2019 Summer Internship at Phil’s Farm
Description of farm including location

Phil’s Farm is a 1 acre, no-till farm that produces organic vegetables, herbs and flowers in Eliot, ME. The farm was started by Phil Cuddeback, class of Bowdoin 2013, in the spring of 2018. The food is sold primarily to a 50 member CSA with a pickup location at a brewery in Portsmouth, NH. The CSA allows Phil and his farm crew the opportunity to engage with their customers and in turn helps the customers gain a better appreciation for the food they’re eating. Other markets include a farmers market in York and a couple restaurants.

Phil’s Farm believes in producing affordable food in a way that is good for the environment, the people producing it and the end consumers. As a result, we do not use any pesticides, herbicides or harmful chemicals on the farm. We also strive to minimize the use of gasoline, oil and plastic products and instead use solar power, hand tools and reusable bags or no packaging at all whenever possible.

To learn more, check out www.philsfarmcsa.com and @philsfarm_inmaine on Instagram.

Start date and end date of internship and hours
The internship will take place from June 3rd to August 30th.

The expected hours on the farm are Monday through Friday 6am to 4pm with a quick break for breakfast and an hour for lunch. Attending the CSA pickup on Thursdays from 5-8pm is optional but can be a fun way to interact with the customers.

The crew this year will be myself and one MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners) apprentice. The apprentice will likely be someone who is learning to farm but will be with me from April to October.

Detailed list of the intern duties

Greenhouse planting, watering and potting up – We fill trays with potting mix, plant the seeds, cover with more potting mix and water them in. Each day, all the trays get watered. Certain plants like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers get moved from trays to larger pots to give them more space before being transplanted outside.

Bed preparation – this involves raking leaves off the bed, broadforking to loosen the soil, applying compost and amendments and raking the bed again to create a level surface.

Transplanting – the act of taking seedlings from the greenhouse and planting them in the field.

Harvesting – we use a knife to cut greens or simply our hands to harvest larger products like tomatoes and cucumbers.

Washing and packing – we use both a series of dunk tanks and a spray hose to clean the vegetables. They then get weighed and packed into bins or bags.

Pest and disease management – this can involve physically removing pests like the cabbage worm or protecting drops with a thin fabric sheet called row cover. Disease management can involve pruning and removing infected plants.

Almost all of the tasks will be done together as a team. This allows me to best teach the tasks as well as to work efficiently while having fun.

Expectations

Firstly, I’d like to share the expectations I have for myself. These are:

• To create a fun, educational and effective work environment
• To end work at 4pm each day – this give you time to relax, make dinner and do things off the farm in the evenings.
• To understand that you may be learning a lot of things for the first time and that things may take you longer to do while you’re learning them.
• To appreciate your hard work and contribution to the farm and business

My expectations for you are to:

• Work hard
• Try your best with each activity
• Be ready to start work on time each day
• Have fun
• To learn
• Be communicative and honest with me with any challenges you’re experiencing directly related to the farm
• And hopefully, to fall in love with farming.

Skills, abilities and perspective desired in a successful candidate

A successful candidate should feel comfortable and enjoy working with their body. You should also be comfortable working on tasks for a couple hours at a time – sometimes we’ll listen to music, have a conversation or just enjoy the silence in almost a meditative state. You should also enjoy working outside and be willing to work in all kinds of weather conditions.

I would like you to have the understanding and to keep in mind that I am running a business and that this is my second year doing so. This can sometimes be stressful and I may ask that we try to do things faster or skip certain steps in order to get certain tasks finished in a given amount of time. Farming is all about timing and process.

Application requirements

Resume and a brief cover letter.

Housing included?

Housing is not included but I can help you find suitable housing through craigslist and my network of friends in the area.

Compensation

This is an unpaid internship but I encourage you to apply for the Bowdoin Career Planning Funded Internship Grant for up to $5,000. You are also welcome to take home as much food from the farm as you would like.

Contact

Please send you resume and brief cover letter to me at [email protected].

Phil’s Farm

(610) 574-6357

585 Goodwin Rd. Eliot, ME 03903

philsfarmcsa.com

@philsfarm_inmaine

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation has two open positions in support of NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

The positions are:

-National External Affairs Coordinator

-Junior Front End Web Developer

Both positions will work in support of NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries HQ office in Silver Spring MD.  See the full listing on their website here.

https://marinesanctuary.org/career/

Worth Applying for!

Applications for the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program (conservationscholars.ucsc.edu) at the University of California Santa Cruz are now available, and to ask for your help reaching prospective Scholars.  Each March we select 20 early-undergraduate Scholars from around the country to participate in a two-year conservation mentorship program centered on the summers between academic years.  Our goal is to serve students from groups traditionally underrepresented in conservation, across disciplines, who can contribute to diversifying, redefining, and strengthening efforts to protect land, wildlife and water.  We focus our efforts on serving college freshmen, sophomores, and juniors with two years of college left at a stage when we can support their undergraduate careers and their choices as they graduate.  Students who attend or are transferring to any four-year institution in the US, its territories and Native nations are eligible.

During the first year Scholars participate in an eight-week, intensive summer course integrating conservation design, leadership and research experiences while traveling with a close group of peers and mentors.  During the second summer, Scholars pursue eight-week research and practice internships with nationally recognized conservation organizations and agencies.  A professional development retreat after the second summer brings together the Scholar cohort and prepares them to apply for jobs and graduate school. Throughout the two years and beyond, we work with home mentors at each Scholar’s campus to provide ongoing support. Our Scholars receive a $4,000 stipend each summer and become part of the national Doris Duke Conservation Scholars network for life.

Applications for the 2019 class of Scholars are available on the website and due February 8, 2019.

For more information, visit conservationscholars.ucsc.edu or email the Program Director, Dr. Justin Cummings, [email protected].

Paid Internship at the Natural Resources Council of Maine- deadline extended to November 30!

School Program Intern, Engaging Maine Middle School Students in Protecting the Nature of Maine

Unfortunately, we have had very little in the number of applicants for this internship. Would you please recirculate? I am going to extend the deadline to November 30.

Here is the link to the posting of paid internship at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. The amount paid is $1500 and it averages to about 5 hours per week.  We are looking for a part-time person with interests/majoring in Communications, Education, and/or Environment Sciences. The internship is between January and June.

Job Description

Overview

The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) is seeking a School Program Intern to serve as a resource for teachers who have received an Engaging Maine Middle School Students in Protecting the Nature of Maine grant from NRCM. This part-time paid internship will run from mid-January to mid-June.

NRCM has received funding to award up to eight small grants to middle school educators. The purpose of the grants is to raise awareness about the importance of Maine’s environment and to enhance NRCM’s existing work in one of our four project areas: 1) Forests & Wildlife 2) Healthy Waters 3) Climate and Clean Energy, and 4) Sustainable Maine. Grant recipients will design a project for their classroom, school, or club that aligns with NRCM’s mission and one of those focus areas. In addition to creating and implementing the project, the grant recipient will communicate to different audiences about their project.

Job Responsibilities

The highest priority of the School Program Intern will be to serve as a resource for grant recipients. These responsibilities include serving as a primary contact for the teachers/project leaders and supervising the project progress as described in the grant applications. This work will include:

• maintaining a constant and consistent line of communication with grantees;
• reviewing progress and providing guidance to teachers as necessary;
• managing blog posts written by teachers, students, or others involved in the project;
• assisting with a piece for the NRCM newsletter and/or blog;
• providing input on a presentation about the project;
• drafting a press release and helping in other ways to generate media attention for the projects, as requested by NRCM or the teachers;
• taking photos, or arrange for photos, to be used for media purposes, and obtaining necessary permission forms;
• playing a key role in social media for the projects; and,
• work with one or more of the classrooms, in celebration of Earth Day in April, to plan an activity based on clean water, such as picking up trash around the school grounds or creating/hanging posters around the school and/or community about the importance of clean water.

Qualifications

• Must be enrolled in four-year Bachelor’s Degree program;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills;
• Ability to manage priorities and meet deadlines;
• Ability to work with a range of individuals;
• Proficient in word processing and related tools (Microsoft);
• Willingness and ability to travel;
• Should enjoy working as part of a team, with an interest in public education and advocacy work; and,
• Commitment to Maine’s environment.

Common NRCM Job Responsibilities

NRCM is committed to a positive work culture where diversity is honored and respected. To this end, all employees are expected to:

• Maintain positive and productive working relationships with all NRCM staff members and also with NRCM’s members, external partners, policymakers, and the general public. This includes proactive work on understanding and addressing issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice; providing and receiving constructive feedback; and a willingness to resolve conflicts constructively.
• Participate in organizational meetings and activities as requested, such as monthly staff meetings, trainings, and ad hoc planning committees.
• Complete all administrative work on time, such as time sheets, purchase orders, project reports, and planning documents.
• Be familiar with and follow organizational protocols and policies.

Physical Requirements of the Job

The School Program Intern position can be done remotely however some work will be required at the NRCM headquarters in Augusta, working at a computer station and performing office duties such as phoning, filing, and copying, and the ability to lift objects up to 10 pounds. NRCM will provide reasonable accommodation to employees with disabilities where appropriate. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Workplace Environment

NRCM strives to provide a supportive work environment through fair and competitive compensation and benefits, up-to-date equipment and IT support, adequate supervision, and ongoing professional development. The work environment is friendly, fun, cooperative, and very fast-paced. Staff members need to be able to work independently and adapt to changing priorities.

To apply: Please send cover letter, resume, and writing sample (blog post is preferable) to Kelsey Grossmann, Receptionist and Administrative Assistant, NRCM, 3 Wade Street, Augusta ME 04330 or via email at [email protected]. Second- and third-year students are encouraged to apply. Deadline to apply is Friday, November 30, 2018.

Gabby

Gabrielle Grunkemeyer

Grants Director

Natural Resources Council of Maine
3 Wade Street, Augusta, ME 04330

(207) 430-0124

www.nrcm.org

Erik Peterson, Assistant Professor – History of Science at the University of Alabama presents “Finding the Organism in Computational History of Biology”

Thursday October 25, 2018 at 4:25 in Druck 16

Reception at 4PM at the Druckenmiller Sills Lobby, under the large mural.

How do you see changes in a central concept of a science over time? Traditionally, historians of biology examine the texts of a few “greatest hits”—Darwin, Morgan, Pauling, Crick, Jacob & Monod, and so on—and infer the turning points. But what if we could survey those far from the centers of disciplinary notoriety?

Erik and his team applied computational text mining methods from Digital Humanities and Digital History to over 30,000 journal articles from 12 journals over the early and mid-20th century. Hoping to locate changes in the concept of “organism” over the decades, what the data showed regarding changing discourse in the life sciences, however, was more surprising.

Dr. Peterson has degrees in Biological Anthropology, History, and History and Philosophy of Science. His recent book, The Life Organic: the Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics (Pittsburgh, 2017), is more exciting than it sounds.