sequatchie valley institute

The Internship Program at Sequatchie Valley Institute

Mentored Educational Internships at Moonshadow

• Self starters who are willing to take on projects and work independently, in a mentored educational program of intensive organic gardening and food preservation or building and construction may choose to intern at moonshadow, our learning center.
• Accommodations are in cabins and open shelters, with scheduled group meals. Daily activities include a morning meeting with group meal, gardening and groundskeeping, and afternoon meal.
• Recreational activities include arts & crafts, hiking, mountain biking, caving and climbing. We also make frequent trips to Chattanooga for shows and meetings.
• If you’re interested in becoming an Intern, or working in a Staff position with us, please tell us about yourself via the Intern Intention Form. To reply by e-mail, select and copy/paste the Intern Intention Form into the body of an e-mail type your answers below the questions and send the e-mail. Please call if you have any questions.

Community Living, Natural Building and Homesteading at Ulinawi

• For the 2010 season, those who are interested in a primitive, unstructured community living and homesteading experience can choose the ULINAWI PROJECT at an adjacent property (building, agriculture, food preservation, cooking and childcare). The project and the accommodations are at ulinawi, a nascent community next door to moonshadow. To take part in that project, please fill out the registration form at the ulinawi page… or contact Marissa Percoco via phone for more information — (678) 772-4616.

Staff Positions

We are looking for competent, self-motivated folks who are interested in taking on staff roles (office manager, head gardener) for an entire season.

• If you’re interested in working a Staff position with us, please tell us about yourself via the Intern Intention Form. To reply by e-mail, select and copy/paste the Intern Intention Form into the body of an e-mail type your answers below the questions and send the e-mail. Please call if you have any questions.

Lifestlyle

In addition to being an office and research center for SVI, Moonshadow functions as a home to several long-term residents. From March through October, we invite about five interns plus a few interns and visitors to join us. These numbers create a temporary intentional community, within which we all take roles. Interns should expect to take part in cooking, cleaning, and general community upkeep in addition to their research and learning.

Intern interests may vary from gardening and construction, video and media work, social and environmental activism, to office organization and non-profit development. It is important to understand that every internship is different. Much depends on the projects that are in progress as well as SVI’s schedule of events, conferences, and workshops at which interns will be expected to help. The internship program has attracted people from Brazil, Puerto Rico, Australia, Germany, Canada, and all around the United States.

Understand that when you choose to come to Moonshadow for any of the specific programs below, you will have the opportunity to be involved in the other programs as well. For example, office interns will be encouraged to spend time in the gardens and vice versa. For more information, please contact us!

Natural Building

Both the landscape and architecture of Moonshadow have been in constant development since 1971. Each step of development has been guided by a desire to develop a land ethic based on forest protection, sustainable agriculture, and artistic expression. All of the structures at Moonshadow are hand-crafted with materials found on-site in addition to salvaged materials collected in Chattanooga and the surrounding area.

For folks interested in the skills and technology of construction, there are a number of projects underway. Skills and knowledge to be gained include stone work, timber frame design and construction, building placement, passive solar design, insulation, roofing, and using alternative building materials.

Many of our new building projects are centered at Ulinawi, though there are minor maintenance and update projects at Moonshadow.

Edible Landscape and Gardens

Opportunities abound for those who wish to learn about permaculture and gain hands-on experience in the gardens, greenhouse, and orchard. It is best to be here the entire season, to participate in the whole process: from planting flats, to planting beds, watching things grow, weeding, harvesting, and preparing and preserving food. If you only plan to be here for a short time, expect to see a small part of the whole. Every day offers many learning experiences.

Moonshadow’s gardens include mature orchards and vineyard, and raised bed organic gardens. Ulinawi features milking goats, chickens and larger plowed and hand worked agricultural fields.

Ecology, Education, and Research

The forest, streams, soil, and gardens that surround Moonshadow offer a living laboratory of ecology. Interns have had the opportunity to work with experienced scientists and specialists on particular research projects. Our goal is to learn to combine traditional knowledge with appropriate scientific methods, to interact intelligently with the surroundings, and to minimize human impact on the forest ecosystem, Please let us know well in advance if you are interested in participating in a research project. We can arrange for you to receive college credit through your university.

MEDIA RIGHTS

Our major resource for outreach is MEDIA RIGHTS, which was created to bring under-reported news and information, along with thought-provoking art, to the public. MEDIA RIGHTS works with video, audio, print, and computer communications. Any media project would be encouraged. This can be seen as an opportunity for you to create an independent media project with the guidance of an experienced media-maker. (This project is currently under-staffed. Please talk with us if you’re interested. We may be able to work something out.)

Non-profit Organization

Interns are always needed to help with general office management, some computer work, fundraising, grant-writing, and non-profit development. Please let us know if you have any skills (or interest) in website design, computer layout, or digital video/audio editing. Short-term interns may not have the opportunity to get deeply involved with non-profit organization, but there’s always plenty of folding, stapling, and data entry to be done!

Internship Terms

Relationships between interns and residents are evaluated after 2 weeks to make sure everyone is satisfied with all arrangements. This allows for some flexibility in your commitment to us, and ours to you. All visitors and interns as well as residents are asked to provide money to the Community Fund, which covers food (vegan; all animal products are bought separately by those who want them.) and general living costs and is based on your length of stay:

• 6 months+ : $5 per day
• 3-6 mos : $6 per day
• 1-3 mos : $7 per day
• 2-4 wks : $8 per day
• less than 2 wks: $10 per day

In addition, we ask for $5 per month for high-speed internet access for those who use it due to the exorbitant cost.

As a community, everyone takes part in cooking, cleaning, and maintenance. Interns will also be asked to share in tour-guiding and cooking for meetings and conferences hosted by SVI. SVI and the Moonshadow community are run in an egalitarian, consensus-based manner.

Although long-term residents will ultimately have the final say in what goes on, everyone in the community has the ability to make change. There is no fixed hierarchical structure to our daily work. Interns need to be self-starters who are willing to take on and follow through with needed projects. The instruction is usually informal and most learning is from day to day immersion in the activity.

Housing & Items to Bring

There are a limited number of out buildings available for occupancy. Interns should bring bedding and a tent. Important items to bring include a headlamp flashlight (with rechargeable batteries) two pairs of shoes (indoor and outdoor), a pair of boots (we have snakes), a raincoat, hats, long pants and long-sleeved shirts. Please, no pets or livestock.

If you plan on doing office work or personal email, please bring a laptop computer if you have one (we a have community computer available, and wireless internet).

It is very important to remember to be prepared to deal with the seasonal weather. It gets hot in the summer and cool at night. The mosquitoes and midges can get pretty obnoxious, and we have our fair share of poison ivy, so bring insect repellent and some your favorite poison ivy salve.