23 yr old Male looking for Farm Opportunity

Hi there,

First off, thank you for your interest.

I'm just a guy trying to change his stars.

WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR: FARMERS WILLING TO HELP ME LEARN
I am currently looking for a permaculture farm who would be willing to house and pay me in exchange for back breaking labor on their farm. I'm not asking for much but just enough to save up a little money to fuel some adventures. If you can't pay me but know of any local opportunities I would do that as well. I won't rule you out if you can't offer a stipend.

WHEN?: ASAP AFTER DECEMBER 19, 2016. I understand I will have to go south because of the time. Unless you have a lot of building to do, in which case I will gladly help.

ABOUT ME: INTELLIGENT & EAGER TO LEARN & VEGAN
I studied Civil and Architectural Engineering at the Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology. Mouth Full I know. I was on my way to becoming a Project Manager at a construction company and after some first hand experience I decided that life was no longer for me -- building crappy buildings for the sake of making money does not appeal to me. I have a dream of owning my own permaculture farm while living in an Earthship home. 100% self sustaining, self sufficient and capable of feeding my community. Perhaps I can gather years of experience to play a consulting role someday, enlightening others to this way of life. I dream of traveling to under-developed countries helping and teaching how to cultivate the land better and more environmentally friendly. But here's the kicker, I have no experience on a permaculture farm. I am studying up on permaculture as much as I can though! I am looking for someone brave enough to offer me that first opportunity and I promise you, I will not disappoint you. I can't think of any better way to learn than dive head first into permaculture farming. I'm a self-motivated, hard working individual willing to put in the hard work to gain your respect and trust. I absolutely love animals and am very good with them. I have made the switch to veganism but I'm not trying to get in everyone's face telling them to switch. If your farm has dairy cows or chickens or whatever it may be I will still take the opportunity so long as I'm not involved in their exploitation or slaughter. If I have to gather eggs so be it, I won't complain. I don't drink, I'm no drug addict.
I am determined to see this dream become a reality. I want to create a better life for my myself and my future family.
I would be willing to go anywhere in the world as long as the opportunity presents itself.

If you are interested please message me. I would be willing to answer any of your questions or concerns. Let's get to know each other so we can make sure it's a good fit. I would love both parties to mutually benefit from each others help.

Email: rjfallon23@gmail.com

There are not that many production farms that use permaculture practices, but to varying degrees most smaller organic farms will be on the spectrum.

There are hundreds of internships and apprenticeships out there and right now is the time to be looking. I would strongly advise taking a road trip and visiting more than one. Some places you are little more than cheap labor while others really make an effort to teach and provide a good experience.

Here are some directories to get you started:

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/internships/
http://jobs.orionmagazine.org/
http://www.beginningfarmers.org/
sustainableaged.org/resources/job-listings/
http://www.backdoorjobs.com/farming.html


One quibble with your post because I just can't let it slide: "I dream of traveling to under-developed countries helping and teaching how to cultivate the land better". What makes you think they won't be the ones teaching you? Or that they need your "help"?

Eric Bee wrote:One quibble with your post because I just can't let it slide: "I dream of traveling to under-developed countries helping and teaching how to cultivate the land better". What makes you think they won't be the ones teaching you? Or that they need your "help"?

Or that they should be cultivating the land, rather than cultivating perennial systems.

Thank you so much for the links! I appreciate the feedback and heads up. You're absolutely right, I'll be doing the learning for quite some time. I wasn't clear really, I would like to be able to help revive soils in places that have either poor soil or have stripped the land of all the nutrients from unsustainable practices. I would love to be the guy to show them what I've learned from the journey I'm about to embark on. Obviously that won't be for quite some time until I gather the necessary experience.

I'm a rook here, forgive me for the assumptions, but that's why I'm here - to learn

Some notes:

I believe all young people, particularly in the USA, need to travel and preferably work in another country. At your age that will be life-changing and I won't mince words: make you a better person. If you have a keen desire to see the world and participate in helping former colonies recover from centuries of exploitation (I refuse to say "developing" world... what bunk) then this is imperative. You likely have no idea what you don't know... it's a huge world out there and believe it or not the American perspective is just one tiny slice of that.

So maybe consider WWOOFing. If you have enough funds to travel it's probably one of the best ways to get to stay in places long enough to develop some understanding of other cultures. If you want to do what you say, you have no choice but to travel.

https://wwoofusa.org/
http://wwoofinternational.org/

Also I was thinking about what you said about being vegan. If this is truly important to you there are so-called "veganic" farms, or at least attempts at that. You don't want to hear my opinion about that, but they do exist.

Finally, I wanted to say this: Many people say the things you said. Many people express a desire to get out and do this, to see the world, or whatever. Very few actually do it. They are bored and feel trapped and stuck in whatever town they are in. But it never happens... they feel they don't have enough money to travel or that they just need to do one more thing before they go. It's always "maybe some day" and the next thing you know there are kids and a house and a job they hate.

Don't be that person Bobby. If you truly want the world to be a better place then sell your stuff and/or put it in storage and just go. Because to make a better world all of us have a responsibility to develop an understanding of our place on this planet and that means understanding as much as you can of as many cultures, societies, and perspectives as you can.

That's a phenomenal description, "helping former colonies recover from centuries of exploitation". I will be using that from now on instead, paints a more appropriate picture. I've just started to look into WWOOFing, however I thought I would come here first because of the memberships fees that are attached to WWOOF. Each organization has their own fees like WWOOFUSA, WWOOFMEXICO etc. Just somewhat of a drag because as you can imagine, a person in my shoes does not have much money to throw around and most of small income right now is being directed towards creating passive income online.

Over the past year I have sold off or given away nearly all of possessions. The prized memories sit in a couple totes at my mothers house. I've slimmed down to a 22L backpack but I still have a few more things to get rid of before I leave. I don't want to be that guy who just talks about the change I want to see, I want to be apart of that change, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. I've been thinking about my plans very seriously as well as the sacrifices I will have to make in order to be the change I want to see and I'm ready. I'm prepared to spend my life pushing humanity and the world in a positive direction. I may not know exactly what that entails just yet, but I no longer want to sit by idly watching the world crumble.

Thank you for the tips, I sincerely appreciate them!

November 13, 2016 UPDATE
I have found a host farm and have discontinued my search however my current commitment is for 6 months which will end in June 2017. There is a possibility that I will stay longer but if you will be looking for someone around that time please do not hesitate to contact me. I will still be active on this forum so feel free to post here or email me. Email preferred.

Peace and love to all my fellow permies!

Hey I am also looking for an internship.. Was there a website that you were successful on and reccomend?  I've been looking but haven't been finding.

Bobby Fallon wrote:November 13, 2016 UPDATE
I have found a host farm and have discontinued my search however my current commitment is for 6 months which will end in June 2017. There is a possibility that I will stay longer but if you will be looking for someone around that time please do not hesitate to contact me. I will still be active on this forum so feel free to post here or email me. Email preferred.

Peace and love to all my fellow permies!

Lawrence-

We have permaculture/organic farm internships available in Loveland CO...

email alec@sunriseranch.org to learn more...
in nned of 2 folks focused on plants and focused on animals...

Thanks

I merged your stuff with the following thread. I hope that is okay by you.

https://www.workaway.info/ is the only another i know