We invite you to come live and work at Emerald Earth during our upcoming 2010 work trade season. We are a rural intentional community focused on living sustainably on the land, through the use of consensus process, permaculture and natural building. Our work trade season runs from mid-April through September.

As work trade you will become a part of our community, involved in land based work, including gardening, livestock care, building, food processing, general maintenance, childcare, chores, and meal preparation and clean up. You will focus your energy in one of five areas - gardens, livestock, building, kitchen or childcare. While a large part of your time will be spent in your focus area you will be involved to a lesser degree in other areas as well. We are interested in folks who are able to be here most of the season, and we request a minimum of a two month commitment.

Wholesome, delicious, organic meals will be prepared at least twice a day and shared by the entire community. Accommodations will be tent camping, with a couple of trailers available for early arrivals.

We welcome a diverse group of people to live and work together in a mutually respectful and affirmative environment, using consensus process and open, direct communication. In May we will be hosting a Nonviolent Communication workshop for all work traders and residents as part of the program.

There are several traits we look for in potential Work Traders. The nature of the work we do here requires participants be fully present and able to put this experience at the top of their priority list. Those who are often drawn away from the community by other commitments will not get as much out of this experience as those who are able to focus their energy here. A person's inconsistent presence also disrupts the community as a whole.

We also seek individuals who are prepared for the personal and physical challenges that will arise during such an intensive experience. If you do not feel physically, mentally and emotionally well the reverberations will be felt throughout the community. The participants that tend to get the most out of this experience are those who have the energy to engage in all aspects of community life. We encourage a fun and easy going attitude and a love of physical endeavors.

If you join us for the Summer, you will be one of a crew of about a half-dozen Work Traders. You will share meals, work, and common spaces with the other Work Traders and our Resident community of 10 adults and 2 children. Although our Summer schedule is busy, there are many opportunities to share a walk, a game, or a talk with other Residents, especially around meal times and on days off work. Off-hours social events are not an organized part of the program; if you have high social needs, you will find them best met by being proactive. However, be forewarned that Resident members have many commitments both on and off-site, and tend to be less available for social interaction than some Work Traders might wish.

Emerald Earth also hosts a variety of events throughout the Summer, including weekend work parties and longer workshops. We will also offer 2 week-long Natural Building Intensives later in the Summer, in which work-traders will be encouraged to participate as students, support staff, and/or assistant instructors.

In addition, members of the community are excited to offer instruction on various skills as interest is shown. Instruction may include: local botany; permaculture design; natural building; native plant ID; sustainable timber harvesting; watershed restoration; oak woodland management; bread baking; ferments; massage; yoga; and meditation.

We understand that the rest of the world does not operate on our schedule and that other important responsibilities and emergencies come up now and then. We know that it may be necessary to miss scheduled work from time to time, however we ask that Work Traders make up this time during their scheduled time off.

Gardens
As a Work Trader focused on gardens you will spend a majority of your time participating in producing food on a small scale by working in our annual and perennial gardens and nursery, processing and preparing food that we have grown, gleaned or purchased.

Time in the garden will be spent preparing and amending garden beds, composting, weeding, installing watering systems, cover cropping, and planting. We have been cultivating raised beds and planting a permaculture garden for over eight years. Time in the nursery will be spent propagating annual and perennial vegetables, as well as other useful perennials (NFT's, insectiary species, bee forage, etc). Time in the kitchen will include various aspects of food processing including canning, pickling, drying, fermentation, making cheese and yogurt, baking bread, and nixtamalizing corn to make masa. We will also work to create a seasonal garden based menu for the community of15 to 25 people.

Livestock
As a Work Trader focused on livestock, you will spend a majority of your time in the humane and healthy production of animal-based foods on a small scale. This will include care of our goats, lambs and chickens, barn and coop cleaning, milking, slaughtering, butchering, processing and preparing meat and milk.

During the dry season our goats are maintained outside on browse of fir, oak, and other wild species. To maintain them on adequate forage we will be rotating their electric fence enclosure every six to ten weeks. We also supplement the milkers with some hay and grain. This spring and early Summer we will be rotating lambs around our pastures to both grow meat and mow the grass as fire protection. At some point in the Summer we will be slaughtering and butchering the lambs for meat. In addition, we will be beginning a new cycle of laying chickens as well as raising at least one generation of meat birds.

Building
As a Work Trader focused on building you will spend a large part of your structured time participating in the construction of our new community house. We began the project in 2008 by graded the site and pouring the concrete foundation, and in 2009 we built a large part of the structure. In 2010 we intend to continue the project with framing, natural wall systems, earthen floors, base coat and finish plasters, and both metal and living roofs.

Ideally we are looking for people to focus in this area who have previous experience either in conventional or natural building, who want to expand their skill set by working on a large, complex, to-code structure that integrates both natural and conventional materials.

As of this printing, we are unsure how much of the building we will get to this season, but we expect to offer experience in most, if not all, of the following skills: framing, including post-and-beam, stud framing, and some round pole; slip-straw or light straw-clay wall infill; straw bale walls; other earthen infill wall systems (clay-wattle, slip-chip, etc.); cob walls; earthen base coat plasters; earthen floors; structural stone masonry; plywood and steel shear walls; electrical circuit design and wiring; rough plumbing; windows and doors; ceilings and insulation; and roofing - both metal and living roofs.

Kitchen
As a Work Trader focused in the kitchen you will spend a majority of your time participating in creating wholesome, delicious, organic, seasonal meals for the entire community of 15-20 people. You will also be creating menus for larger events such as workshops and work parties. You will work closely with the garden and livestock Work Traders to utilize the bounty of this farm as well as many of the local farms around us. You will help to manage the flow of food through our pantries and cold storage, and help to organize the preserving of surplus through canning, drying, pickling, fermenting, making cheese and yogurt, baking bread and nixtamalizing corn to make masa.

Childcare
We currently have two Resident children at Emerald Earth: Garnet will turn four in May of this year and Ester will turn four in November. They are smart, curious and creative kids. Spending time with them is a gift to them as well as to you. To allow the parents of these of these children to commit to the organization and instruction of the great team of people we are gathering for the season, we are looking for help with childcare.

We are offering a Work Trade position for someone with experience in childcare or early childhood education who would like to share all or part of the season with our community, spending 16-20 hours a week with the children. The rest of your structured time could be spent helping in other areas. This person would need to be a goof fit with Ester and Garnet.

Whether or not we fill this Work Trade position, we hope to share the responsibility and joys of childcare with as many members and Work Traders as are interested in building a relationship with these two kids. We are currently working out a structure, but it is likely to include shifts of 2-4 hours, available throughout the week.

Application Process
To apply, please email us and request an application form ... community@emeraldearth.org

Answer the questions in detail, including those not in your preferred focus area; we'd like to know a lot about you. We also strongly encourage a visit so that you can get to know the community.