Ida’s gardens are a central part of our outreach, lifestyle and very valuable recourse. IDA's gardens can host a huge variety of plants, from tomatoes, okra, squash and melons to motherwort, tulsi, sunflowers and pansies. We hope our gardens can provide eager queer and trans people an opportunity to learn / exercise organic gardening skills in a supportive and welcoming environment.

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The internship is designed to help queer and trans people further develop gardening skills as well as other rural skills. The work that is done by interns and residents alike is largely self-motivated. Residents and other interns will be happy to help guide you and to share their knowledge, but we also encourage interns to take on their own projects, if they are inspired to do so. There is not a formal schedule, but we ask for 30-40 hours of work per week. The best way to describe the expectations of the community for the garden interns is that the majority of your time will be spent learning and playing in the garden. Although, that certainly doesn’t mean you can’t pitch in on other projects or take a day off when you’d like to. Interns are also expected to participate in daily kitchen chores like cooking and cleaning.

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Garden responsibilities are pretty normal— lots of weeding, mulching, harvesting, planting, clearing, and general land maintenance. As the season progresses, we start making preserves, pickles, beer, wine and other fermented monstrosities like kombucha, kraut, and tempeh. If you are interested in making tinctures there are all kinds of good herbs growing. We also have a large forest filled with edibles that folks would be glad to point out like wild mushrooms, roots, flowers, and greens.

Ida welcomes interns in exchange for their labor.

 

Presently, we cannot offer a stipend. If possible, we encourage interns to contribute towards Ida’s groceries and utilities (electricity, gas, phone, internet). $15-50 per week is the suggested amount. We don’t want this to prevent folks from being here, but if you are thinking about staying longer than a month it would be especially helpful.

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Depending on when you come, you might be able to stay in a three-season room or one of Ida’s wonderful barn spaces, although during warmer months some artists may need to camp out. If you have special requests (in terms of lighting, electricity, etc.), we’re happy to try to accommodate– just ask and we’ll see what’s possible.

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If you’re interested in joining us, please send us an email at idapalooza@gmail.com!