Permaculture and Aquaponics Intern

Taino Farm Intern Job Description

Job Title: 

Sustainable Living, Permaculture, and Aquaponics Intern

Type:
Unpaid Internship- Full time or Part time
 

Dates:
All start dates and end dates are flexible. We require a minimum 1 month commitment. 3 months is our recommended amount. We can commit to interns for a maximum of 1 year. Summer or Semester

Placement Location
Interns live and work in Los Brazos, Dominican Republic. Los Brazos is located 40 minutes from the surf town of Cabarete on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic. The North Coast is famous for its action and adventure sports and its budding eco-tourism industry. Days off are a perfect chance to unwind, recharge, and visit the ocean–maybe even learn to surf or kitesurf. This internship allows you the opportunity to enjoy life in a tropical, rural Dominican community while also increasing your knowledge and skills of aquaculture, agriculture, vermiculture, small-business management, and eco-tourism. 

Qualifications:
We are looking for enthusiastic, creative, and self-driven people with passion for agriculture and sustainability to take part in our Sustainable Living, Permaculture, and Aquaponics Internship program.  Our internships are open to all majors and experience levels. We do our best to customize our internships to each individual. For anyone who envisions starting their own farm or aquaponics project, or is just looking for an outdoor tropical get away this is a unique and invaluable opportunity! Basic Spanish is recommended or the drive to learn and practice a new language. 

General Summary: Participants in our internship get an intensive real world practicum on how to run an eco-friendly farm and live sustainably. Topics include aquaponics system function and maintenance, worm-composting, product packaging and marketing, and cooking creative meals based on the daily harvest. The goal is for Taino Farm to create a community of inspired people who are dedicated to creating solutions to make the world a more sustainable place.

At Taino Farm, we offer the chance for our interns to get involved with a wide variety of projects from composting food scraps, planting seedlings, and harvesting fish to sustainable construction, giving tours, and designing new products. Typically, our interns rotate through our 3 main areas of the farm: aquaponics, permaculture, and Special Projects. However, we are flexible to building an internship around each individual's needs and passions. We do our best to accommodate any length of internship and specific learning objectives you may have. Minimum one month placement.

Essential / Job Functions: 

Activities can include but are not limited to:

Aquaponics:
Planning stocking density and selection of fish
Food selection and feeding frequency
Breeding and purging fish
Transporting fish for sale
Tank filtration, aeration, and water flow
Deep water culture bed upkeep and system maintenance
Nutrient dynamics and maintaining water quality
Floating beds vs. media beds 
Plant structures and needs
Choosing the right crops for your aquaponics bed
Large-scale harvesting and packaging of crops
Mint, basil, spinach, and other crop propagation

Permaculture:
Propagation from seed, stem cutting, and aero layering
Bed preparation and seedling transplantation
Planting and harvesting a variety of organic crops
Preparing plants for gardeners
Composting and vermiculture
Organic pest control

Special Projects: 
Sustainable construction and energies
Harvesting
Preparing produce for resale
Writing blog posts to inform the community about our projects
Social media marketing support on Facebook and Instagram
Prepping and giving tours as part of our eco-tourism and sustainable education initiative
Recipe development using seasonal harvest
Intercultural communication

Educational Components:
During this internship students will become proficient in aquaponics and permaculture maintenance and set-up. They will supplement their hands-on experience with behind the scenes daily coursework and research. Furthermore, they will learn how to engage clients with similar interests through social media and blogging. They will learn and practice skills such as:

• Punctuality and time management
• Written and verbal communication 
• Creative thinking and problem-solving
• Working and living as a team 
• Spanish communication

Oversight:
The internship coordinator will organize all aspects related to the internship. Upon arrival, they will provide a tour and orientation day. From there on our interns will meet weekly with the internship coordinator to review coursework, learning objectives, and address any issues or concerns. The interns hands-on hours will be supervised and taught using the Taino farm educators.  

Hours:
Our interns typically work and learn Monday through Friday 8am-4pm with 1.5-2.5 hours off for meals. Saturdays include hours from 8am-12pm with 0.5 hour break for breakfast. Hours are flexible with advanced notice to allow for personal trips to other parts of the island. 

Mon-Fri  8am-10am, 1030am-12pm, 1/2pm-4pm   
Saturday: 8am-10am, 1030am-12pm

*These hours are our general schedule. Hours may vary based on the position of the farm
*Any hours can be taken off with 1 day notice. 

Financial Contribution & Benefits 
The cost for the internship decreases with the length of your stay - the 1st month is $1200, 2nd month $1000 and the 3rd month is $800. Additional months are $600. Tuition for the internship covers educational supplies and training with our workers, accommodation in our rustic cabins, internet, basic food staples, and all produce grown on site. Interns also enjoy 24/7 emergency staff support and a virtual certificate of program completion. As a bonus Interns also receive one free surf lesson. Please note: while we believe our price to be a fair representation of the costs that are put into each intern, we want this program to be accessible and understand that some people come from disenfranchised backgrounds and experience financial restrictions. If you have a strong interest in the program and believe you qualify for a discounted rate we encourage you to apply and inquire about potential discounts or scholarship application support.

Credit:
We would be happy to work with schools to give students academic credit or provide a report outlining the learning outcomes and deliverables achieved during the internship. 

Apply: 
To apply please email a short paragraph stating your interest in our program to tainofarm@gmail.com. Please attach a resume or CV if you have one.