Thanks for your interest in our apprenticeships! Below you will find information about the program, from learning objectives and our mission, to our curriculum, to our staff and facilities, and how to apply.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES & OUR MISSION
We need more growers and advocates for small, sustainable agriculture! Only a small fraction of this country’s population is growing their own food. The link between farmland and food is the farmer. Through our apprenticeships, we seek to engage people in urban food production, using our urban farms as outdoor classrooms, supplemented by various on and off-farm workshops and visits. We aim to prepare our apprentices for future experiences in small-scale, sustainable agriculture (with an urban twist!). More than food, our biggest export is inspiration about local farming, especially in urban environments.
As an apprentice, one will be involved in all aspects of our operation. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Soil preparation and management
- Nursery production and management
- Micorgreens operation
- Field seeding and transplanting
- Maintenance of the garden beds (irrigation, feeding, weeding, mulching, pruning, and more)
- Pest and disease management
- Harvesting, post-harvest processing, and marketing of the produce
- Composting (Aerobic Windrows and Vermi-composting)
- Crop Planning and Recordkeeping
OUR GENERAL PHILOSOPHY
The apprenticeship is, at its core, a working/learning experience. The primary method for learning about farming is hands-on learning. All work assignments are made within the context of working as a team, and as part of the overall farm operations. Our farm depends on mutual cooperation and willingness to help one another accomplish the overall goals of a successful season and demonstration urban farm.
OUR FARM WORK ETHIC
Farming is a mix of working hard and smart. Each individual should continually strive to find a balance between speed and efficiency, and balancing an eye for details while maintaining a grasp of the greater vision of the farm, the staff, and the season as a whole. There are a finite number of days and hours in the season the get our work done, so a positive attitude, enthusiasm, a strong work ethic and endurance for long hours in all types of weather, communication, and a serious interest in sustainable agriculture are all very important qualities.
WORK AGREEMENT
Apprentices work in all aspects of the farm’s production, from seeding, transplanting, nursery propagation, irrigation, bed preparation and cultivation, composting, harvesting, post-harvest processing, and marketing. During the course of the season, apprentices are given the information and time to learn about farming’s many skills and topics.
ABOUT THE FARMS
ECO City Farms at Edmonston is nestled on a 1.3 acres within a mixed-use neighborhood and adjacent to the Anacostia River, is now an intensively cultivated community gathering space. Started in 2010, its been built with the assistance of interns and apprentices since the beginning. The farm houses 4 four season-extending hoophouses , 3 of which are on compost-enriched small plots and the other being a nursery and microgreens operation. Scattered throughout the site are fruit trees, herbs, a rain garden, water retention pond, and Hugulkultur beds. There is also an upcycled farm kitchen or FoodShed (it was converted from a shipping container) and cold storage (powered by a Cool-Bot). Lastly, the farm has a huge defunct tennis court that is now has our On-farm Classroom on it as part of the educational and community space of the farm. It is home to our farm cat, Rosie and fish in our pond.
ECO City Farms at Bladensburg is located on 3.5 acres of land formerly occupied by three multifamily apartment buildings. It provides healthy food for the residents of the adjacent subsidized housing complex and the larger “healthy food deprived” neighborhood. The farm employs permaculture and season-extension techniques to its large productive growing space, which now includes a teaching barn, a small hoophouse, bee hives, and a large worm house for our vermicomposting.
I am interested in volunteering or working as an intern @ Eco City Farms. I attempted to sign up on the website: but I couldn’t do it without making a contribution via my credit card.