; grower's market
• Monday - harvest and packout
• Wednesday - field work; farm store open
• Thursday - harvest and packout
• Friday - field work; deliveries; harvest
• Saturday - field work; farm store open in peak season; possibly a day off.

Work days vary in starting/stopping times and number of hours, depending on weather, season, and tasks. Work weeks average 40-50 hours during the main season. We do hire both full time and part time workers throughout the season.

Some Thoughts On What It Takes To Be A Successful Intern Here

Through the seasons of working with others here we've thought a lot about what we feel is needed for this to be a positive experience for all. What follows are some of our conclusions.

The most important thing to realise is that we are a working farm, a for-profit business, and as such everyone here must participate in an efficient and effective way. That means we do tasks as quickly as possible, and maintain focus during work hours. We must meet an economic bottom line in the hours, days and season on the farm. This is a complete necessity for us and anyone hoping to run their own farm profitably, and for us to require anything less would be a disservice to all of us. Working hard or long hours is not enough; we all must work well, or frustration will set in as the work doesn't get done in a timely manner and crops we've all worked so hard on get tilled in instead of harvested. Another aspect of maintaining productivity is that everyone must be open to critique to improve their work and ensure an optimal product for our customers and must also be willing to take direction from anyone we place in a managerial position - this is a complex operation and we may not always be the ones overseeing a project or task.

This isn't the sort of farm where one can dreamily commune with nature. We all have to stay grounded and focused and work together as a team to get the work done and keep inspired about the awesome experience of growing great food with sunshine, water and delicious soil because that's what makes a farm succeed.

While previous farm experience is not required, rudimentary knowledge of organic growing, ie. compost, tools, soil fertility, basic pests and etc. is useful. Additionally, sufficient reality-based knowledge of farming to feel confident of your ability to be happy and productive throughout the season here is essential. Wanting to do this for emotional or intellectual reasons is usually not enough by the time mid-season hits.

Workers must be in good physical health. The reasons for this are obvious; it's hard work here, requiring not so much massive strength but stamina, body awareness and good muscle tone in order to prevent injury. Of course no one is ever asked to perform tasks beyond their capabilities; risking injury is just not worth it. We believe strongly that while everyone should learn as many skills as possible, we each should focus on the tasks to which we are best suited and have the greatest affinity. Please don't omit telling us about a previous injury or condition. It just increases the risk of our assigning you to something you're unsuited for, increases the risk of further injury, and we will find out about it pretty quickly anyways.

Workers must be in good emotional health. There are many reasons for this. It's hard work here, and that means long days and a lot of brain work. It's awfully hard to focus to the degree necessary if there are other major issues vying for your attention. While it may sound like this could be just the place to get away from problems, the reality is there are a lot of solitary hours here and problems often become more overwhelming, not less. The nature of this work also attracts people who are deep thinkers and very concerned about the state of this planet, our society, etc. While it's important to confront these issues, it is of equal importance here on this farm to maintain a sense of humor and optimism and not get overwhelmed and angry. We all work very closely here and depression, anger and non-communicativeness spread like wildfire. We have too much to do and too much at stake here to be bogged down in such situations.

In order for everyone to be at their best in every way while they're here, we cannot allow any drugs or alcohol on the property, nor can we tolerate anyone showing up for a day's work under any influence but that of a good meal, beautiful surroundings and good conversation (and perhaps a cup of coffee!) It's counterproductive, frustrating for us and we don't have the time. Tobacco is also prohibited as we grow a lot of nightshades that are susceptible to tobacco mosaic virus.

In Conclusion . . .

To complete the picture of our farm, we need to state clearly that while we all work closely here, this is not a commune. Basically, we make the land payments, buy the irrigation pipe and have devoted a big part of our lives to this. While we really value input and feedback from our interns and anyone else who happens by - we're quite aware that all the good ideas don't spring from our amazing brains - the bottom line is we make the decisions. Additionally, while many others join us on our farm throughout the season, we also must have our own time and space or we'll go nuts.

Before closing, we'd just like to share a little about ourselves. Committing to working together this closely with people you don't know can be a leap of faith, so we'd like to tell you a bit about our personalities, beliefs, oddities and etc. to guide you in your decision. We're not telling you these things because we require everyone here to be like us; rather to help you decide if you feel you could work with us in a friendly, productive, non-judgmental atmosphere and be able to respect us as your teachers and bosses.

So what's life like with us, on a day-to-day basis? We are not highly regimented by nature, which is one reason we enjoy working for ourselves. We are structured when required and try to be flexible when circumstances allow. We're equal partners in the management, planning and running of the farm; however, Vince is more in charge of field work, supervision and ongoing projects, and Mary is more in charge of organizational and office tasks such as marketing, record keeping, running the greenhouses, setting up harvest days and planting schedules and writing stuff like CSA newsletters and this website. (I probably talk more too, although Vince tells lots of stories.) And then there's the one who really sets the schedule - our daughter Zosha, born on Christmas 2001. She's the best thing in our lives and the most important; a joy to be with and a real catalyst for productive work - we have to get more done in less hours since she came along. Can't wait for the next one!

We have a rather irreverant view of the world and are prone to dark humor and a bit of sarcasm. We enjoy reading, conversation, cooking, eating great food, watching strange foreign films (well, we haven't done that since Zosha was born...) and enjoying our kiddo. And coming up with new ideas. In a nutshell, we're seriously addicted to providing for ourselves physically, spiritually and financially by working with our land in the most ecological way we can. We are not religious; we choose not to rely on one dogma or guru but instead seek wisdom and guidance from many sources in our quest to learn and evolve.

We try to live with our beliefs as honestly as possible in a less than perfect world. We've kept animals on our farm and feel it necessary to kill animals on occasion, and we eat meat, eggs and dairy. We have killed pest rodents and feed the soil with them. We smoosh lots of insects when they're eating our crops. We use lots of plastic bags at market. And we consciously work to not be a part of the TV-addicted, over-medicated, fear-based, undernourished and over-consuming side of American culture.

As for our personal stats, Vince is from New York, also lived in Texas and worked primarily as a carpenter before becoming a farmer, his lifelong goal. Mary is from Chicago and Arizona, and has lived in L. A., Arkansas and Texas pursuing a career in toy design, taking a break in the middle to travel for a year overseas. The common state here is Texas and that's where we met, while starting up a community garden for the North Texas Greens in Dallas. Our journey landed us here in Southern Oregon where we've been amazingly fortunate to find this beautiful farm and a wealth of good friends and neighbors. Our family completes the picture: Zosha, the most amazing being we've had the privilege to know, and come July, another miraculous little person to love and learn from. We've been farming and earning our living with the land we inhabit for many years and loving every minute of it, even when it makes us crazy. And that's us.

If you feel this internship is something you'd like to pursue, please fill out the application and get it back to us soon. We'd very much like the opportunity to consider you before we line up interns for the year! Once we review your application we will contact you to talk via phone and set up an on-farm interview and visit. Thanks again for your interest!

Mary and Vince Alionis