Newsletter

Autumn 2001: Au Sable Internships

Wagbo Peace Center
By Benjamin Van Ee and Todd Mortensen

Wagbo Peace Center's Sustainable Agriculture Internship provides an opportunity to gain practical experience and knowledge in the operation of a multifaceted small-scale organic farm. The work that interns are involved with on the 212-acre homestead varies with the seasons and with the needs of the center. All internships include livestock care, general farm maintenance, and daily work with Belgian draft horses. During the summer there is work to be done with the two-acre organic garden, poultry grazing, permaculture greenhouse, bee keeping, hay bailing, and more. In the fall there is canning and butchering. And during the winter there is a 2200-tap Maple syrup operation, sustainable forest management, and log-milling with a WoodMizer band saw sawmill. Interns live in community at the center and, in addition to the agricultural aspects, are also involved in the center's social programs such as the youth-at-risk apprenticeships and education programs in sustainable living and nonviolence. Interns should be good at communication and public relations, be willing to work at a production level, have physical strength, and a desire to make Wagbo's mission a priority. Interns receive on-site housing, food produced at the farm, and a US $200 per month stipend. To request more information contact the Au Sable Admissions Office or call (231) 587 8686.

Todd Mortensen, a former intern at Wagbo Peace Center, writes about working at the farm:
"Working at Wagbo was incredibly rewarding, and for me, it proved life changing! While working on the farm I found myself literally at "the source" of so many things: It is a powerful feeling to look at a barn and know that you not only helped build it, but that you cut down the trees, stripped the bark and milled all the lumber used in its creation. A dinner of crisp green beans, tender rabbit, and a glass of fresh milk takes on new tastes and appreciation when you have labored in the garden and fed the animals at dawn and dusk each day. I used to wonder why a gallon of Maple Syrup was so expensive. After learning the syruping skills, from drilling a tree hole to pouring hot maple sap into a jug, I soon realized that a gallon of maple syrup is the best bargain around!

Working alongside Rick and Tracy, Wagbo's Directors, encouraged me to develop a "servant minded" work ethic which has aided me ever since, even in my current office job. Living in true community forced me to communicate constantly and gently challenged me to put my theories into practice. Not too many days go by when I don't stop for a moment and think of the sun rising over the Jordan valley, the firm tug of the draft horse reigns, or the wind rustling through the sugarbush. The natural beauty which I observed and the real-life practical skills that I learned while working at Wagbo Peace Center opened my eyes in countless ways and continue to this day, to have a deep significance in my life."

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