2023 Internship Curriculum
Maybe I'm using the word "curriculum" too loosely, maybe not; you be the judge
2023 Interns, the Founding Class: Jack D., James S., and Nick S.
If I had to sum up the objective of our Primal Woods/Homestead Rebel internship program in two words, they would be “character development.” In my post We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us I talked about the fact, really only my opinion I suppose, that We (are not) the People that the Constitution was made for. This internship program is part of our small effort to correct the situation. Naturally, it involves a lot of farm work, but so much more.
Then I will just briefly mention something I find to be true: In this modern age of large-scale, industrial agri-business, and when trying to recreate on a small scale a true agri-culture, there must be multiple streams of income, each perhaps small, but together enough to support those engaged in the enterprise. For example, in our case sawmill services, pure maple syrup sales, meat sales, this substack, traditional soaps eventually, and so on, need to be enough to support ownership of the farm and provision for those engaged in the farming. It’s a tall order, believe me. With that as context, let’s have a look at the “curriculum.”
Major Farm Enterprise Projects
The Original Three:
Maple Syrup Marketing
Goat Brush Management Service
Traditional Soap Process and Product Development
Plus:
Farm House Rehab
Farm House Marketing ideas & plan
Lake access restoration
Pig Fencing (incl. White Oak gates)
Sheep Fencing
High Tunnel Water
Sheep Pasture (Water)
Pig Pasture (Water)
Workshop
Wood Shed
Minor Projects
Garden
Brush Hog blade replacement
Meat Birds introduction
Barn organization
Sugar House organization
Cleanup of logs/branches behind Farm House
Harvesting of Maple logs from the woods
Collect White Oak boards from neighbor's property
Install three runoff "tubes;” one to provide high-and-dry access to either end of the High Tunnel, one in Paw Paw Draw.
Farm Routine/Chores
Daily Animal Feed & Water
Layers
Meat Birds + Move
Pigs + Fence check
Goats + Fence check
Dog and Cat care if Geri/John off-farm
Periodic Work
Mowing (pasture)
Firewood
Milling jobs
Pure Maple Syrup orders
Intellectual Pursuits
Continuing Education
Leadership experiential workshop w Sean Georges and John Buford; On Mission Leadership
Plato
Becoming a King: The Path to Restoring the Heart of a Man, by Morgan Snyder
Gene Logsdon and/or Wendell Berry
Joel Salatin - several books; perhaps best suited to the task at hand, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs
Intern guest blog posts on this substack
Business Development Ideas
Hanging planks for engraving intern names
Marketing/selling of Ad Astra coffee
Sell Stanley products
Sell branded knives
Setup Shopify for the Primal Woods store
Build a Farmhouse lending library
Add 2024 Internship link/button to Newsletter
Extracurricular/Re-Creation
Shooting guns
Shooting bows
Fishing
Swimming
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum
Plan to have ongoing a Major Project and a Minor Project; intellectual pursuits in the heat of the day.
In general animal chores and manual project labor will be scheduled to occur between 0700 and 1200, to avoid the afternoon peak heat.
Summation from My Point of View
I couldn’t be more excited. We have a truly awesome group of young men, who will likely teach us (as Geri reminds me often) more than we will teach them.
The breadth and depth of this curriculum is daunting. We will fail here and there, and that’s good thing.
If we achieve even the half of what has been laid out above, we and the farm will be much improved.
And, this experience is going to force me to perform at a much higher level, which is also a good thing.
Highly interested in this topic. I am currently working a fulltime job and starting a homestead. We are approximately 1 year in though we had rabbits and chickens before we started. I heard when you begin a homestead you need to get the orchard going asap. We did plant the most mature trees one can purchase and younger trees in addition to berries of all types. I got over 20+ berry bushes and adding to them through my connections. Homeschooling and living off one income while doing these things on Biden's economy is tougher everyday, forcing me to work overtime which then takes me away from homestead 'projects'. Northwestern Missouri isn't the best paying area in the country but cost of living is a lot lower than most, kinda evens out.
I guess, if there were grants, people who donate to such projects (Givesendgo?) to get these things off the ground faster then I would appreciate that knowledge. The goal being of course to move towards making the homestead a fulltime gig versus working offsite. Then being able to barter with other community of farmers would be an additional bonus.
We tried four trees for maple syrup but two died. Batting .500! Never have enough time for the first project let alone doing a project over (a redo). Don't have goats. Trying to establish the fence-line more and more. We made a lot of progress the first year but there seems to be so many more, solar, harvesting water, growing crops, etc.
Chickens, pigs, geese, ducks, rabbits are our animal kingdom. We are gonna try game hens for the first time in a couple of months....there are deer on the property to add to the freezer. Thought this would help in the discussion/curriculum.