Intern program at Mulloon Creek Natural Farms

Spring 2012 program - applications close May 25th, 2012

Spring 2012 Intern Program (805 KB)

Our intern program is centred around learning by doing. Here at Mulloon Creek Natural Farms there’s a great mix of both the established bread and butter commercial operations, as well as a lot of innovative development that’s taking place over the coming years within our ecological agricultural practices. If you’re interested in the large-scale design and implementation side of landscape health within a productive farm environment, this opportunity will suit you well.

The intern programme is five days per week, 8 hours per day. Four days each week are focused on farm development, including the tree and hydration systems with Cam Wilson, assisting Ed Rous with the cattle and Clive Wiley with the chooks. The fifth day each week will be spent on fun stuff, the things we wouldn’t normally get to, which might include erosion gully repair, forest health restoration, rendering strawbale buildings, creating reedbed filtration systems, increasing fish habitat, small-scale food forests, ponds and edible gardens around the farm homes and plenty more. We also visit the properties of some of the pioneers of the region in exchange for a bit of work we get an intimate tour around the place.

While participating in the Intern Program we will provide you with:

• Comfortable accommodation in a wood-fired house just over the hill from the Home Farm
• A vehicle for commuting back and forth from work
• All of your food needs

Initial intern placements are for 3 months, but there are opportunities for more long-term positions where the right capabilities and attitude are demonstrated.

Projects for late-Winter and Spring include:

• Assisting the commercial animal operations including the daily chores and rotational grazing management of our cattle and hens.
• Assisting the management of the pastured pig breeding operation, the muscovy duck breeders and growers and meat goats for blackberry control.
• Preparation and planting of paddock-scale tree systems for chook shelter and forage.
• Ground-prep, direct seeding and propagation by cuttings of fodder stands including oak and poplar
• Ongoing management of the existing tree systems
• Yeomans ploughing in the tableland country
• Nursery propagation
• Implementation of both machine contructed and human-scale solutions for erosion gully rehabilitation
• Maintenance of Peter Andrews’ Natural Sequence Farming demonstration
• Monitoring of pasture diversity
• Assisting with research programmes conducted through the Australian National University (ANU), including Pasture cropping and Keyline ploughing
• Thinning programme in the dry schlerophyl forest for wood products and understorey regeneration, based on research conducted on the farm by the ANU

You’ll also become a member of our community and help out with the communal veggie garden, milking the dairy cow and butchering chicken, pork, lamb and venison (the last one’s optional).

A word from Cam, our Intern Program Co-ordinator:

To be honest, while you’re here, you’re going to do a lot of hard work. To me, that’s a huge part of the regeneration of our landscape. But I can assure you, that work will be satisfying and interesting and I’ll be making sure you learn plenty in the process. I’ve spent lots of time around Permaculture education in years gone by, particularly the practical aspects, and I always like to make sure that everyone is getting a fair deal and getting plenty of learning as part of the experience.

“It’s felt more like free education than free labour” Adam MacLean, Spring 2011 Intern.

“In 2 years of volunteering, this is the first place we've been that's actually wanted us to learn” Julianne Kellog, Autumn 2012 Intern.

To download a copy of our intern application form click on the item below

Spring 2012 Intern Program (805 KB)

Fees and provisions

Whilst we don’t charge a fee for the internship at Mulloon Creek, we do require an upfront contribution of $1600 that is then repaid to you at the end of the program. This is in recognition of our efforts in training you during the early part of the program balanced against the value you will return to us in your labours during the latter part of the program. The contribution is also a bond for the personal set of tools you’ll be responsible for while you’re here.

Starting date: August 12, 2012

Applications close: May 25th, 2012