Food Initiative Internship
The Food Initiative Intern explores opportunities to empower individuals and communities to cultivate a healthy relationship with food.
Responsibilities include (but are not limited to):
- Preparing vegetable and dairy ferments (i.e. kimchi, yogurt, cheese)
- Foraging and provisioning the Food Initiative with wild foods
- Exploring the ethical uses of insects and animals for food
- Experimenting with food processing technologies in-line with the mission of the Food Initiative
- Researching and implementing alternatives to limiting factors in food policy and access
- Supporting Food Initiative teaching and learning efforts across campus
- Leading an impact project to extend the reach of the Food Initiative
Time Commitment: 8-12 hours per week
All Food Initiative Interns are guided by permaculture ethics, and have the opportunity to earn academic credit by completing departmental requirements through the multidisciplinary Permaculture Internship.
Food Initiative Intern Handbook
Based on her Food Initiative Internship experience, Nicole Hatfield ’21 shares the following insights for interns (and everyone else).
- Visit the garden frequently (with people and alone)
- The garden is the soul of the Food Initiative
- Read (ANYTHING)
- Follow your interests and your instincts
- Communicate with other interns (collaboration is key)
- Try new things, listen to other interns and grow with them/their projects
- Come in with a general/broad research question that could fit into the Food Initiative mission
- Don’t put boundaries on yourself, follow what you love
- Ask for help (use Shane as a resource)
- Don’t freak out if it seems like you don’t have an “end goal” or something to “show people.” The Food Initiative is invested in the future and the future is large—this means that your goals won’t always be attainable and that the small, everyday things you do may seem unimportant; but, they are important. So, don’t lose hope and keep yourself focused on what’s ahead of you.
- Try to live the Food Initiative mission in your real life (not just at work).
- It helped me to create my own weekly schedule with weekly goals and things to accomplish—I recommend planning out each week with ambitious goals (you don’t have to complete them all that week, but it gives you motivation to work and helps you prioritize things that need to be done).
- Balance outdoor work with indoor work
- Something I really loved about this internship was how it allowed me to do work both outside and inside. This summer, my mornings were dedicated to the garden (before it got too hot), and then I would usually eat lunch/read, and then afternoons dedicated to research and learning indoors.
- This internship fulfilled my dream of having a job that involves hands-on activity.
- Every day is different.