Internships

Click here for a PDF of the Internship Description.

Mustard Seed Community Farm is seeking skilled and enthusiastic individuals to fill Agroecology Intern positions for the 2025 growing season. Do you ever wonder what life is like on an organic vegetable farm? Do you yearn to make an impact on local food justice? Our farm would be an excellent place for you to contribute to food justice, land stewardship and community building missions while learning valuable skills.

Farm Overview
Located near Ames, Iowa, Mustard Seed Community Farm is an evolving, 11-acre, volunteer-based farm dedicated to ethical food production/distribution, ecological land use and community. Using organic and sustainable methods, we grow a diverse variety of vegetables and fruits for local food donation venues, workers, and paying members. The farm raises chickens, sheep and bees in addition to practicing prairie and savannah reconstruction. Land stewardship activities include prairie restoration, crop rotation, minimal tillage, cover cropping, and permaculture and regenerative farming inspired practices. We promote community interaction by sponsoring regular public potluck discussions and a variety of classes and workshops, as well as participating in other community events and groups.

Our farm is a part of the Catholic Worker movement, which is an interfaith, inclusive, social justice movement. We welcome persons of all backgrounds, spiritual beliefs, genders and sexualities.

Job Description and Responsibilities
The Agroecology Intern position at Mustard Seed Community Farm is multifaceted. Farm work includes 30 hrs/week of physical labor, daily planning, group cooperation and leading volunteers. Interns contribute a vital role in the life of the farm, including: meal preparation, daily chores and collaboration with the farm team through consensus decision-making.

Qualifications

• An interest in food sovereignty-based agriculture and social justice
• An ability to work with people of diverse backgrounds
• An acceptance of the challenge of simple living conditions including:
  Limited access to hot running water, electricity, and internet
  Heat and humidity
  Physical horticultural labor inc. weeding, mulching, hoeing, etc.
In addition to these basic qualifications, we are seeking applicants with agricultural and communications skills, such as:
• Annual/perennial horticultural skills and knowledge
• Farm systems management experience
• Community outreach/education/communication
• Basic fluency in Spanish

We encourage you to apply if you don’t meet all the qualifications but have a strong desire to intern with us.

Opportunities

Interns will obtain valuable horticultural knowledge through hands-on activities and gain leadership experience working alongside, training and managing volunteers from the local community.

Agroecology interns will have the opportunity to contribute to unique projects based on their own skills and interests. Want research experience? Help us manage our on-farm research alongside other farms in replicated, controlled experiments in collaboration with the Practical Farmers of Iowa. Make observations, collect, and analyze data. Want teaching experience? Teach youth and adults in summer classes at the farm. Want design, art, or writing experience? Focus on our newspaper, CSA newsletters, or web presence. Or, focus on another aspect of the farm, like prairie or fruit production.

Our Interns will gain invaluable interpersonal community experience and practical living skills. In addition, Interns can choose learning opportunities to pursue, such as:

• Practicing regenerative agriculture, permaculture design, prairie reconstruction or fruit production
• Practicing carpentry, seed saving, natural dye, or food preservation
• Gaining research experience in replicated, controlled experiments in collaboration with the Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Teaching youth and adults in summer classes at the farm
• Writing for our newspaper, CSA newsletters, website or social media



Other Details

• Simple room and board are provided on our farm. Interns will also have the opportunity to be paired with a host home they can visit for socializing, laundry, and access to internet/air conditioning/etc. If you live locally and would prefer to commute to the farm, let us know.
• Although the internship is unpaid, the farm can connect interns with partner organizations that provide a stipend.
• Free time can be spent in personally chosen activities at the
  farm, meeting with host families, connecting with other
  area groups/opportunities and exploring the surrounding area. Plenty of learning, working, and fun are close at hand as an intern at our rural Iowa location.

Apply Today! Send a cover letter with your personal goals for the internship, resume, and 2 references to mustardseedbee@gmail.com and outreach.mustardseed@gmail.com or apply in the Handshake system, if applicable. Applications will be considered in the order received, with a final deadline of March 15, 2024.
Internships can occur between May 1, and October 15, with a minimum length of 8 weeks. Typical undergraduate internships are 10-12 weeks.



Questions? Feel free to reach out to us! We’d love to hear from you:mustardseedbee@gmail.com | 978.471.8414 | https://mustardseedfarm.org/