Internships, Apprenticeships and Work-trade

Although not required, pursuing a residential internship, apprenticeship or work-trade in the course of your Gaia University action learning journey can be an excellent strategy for associates with broad exploratory visions, as well as those with more focused and ‘strategic’ project scopes.

Fully immersing yourself in hands-on learning within the existing support and project structure of a residential work trade can be a powerful way to access intensive learning and skill-flex development while also receiving some material support, generally in the form of food and lodging.

Several of our partner associations offer internships, apprenticeships or work trade, either directly or through an affiliated organization:

• Gaia Southeast offers natural building, community food-shed and Transition apprenticeships through its primary host venue, The Farm Community, in Summerville, TN
• Gaia Northeast offers ecological design internships through Appleseed Permaculture in the Hudson Valley, NY
• Gaia RDI offers residential permaculture work trade and internships at its demonstration site, The Regenerative Design Institute, in Bolinas, CA
• Gaia Island offers farming, educational program development and kitchen apprenticeships and internships through its host venue, the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute (VISFI) on the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands

At times we receive notifications of internships and apprenticeships which we post in a specific forum on our eLearning site.
There are countless residential work trade opportunities available around the world that provide similar opportunities for deep immersion into areas and projects of interest. Here are a few resources to help get you started:

• National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service US Internships and Apprenticeships Listing
• World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms
• Permaculture International Limited Global Permaculture Projects Listing
• Global Ecovillage Network