- A group opportunity. Invite your friends.
-
6 people are interested
Ecological Agriculture, Permaculture, Edible Landscaping
ORGANIZATION: Long Branch Environmental Education Center
Please visit the new page to apply.
- A group opportunity. Invite your friends.
-
6 people are interested
Former Interns with Long Branch have received academic credit from the University of North Carolina -- Asheville, University of Vermont, University of Maryland, and Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC. We are currently seeking affiliations with other colleges and universities to be able to offer Interns other options for academic credit.
The Center offers three main tracks for our internship program:
l. Ecological Agriculture,
2. Sustainable or "Green" Building Design, Energy Efficiency, and Practicum,
3. Ecological Restoration with native plant, shrub, and tree species.
l. Ecological Agriculture, including:
* Organic Growing techniques, including utilization of wild edibles and edible flowers
* Edible Landscaping, including insectary and nitrogen-fixing plant species,
* Permaculture Design, an integrated approach to land use providing for ecological conservation, and sustainable food, fuel, fiber, building material, and fodder production,
* Aquaculture system design, operation, use of native species to attract native insectary feedstock, research, management and marketing analysis on native Brook trout being raised at the Center,
* Biological horticulture in Attached Passive Solar Greenhouses,
* Native plant propagation and nursery management.
Our Ecological Agriculture work includes:
* agroforestry and tree cropping systems including a broad diversity of fruit and nut tree species, small fruits, and brambles. Species being cultivated at the Center include several hundred old-time apple varieties, nectarine, peach, pear, plum, cherries, Hall's Hardy Almond, and other tree crops including blight-resistant backcrossed American Chestnut hybrids.
We have nurseries of both antique apples and blight-resistant American Chestnuts. We are also conducting joint research projects with the American Chestnut Foundation.
* broadscale farming research and experimentation with integrated pest management (IPM),
* companion cropping for increased productivity and pest and disease minimization and control,
* research on overcoming allelopathic relationships, e.g., walnuts and raspberries
* no-pesticide, no-till cultivation,
* permanent living mulch systems, especially utilizing species such as Dutch White Clover (Trifolium repens)
* mulch system design and installation, including use of Biomimicry of native forest ecosystems
* apiculture, including non-inorganic chemical controls for pests and diseases
* viticulture, including use of grapes that are tolerant of high relative humidity and rainfall, and are resistant to fungus,
* grafting of a variety of species, especially heirloom apples
* alley cropping and two-story agricultural systems,
* research with Effective Micro-organisms (EM) to increase soil fertility and control of diseases, e.g., fire blight in apples and pears; and control of invasive exotic pests, e.g., hemlock wooly adelgids,
* vermicomposting, vermiculture, and use of worm castings;
* innovative crop marketing research including you-pick operations, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), and tailgate markets
* value-added processing.
1 More opportunity with Long Branch Environmental Education Center
Opportunities
About Long Branch Environmental Education Center
Location:
278 Boyd Cove. Rd. POB 369, Leicester, NC 28748, US
Mission Statement
To deliver educational services to the public on matters of sustainability, conservation, ecology, design, demonstration, advocacy, research, and restoration.
Description
The Long Branch Environmental Education Center, Inc. is a small educational institute in Buncombe County's Newfound Mountains, about 18 miles northwest of Asheville, North Carolina. Set aside in 1974 as an ecological sanctuary and land trust, it has developed into an educational center for sharing positive strategies of local self-reliance in the areas of environmental design, organic food production, renewable energy, shelter design and construction, appropriate technology, resource conservation, recycling, wildlife protection, and improved environmental quality. The Land itself is 1400 acres of rugged wilderness and farmland ranging in elevation from 3,000 to 5,152 feet. Over 1375 hundred acres are mostly eastern hardwood forest, bisected with several mountain springs and streams where rare, threatened, and endangered native plant species are conserved. Twenty-five acres are managed in a Permaculture design of small scale organic gardens, crops, orchards, vineyards, and rainbow trout aquaculture in an integrated edible landscape. Structures on the land include three passive solar staff residences with three attached solar greenhouses, three composting toilets, one passive solar conference center, a traditional 1917 farm house, an old tobacco barn converted into a rustic dormitory, and miscellaneous out buildings, including a secluded retreat shelter.
CAUSE AREAS
WHEN
WHERE
278 Boyd Cove Rd.POB 369Leicester, NC 28748
DATE POSTED
August 27, 2009
SKILLS
- Physical Education
GOOD FOR
- Kids
- Teens
- People 55+
- Public Groups
REQUIREMENTS
- Must be at least 8