"2013/ 2014 Intern Program

HUERTA DE VIDA

2013-2014 Intern Program

Huerta de Vida is where we express and practice our gratitude for the Earth, the Stars, the Plants, the Animals and Each Other.  This project is the 3D manifestation of our respective and related karmas.  We welcome new friends who are ready to accompany us and take authentic strides forward as full spectrum human beings, who have learned and are learning to be motivated by love and not by fear, who are actively involved in healing themselves and becoming whole and noble beings.  We welcome those who intend to celebrate and laugh and love and live as much as possible in the process.

Huerta de Vida lies within a small valley oasis at the foot of the tallest mountains in the Western Hemisphere.  An ancient irrigation system channels snowmelt from the Andes into the Valle de Uco, converting desert into a green stretch of farm, weeping willows, and fire flies.  The powerful beauty of this places masks a very ugly reality of chemical conventional monoculture, with a new Monsanto facility just outside of Mendoza.  Huerta de Vida began as degraded land that is progressively being brought back to life as an edible forest garden.  We also belong to a growing, resilient network of organic family farmers and passionate permaculturalists.  Together, we share our vision of conscious cultivation of local, sustainable, and spirited productivity of life´s essentials and connection to our shared, precious planet through weekly organic farmers´ market, seed-exchanges, and workshops. 

We are:  

Margot- Many years in the laboratory of my life…Now happier than I ever imagined possible… Shamanism/consciousness-expanding plants amongst my many many teachers…Lifelong hippy, feminist, social justice and environmental activist and grateful for it.  Worked way too many years in ¨healthcare¨.  No longer limited to physical medicine.  I lived in variety of communities for longlong time. Lots to say re U.S. foreign and domestic policy…lots... Living in the zone pretty much all day every day…Currently serve as coordinator for weekly farmer´s market in Mendoza.  Love BIG ideas.  Usually pretty sassy.  Favorite quote ¨the doors of heaven open wide for those who bring laughter to their companions¨.  Sounds right to me.  Pretty sure we can create heaven on earth...amen...

 Vida- Has decided to continue adventures and will not be at H de V as anticipated...Bummer, but we incorporate her great advice into the scheme of things here and are moving ahead beautifully...
Vida´s bio info:  Completed my undergraduate education at a big bucks university and then decided, much to my grandparents horror, that nothing beats a good compost!  Past work has included volunteer farming in Spain, urban gardening and youth development with The Food Project (Boston),  gardening at The Heifer Project (Rutland, Massachusetts), and natural building at Finca Bonafide (Ometepe, Nicaragua).  Deep venturing into the permaculture realm has included Bio-Intensive Gardening Apprenticeship at Proyecto CIESA (El Bolson, Argentina), Natural Building Apprenticeship at House Alive in Jacksonville, Oregon, Permaculture Design Course with Bullock Brothers (Orcas Island), and Edible Food Forest Design Course with Dave Jacke (Portland, Oregon). 

 

Kitchen wizards welcome!!!

Interns establish and maintain garden momentum and energy necessary for growing power soil and food, also necessary is a strong desire to learn and experiment with natural construction.  Tasks range from garden bed prep, direct seeding, seedlings,  transplanting, living and dry mulching, composting, biochar, flood irrigating, harvesting, and cover cropping, food  foresting, building walls and floors with cane, strawbale, bottle bricks, and earthen plasters. 

Session Cost:   $250 U.S. dollars/session for folks from dollar and euro countries; $800 pesos argentinos/session for interns from Latin America.  Huerta de Vida meals do not include meat or alcoholic beverages.  Food is vegetarian, not vegan.  The session cost provides for a delicious food budget and the materials necessary to provide a solid, educational working projects for our interns.  

Multiple Sessions:  Each session is packed to the brim with different learning opportunities.  For those who have the opportunity to continue their learning at Huerta de Vida, we suggest to sign up for multiple sessions.  We ask that interns plan trips elsewhere during the time in between sessions so that we have a chance to rest and prepare for the next wave of interns.  We can suggest many beautiful adventures around Argentina and Chile that deserve your time. 

Living in Community:  People live and work best together and get more done when they understand not just what and how to do something but what the overall objective is.   We will provide leadership, teaching/coaching, friendship, empowerment, encouragement, and reality checks/feedback.  We guide our interns through the work projects.  Our priority is to share our knowledge with interns as well as accomplish project goals on time and with a strong sense of pride in the quality of our work.  Direct and honest communication is our sincere intention.  Each session starts with a full day orientation for all participants. Community meetings happen once a week. 

Makin´ It Happen:  On average our schedule reflects 6-7 hours of physical activity/day and 4-5 hours of siesta (rest and personal time) after lunch.  Individual chores must be done everyday, including days off, to KEEP EVERYBODY HAPPY.  Each day starts punctually with individual chores/tea or coffee/brief organizing meeting. A strong start in the morning is key to our objectives.  We call it the hour of power (actually it´s more like 90 minutes of power but that doesn´t rhyme)…  Our schedule is designed to minimize working in the strong sun.  We do garden tasks first thing in the morning and after the sun mellows in the late afternoon.  When the sun is intense we will work in the shade, frequently in natural construction.  As much as possible we will stick to the schedule, yet at other times we stick to the task at hand until it´s done, rather than worry about the time. Folks who are doing particularly strenuous work are to receive plenty of love.  We leave no worker behind.  REAL IMPORTANT:  A big part of being here is learning how to be productive.  However, interning at Huerta de Vida is not a J-O-B.  We do our best to offer wise leadership and comradeship.  We consciously choose not to work with folks who need an external authority figure to boss them around.  Work, life and joy are not separate here. We take pride in our individual and collective endeavors, whether we are ¨working¨ or ¨playing¨.   And we are really good at having fun…

Field Trips:  Local wineries; worker-controlled tomato sauce cooperative; bolivian flea market; social justice mobilizations; music events, seed exchanges, farmers´ markets, celebrations, speakers, films, occasional bonfires right here at home…

Session 1: Setting the Stage

(Arrive September 10 – Leave October 6)

What to expect:  Plant seedlings for summer crops and direct seed spring garden; prep of planting beds; tune-up of irrigation system; compost utilization and renewal; fertilization and dormant oil spraying of all trees and perennials; plant and harvest of cover crop; animal care-construct corrals for rotational grazing; build outdoor kitchen and learning space; redesign garden beds on contour; inoculate garden beds with biochar; build drying racks; organize tree and plant nursery.

Work schedule:  Tuesday-Saturday, 8 am - 8 pm.    Breakfast 9 am, lunch/siesta 1-5, dinner 8 pm.  Group meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Session 2:  Making it Happen

(Arrive October 15 – End November 10)

What to expect:  We will keep the garden evolving; dig contour garden beds, garden bed prep; make and apply biochar for fruit trees, compost tea and foliar spraying to the max, continued construction of outdoor classroom and kitchen area; build bat houses;  fruit canning and drying ie apricots, plums, cherries.

Work schedule:  Tuesday-Saturday, 8 am - 8 pm.  Breakfast 9 am, lunch/siesta 1-5, dinner 8 pm.  Group meeting Thursdays after siesta, followed by optional yoga/visualization or documentary. 

Session 3:

(Arrive  November 19 – End December 15

What to expect:  Keep the garden wheel turning; transplant and foster seedlings; plenty of watering; weeding; vigilence for bug predators; regular foliar feeding; walk the talk of ecological food production.

Work Schedule:  Tuesday-Saturday, 7 am - 8 pm.  Breakfast 8 am, lunch/siesta 1-6pm, dinner 8.  Group meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Session 4:  Summer Intensive

(Arrive January 5 – End February 5)

What to expect:   Full spectrum of  growing and harvesting food plus natural construction; keep garden going strong, plenty o´ weeding; start fall seedlings; harvest and preserve peaches and nectarines; lots of tomato drying and canning; build bat houses.

Work schedule:  Tuesday-Saturday, 7 am – 7 pm.  Breakfast 8:30 am, lunch/siesta 1-5 pm, dinner 7 pm.   Group meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Session 5:  Growth Spurt

(Arrive February 5 - End March 5)

What to expect:  Put in fall garden, cover crop, continue summer harvest; seed saving; wall plastering; begin floor construction; animal care, frame and install doors and windows; lots of drying and canning,  bat houses (maybe).

Work schedule:  Tuesday-Saturday, 8 am – 8:00 pm.  Breakfast 9 am, lunch/siesta 1-5

, dinner 6:00 pm.  Group meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Session 6:  Abundance

(Arrive March 10 – End April 7)

What to expect: Full time harvesting;  transplant/direct seed fall garden; continue harvest; seed saving; garden map and next year´s rotation map; cover cropping; animal care; fine layer of plaster; continue flooring construction; organize tree and plant nursery; start winterizing; nonstop food preservation.

Work schedule:  Tuesday-Saturday, 8 am – 6:30 pm.  Breakfast 9 am, lunch/siesta 1-4, dinner 6:30 pm.  Group meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Recommended Reading and Films:  Please bring a copy of your favorite mindblowing-lifechanging book or film with you!

Books:  Deep Economy (Bill Mckibben); The Four Agreements (Don Miguel Ruiz) ; Shaman, Healer, Sage (Alberto Villoldo); Sacred Mirrors/Alex Grey; Medicine for the Earth (Sandra Ingerman); Confessions of an Economic Hitman (John Perkins) The Humanure Handbook (John Jenkins; Fields of Plenty (Michael Ableman), The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic (Martin Prechtel).  

Films: The Take (Naomi Klein); Il Postino; Fidel; The Future of Food; The World According to Monsanto; The Mission; Healing the Luminous Body;  The Revolution Will Not Be Televised; Life and Debt; ¡SALUD!; Orgasmic Birth