Rural Community Garden Food Security Internship
2025 UVM summer intern for Glover Equity
Hours: 20 hours/week
June 9-August 15
$18/hr
Position Title: Rural Community Food Security Internship
Organization Profile: Equity is central to building a sustainable community where there is a sense of belonging and a feeling that all are welcome. To be resilient, we will need to work together to overcome complex challenges like climate change and economic shocks. We will need to commit to mutual aid and support to overcome these crises. Glover Equity (https://gloverequity.org/) exists to turn these goals into a reality for our community in a fragile world.
Internship Overview: Last summer the Glover Equity committee designed and built the accessible All Person’s Park, Sensory Trail, and Natural Play Area (https://gloverparkvt.org/). This summer we plan to build within the park a Community Garden and to work on local food access and production, community food security, and preserving sustainable agricultural knowledge. We were very grateful to work with exceptional UVM interns last year and look forward to the opportunity again.
The past two summers we have had unprecedented flooding in our town, most notably the Barton River that runs through Glover village. Many village garden plots were wiped out by the flooding. As such, we have the need to move gardens to higher ground to avoid future losses due to climate change. In addition, there are many people in our community who do not have access to land that are interested in growing their own food. There are senior citizens in elder care housing that would like to participate. There are folks living in apartments or with no arable space that would like to grow food. We intend to provide the space for the public as well as support for this collective gardening effort, including tools, resources, practices, and expertise to increase local food security and resilience.
Funded in part by USDA as research into the problems of agriculture in its broadest aspects, and investigations of the development and improvement of rural communities and the maximum contribution by agriculture to public welfare.
Preferred Skills and Interests: The ideal intern candidate would be exploring environmental studies, sustainable agriculture, plant/soil sciences, public health, and/or community development as an undergraduate.
Intern Responsibilities: We have some flexibility depending on the skills and interests of selected intern. However, tasks might include:
- Communicate to public upcoming garden collaborations and events
- Erect fencing around garden for protection from wildlife
- Construct gravity fed rain water catchment system off pavilion
- Build garden shed for tools and supplies
- Research plant combinations that are symbiotic
- Identify sustainable inputs, including organic fertilizers and compost
- Plan garden layout with paths and sections and produce map
- DIY raised garden beds with repurposed steel and cedar
- Water plants with drip irrigation and monitor soil aridity
- Implement Integrated Pest management and record
- Design and print garden signs
- Produce educational garden materials for the public
- Create public calendar of what and when each crop was planted
- Photograph garden each week
- Harvest and process plants as they are ready
- Distribute harvested crops to community members
- Prepare community meals with ingredients from garden
- Host public garden tours
- Participate in special park events
Physical Demands: This position includes consistent time outdoors as well as some physical demands such as lifting and moving heavy material, bending over in the garden for hours, or using manual hand tools for extended periods. Intern will need work boots, clothes, and gloves that can get dirty and wet.
Intern Learning Opportunities: The intern will have an opportunity to learn how to take care of all the responsibilities listed above. You are not expected to know it. You will be working with volunteer members of the Glover Equity team, as well as community members. Your supervisor will be Jethro Hayman, chair of the Equity committee, UVM alumni, and former teacher at Cornell University.
Additional info: The intern hired for this position will be part of a UVM-sponsored cohort of interns working with a range of organizations in the Northeast Kingdom who are supporting Community Resilience. The position includes participation in a week-long community orientation along with other UVM interns placed in partner organizations and weekly intern cohort workshops for professional development, networking, and reflection and a final sharing event in mid-August.
Housing: Free housing is provided in a shared residence at Sterling College in nearby Craftsbury, VT.
Travel: As travel is required between the provided housing and Glover, applicants should have access to their own reliable transportation for the duration of the internship.
If you have any questions or would like to talk more, please feel free to reach out to jedi@gloverequity.org.