Positions are curerntly filled for this internship. Please check back later in the season.

Ted, Sara and daughter Aurelia are working on their house project in 2011 with season-long positions for a few motivated, creative helpers on their earth-bermed, passive solar, earthbag-strawbale house addition. This could be you!

For questions or more information about this work exchange, please contact tallowgill@gmail.com; to apply, please contact wexcoord@dancingrabbit.org.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Building Project Details:

Our current home is a two story, two room, blown cellulose-insulated post-and-beam natural building with attached greenhouse.

The 600+ square foot addition will wrap the house in earth-bermed, earth bag and strawbale walls.

In 2010 we put up the frame and roof and mostly completed the foundation, among many other projects.

In 2011 We Will:

• wrap up the earth bag foundation walls for house and attached root cellar;
  
  
• install and plaster straw bale and light clay-straw walls;
  
  
• install windows, doors and various cob-and-bottle and other artistic finishes;
  
  
• frame root cellar roof structure and install living roof/terraced earth berm atop it;
  
  
• install multi-level earth floors with embedded radiant floor tubing;
  
  
• build light frame interior walls
  
  
• install plumbing and electrical systems (off-grid, solar and wind power);
  
  
• run a large garden to feed us and our helpers in our cooperative kitchen;
  
  
• dehydrate and can surplus harvests;
  
  
• install a cistern for our kitchen;
  
  
• put up our 1kw wind turbine again;
  
  
• raise a dozen chickens
  
  
• and perform numerous other tasks related to our interconnected projects here, from childcare to community projects and chores and helping neighbors with their projects.
  

What to expect from your
natural building apprenticeship:

Prior experience in natural building will be a great asset, but we will teach any and all tasks related to the project, so you needn't be familiar with every aspect upon arrival.

Basic familiarity with both power and hand tools, as well as simple carpentry, is a plus.

An ability and willingness to assume responsibility for various tasks once you learn the required skills helps the project flow.

We are happy to delegate pieces of the project as your confidence grows.

You'll get dirty and see the products of your labors accumulating day by day.

Our crew will often work (and sometimes play) as a unit, though solo projects in the garden and orchard and other assorted tasks can break up the routine a bit.

Our daily existence is an intimate one, with three shared meals, shared (smallish) common space, and common work as a group of 5-6 including our four year old daughter Aurelia.

Life at Dancing Rabbit:

The larger Dancing Rabbit setting provides endless diversion and learning opportunities in off-hours, and sometimes as part of our work.

DR is a growing, thriving ecovillage, particularly vibrant in the spring-through-fall period when there are frequent guests and visitors on farm. We regularly share meals and events both within the community and within the larger embrace of the three local intentional communities (DR, Sandhill Farm, and Red Earth Farms).

Every day is full to bursting.

What You Get From
Your Apprenticeship

Food: you will be part of a whole-foods, vegetarian dining cooperative, with rotational cooking shifts.

Housing: your tent on a tent platform.

Amenities: full access to community buildings, including shower and other facilities; internet and phone access; swimming ponds; 280 acre land trust to roam on.

Experience: hands-on experience with earthbag foundation, strawbale construction, plasters, earthen floors, light frame interior walls, utility systems, and all aspects of community living (including ultimate frisbee!).

For questions or more information
about this green building apprenticeship:

Ted, Sara, and Aurelia's Home at DR

Ted, Sara, and Aurelia's Home, with the Addition, under construction.

Ted and Aurelia installing solar panels in the roof of the Ironweed kitchen.

You'll have awesome hands-on opportunities.

Sara, Aurelia, and Ted will be your work exchange hosts.

Ted applies colored glass to the interior of the ironweed kitchen walls. You'll be eating in this space if you become a part of this project.

Aurelia is a great helper on the site, in the garden, and she tells the best stories.

Ironweed gardens have been growing food for over six years now, and their tasty morsels are a pleasure and a delight. You'll eat yummy garden-fresh organic produce throughout your stay.