Gardening at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Do you want to learn how to live more sustainably? Interested in getting some hands-on experience with organic gardening, building with natural materials, and living in an off-the-grid community?

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage of northeastern Missouri has several work exchange (or internship) opportunities for folks looking to learn some valuable skills growing food and building homes!

Dancing Rabbit is an ecovillage and intentional community of about 50 people set amid the hills and prairies of rural northeastern Missouri. The goal of this off-the-grid community’s members is to live ecologically sustainable and socially rewarding lives, and to share the skills and ideas behind that lifestyle.

Wabi-sabi sub-community, a group of four friends at Dancing Rabbit, is offering two work exchange opportunities: an organic gardening internship, and a timber framing and natural building work trade.

From the timber framing and natural building job description:

This season, building work will largely consist of helping to design and construct a timber frame from locally harvested roundwood using hand tools. Logs will be cut, split, hewn, mortised, and shaped to build the frame for our kitchen.

The ideal candidate would have experience using hand tools to shape logs (saws, adzes, chisels, etc.), but a candidate with more general carpentry experience could be a fine candidate, too.

Ultimately, we are seeking an individual excited and enthusiastic to experiment and learn about timber framing techniques and methods!

Work exchangers will also have the opportunity to work on other natural building projects, such as finish work on a small cob wood shed structure, constructing a greenhouse, and more.

And from the organic gardening and food production internship page come these details:

The Wabi-sabi sub-community maintains several cooperative gardens, and plans to expand our efforts in2011 with the addition of more land. Individuals will have the opportunity to build new garden beds, maintain current gardens, and enjoy cooking and preserving (canning, dehydrating, fermenting) homegrown produce.

In addition, individuals will help maintain a newly established food forest, raise chickens, and practice organic beekeeping. Above all, you’ll be able to enjoy eating fresh homegrown produce throughout the summer and fall!

For more information, visit the Wabi-sabi work exchange information page here. Or view more work opportunities at Dancing Rabbit here!

Looking for green decor for your home? Take a look at our current listings of bamboo products, including furniture, rugs, and blinds.

Image credit: Ramin Rahimian