Lulu's Garden

Farm Internship Program is Underway! 

 Join us for the 2013 growing season!

Lulu’s Garden has established a farm internship program.  Based on the experience I was honored to have with WWOOFers this past season, I see a new focus for Lulu’s developing as a teaching farm with education of the interns paid for by the restaurants, grocery stores and folks like you that buy our herbs.  

I have fallen in love with the energy and dynamic interaction of young farming apprentices. I adore sharing my love of growing, my business/marketing savvy and endless new ideas and ruminating with curious and like-minded folks.  I feel I learned as much from my WWOOFers as I taught them and our operation is better for having their excitement and energy present on the farm. 

Please help us to spread the word about our new program. Read on for more information on dates, commitment and exchange. The formal application is attached to this packet. I look forward to meeting my new student/mentors!

(For more information on the WWOOF World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms program visit www.wwoofusa.org)

Apprenticeship Application Deadline: April 20

 

Date Commitment:      Beginning April 23

Time Commitment:  Spring - April 23 – July 27 or

                                    Fall - August 3 – October 31

Weekday Option: Meet Tuesdays & Thursdays at noon for lunch/learn and work in the field/tunnel/greenhouse from 1 to 5 pm (flip to mornings in heat of summer).

Weekend Option: Meet every other Saturday at 8 am and work till noon, then break for one hour lunch/learn, back to work from 1 till 4 pm.

 

Stipend/Compensation/Tuition

Interns will receive a weekly share of produce and herbs that are available on the farm. Lulu provides lunch and we share in it’s making. As we provide the lunch, and share in it’s making to enjoy and converse over. We will also take a few farm tours of area farms during the course of the internship.

This equitable exchange means you don’t have to pay tuition, and you will not receive monetary compensation for your presence. However, I am requiring that all accepted interns pay a $150 deposit, which will be returned in full to you upon completion of the internship. This allows me to design a farm that relies on everyone, including you.  If you don’t complete the internship as committed, I can use your deposit money towards hiring someone to log extra hours and take your place to keep the farm running smoothly until we find and intern replacement.

This internship is an equitable exchange between farmer and interns. As your Farmer Mentor, I will share with you everything I know about running a farm and connect you with a vast network of resources and other on- and off-farm experts to fill in the gaps in my knowledge and provide support as you plan your own future endeavors. As an intern, you become an integral part of the farm’s functioning, with unique responsibilities and an opportunity to hone a variety of skills. Your responsibility is to make a steadfast commitment to the farm and season, showing up ready and willing to learn and to work.

The time commitment and set schedule are extremely important, however I understand that not all applicants may have flexiblility for these hours. I will consider another mutually beneficial time, if it works within a positive framework for the farm and other coworkers.

I do not wish to turn anyone away due to lack of funds, so if you truly cannot afford the deposit, please contact me and we’ll discuss alternative means. Otherwise, please view this deposit as a guarantee to yourself and your fellow interns that you will have an abundant and bountiful season, and you’ll get your money back at the end of it!

The Program

Hands on Activities

Apprentices learn about farming through daily participation in farm tasks and other hands-on activities.

raised bed and no-till growing techniques

direct seeding and transplanting

seed saving

harvesting

creative weed control

wild/native plant identification

bed preparation and natural inputs

organic pest control

direct marketing

compost making

biochar – stove making and field use

installation, maintenance & repairing irrigation 

biodegradable mulching 

trimming and maintaining perennials 

natural fertilization techniques

effective use of microorganisms 

seed germination & greenhouse work

solar dehydration 

water catchment

creative water solutions 

Harvesting- includes picking, packaging, labeling herbs sometimes delivery to restaurants & groceries. 

Additional projects - building additional raised beds, building & maintenance of high tunnels, drying herbs for teas & spices. 

Students will receive an extensive resource list of printed materials, books, and organizations to reference 

Our goal is to provide an alternative education experience that involves hands-on human-powered, beyond organic methods, thought provoking conversation and an appreciation for local economies, the earth and great food. 

Business Education and Training

Business Planning: Failing to plan is truly planning to fail in farming.  Learn how to conduct market research, forecasting, assumptions, sales projections, expense projections and develop a solid business strategy.Accounting:  Learn how to invoice, track your sales, keep good records, track cost of sales, create crop budgets, create and read financial statements (cash flow report, income statement, profit/loss statements)Developing Sustainable Farm Systems:  Learning to create good systems that help you work smarter, not harder, so that you can grow happy plants with happy people.  We’ll discuss how to do the following most efficiently:  planning, record keeping, filing, etc.Marketing: I have several years of experience to offer which includes managing farmers’ markets for the last 3 years.  We will learn how to find a niche product, a niche market and how to develop sales needed to sustain yourself, your farm and your workers.

Additional Collaboration

Apprentices will also learn about the importance of small, local farming through thought-provoking, inspiring, and sometimes controversial excerpts from books such as:

The Unsettling of America–Culture and Agriculture by Wendell Berry

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements by Sandor Katz

Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher

How to Grow More Vegetables than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land than You Can Possibly Imagine by John Jeavons

Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth

If you are interested in being one of our apprentices please contact us at lulusgardenherbs@gmail.com  or call 913-217-8535 on a Tuesday or Thursday.

The balance of sustaining oneself, one's staff and the planet are of the utmost importance at Lulu's Garden.

Farmer Bio and Qualifications

Farmer Pam, aka “Lulu” has over twenty five years experience in marketing, community food activism and health/wellness.  Previously, as manager of the organic Brookside Farmers’ market in Kansas City and the Lawrence Farmers’ Market she worked diligently to research the ailing local urban food system, and ways to breach the food gap between grower and low income communities.  Pam has been involved in community based education in both food and as a personal trainer, Pilates & Yoga instructor for 25 years.  

Growing and preparing food has always been an integral part of her family culture.  From the time he was a small child her son Benjamin has shared this passion.  They began cooking together before he could even reach the stove.  Much to his mother’s delight, Ben became a professional chef at a very early age.  He has added new skills, teaching her as they continue cooking together and is now starting his own farm.  They both share an impromptu and improvisational cooking style and cook together at least once a week.  Pam now teaches and learns from her grandchildren in the kitchen, as well. 

Pam has always grown herbs, for her own use.  After taking an urban farm tour in Kansas City, in 2009 she began growing herbs in her Parkville back yard for Green Acres Market at Briarcliff shopping center in Kansas City, as “Nature’s Candy”.  She found that working with the soil nurtured her soul, and complemented her passion for food, and so the seed was planted.  In 2010 she took part in the Growing Growers funded Kaufmann FasTrac Business Planning program and moved to a 70 acre farm in Baldwin City, KS.  That was the beginning of Lulu’s Garden.  Lulu’s doubled revenues in the second year and continues to scale up and grow their operation. 

If you are interested in being one of our apprentices please contact us at lulusgardenherbs@gmail.com  or call 913-217-8535 on a Tuesday or Thursday. Formal application attached below.

Lulu’s Garden Herbs 2013 Internship Application

Tell us about yourself…

Name__________________________________________________________

Address________________________________________________________

Phone__________________________________________________________

Email__________________________________________________________

Birth Date______________________

Current Occupation______________________________________________

Internship dates: Monday, April 22 

What’s your story? (attach additional pages if necessary to answer these questions) 

Why do you want to come learn from Lulu’s Garden? Are there aspects of the program you are particularly interested in?

Do you have any limitations, physical or otherwise, that would keep you from performing farm tasks? Allergies? Can you commit to showing up mornings/afternoons for the duration of your internship? Please elaborate if necessary.

What is your previous experience in farming, horticulture or agriculture?

Where will you be living during the internship? Is it near the farm? 

Is there anything else we should know about you?

What do you expect of us as farmer mentors?

You can send your completed application by email to: lulusgardenherbs@gmail.com or by snail mail to: PO Box 727, Baldwin City, KS 66006