Market Garden Applied Skills Placements:

• Intake 1: applications due by 10th July 2013, all applicants notified by 15th July 2013 - for ASP intake 18th August - 27th October 2013 (10 weeks)
• Intake 2: applications due by 10th November 2013, all applicants notified by 15th November 2013 - for ASP intake 19th January - 30th March 2014 (10 weeks)

The Milkwood Market Garden Applied Skills Placement (ASP) training program is an immersive land-based learning experience, at a unique small farm providing world-class permaculture and regenerative farming education.

We’ve created the ASP program with the core intention of hands-on Education; sharing the skill-set required to produce nutrient dense community scale food

This placement will provide rare opportunities for beginner farmers & Permaculturalists to develop the “how to” skill set to start, run and manage a functioning Organic Market Garden, to provide for the food needs of a functioning market garden enterprise.

Milkwood aims to empower students through dynamic learning environments, and give them the knowledge and skills to take back to their own projects, families and communities.

This is a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a structured and specialised learning program that will enable you to succeed in creating an abundant permaculture food production system. The program has been designed to give a personal “mentorship” type experience.

Core Learning outcomes:

Practical based Learning Outcomes

You will leave from this ASP training program with the following practical based competencies of how to;

• Manage nutrient cycling and fertility for a small scale market garden; composting, worm farms, green manures, soil testing & balancing
• Use appropriate technology for a small scale market garden; hand tools, small scale machinery, small scale irrigation systems
• Implement, manage and maintain your production system - from sowing to harvest
• Increase your observational skills; plants, pest, disease, production efficiencies
• Prepare your site from bare bones to a formed and prepared planting bed ready to be sown or transplanted
• Propagate healthy plants and develop a "nursery culture"
• Run a working irrigation program
• Harvest, process and distribute produce to industry standards; operate a farmers market stall, customer relations

Theory based Learning Outcomes

you will leave this ASP with the following theory based competencies of how to:

Work through our step by step development framework of starting your market garden project, from site assessment and creating your brief, all the way through to sending your product to market. This includes sessions focused in creating your brief and holistic goal

• Assessing your market eg; economies of scale, finding your niche, market research
• Assessing your site - from the soil up starting on new ground
• Defining your product - case studies into different lines of product eg; how to grow carrots, tomatoes etc, forms of production eg; CSA, Farmers Market
• Assessing required infrastructure for your production system
• Designing your production system - operations, process, efficiencies
• Creating a crop schedule, rotation & plan
• Creating an IPM (integrated pest management) program
• Developing an appropriate irrigation schedule
• Create a Documentation framework for your production system
• Going to market - processing, storage and distribution

As part of the Applied Skills Placement program, students will also attend the following Milkwood courses, whose learning outcomes are directly related to your ASP training.

• Serious Backyard Veggies - at Alexandria community gardens, Sydney, 2 days
• Introduction to Market Gardening - at Milkwood Farm, 3 days
• Integrated Pest Management - at Alexandria community gardens, Sydney, 2 days (dates forthcoming)

You will receive expert tuition in the field and in the classroom, a wealth of resources, a rich knowledge based toolkit, hands-on experience in the entire veggie growing process from seed to farmers market and restaurant, and the confidence and support to design your own future market garden enterprise, so you can get growing.

Your own major design project

In addition to hands-on training, as part of your ASP you will work on a major design project of your choosing. This is an opportunity to design your future herb growing enterprise, market garden, bicycle-powered backyard farm business, CSA or perhaps a market garden that integrates into a larger community project.

With your major design project you will be tutored through the many aspects of designing a functional growing space and/or enterprise: from your holistic goals through to market analysis, garden design, crop plan, irrigation planning, plans for fertility management, integrated pest management and more.

In summary, our Market Garden ASP’s include:

• 10 weeks of expert tuition and mentorship.
• Attendance to 3 courses, SBV, IMG & IPM
• 10 weeks of practical guidance and tuition working within the market garden.
• Practical experience selling to our local farmers market + cafe/restaurants
• 10 weeks of theory based tutor sessions that cover the theoretical knowledge of starting and running a market garden operation. (tutor sessions performed once a week)
• Time and support to work on your Major Project as part of your curriculum that you will take away at the end of the program as the foundations of your own project, with one on one guidance and mentorship.
• Field trips to working organic market gardens and the chance to talk with other experienced farmers.
• All meals, breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.
• Comfortable basic accommodation in your own caravan
• Organic food professionally and deliciously cooked by our on-farm chef
• Digital resources for starting your own project - how to's, templates, etc
• Personal weekly individual feedback and mentoring sessions; working with you through the whole learning process.
• A personalised experience with a maximum of 2 students per intake

Cost:

The cost of this ASP is $4,800, which equates to $480 per week and includes comfortable caravan accommodation, 3 Milkwood Farm-cooked meals a day for 10 weeks, field trips, tools, courses and personalised tuition. Payment plans available on request.

How to Apply

To indicate your strong intention to be part of our Applied Skills Placements, we ask that you make a deposit of $500.

After paying and filling in your details, we will send you an application form and an Applied Skills Placement handbook which outlines the full details + curriculum of the program.

After applications close, Michael will review the applications and choose two students. If successful, you will then be asked to pay the balance of the ASP fee. If not successful, you will be refunded your $500 deposit at this point.

Intake 1: applications due by 10th July 2013, all applicants notified by 15th July 2013 - for ASP intake 18th August - 27th October 2013 (10 weeks)

Intake 2: applications due by 10th November 2013, all applicants notified by 15th November 2013 - for ASP intake 19th January - 30th March 2014 (10 weeks)

You can apply for this placement below with your credit card, or get in contact with us to arrange payment by credit card, cheque or direct deposit.

About your tutor:

Michael Hewins is an organic market gardener with a background in permaculture, organic agriculture and horticulture and has a wide knowledge of how to grow high quality, healthy food.

He has 6 years of practical Market Gardening and horticultural experience, mostly within the sub-tropical regions of Australia and more recently at Milkwood Farm in a temperate climate.

He's run his own Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme in the northern rivers of NSW and has a great working knowledge of organic vegetable growing in both temperate and subtropical environments. Michaels' focus at Milkwood Farm is to:

• Manage the Milkwood Market Garden

• Deliver education related to the Market Garden (IMG introduction to market gardening, SBV serious backyard vegies, IPM integrated pest management, ASP applied skills placement program)

Michael has a passion for dynamic adult learning environments, and has a strong focus upon sharing his knowledge to help inspire and guide positive change in the community. For questions about this program, please contact Michael on michael@milkwood.net

For more info on what to expect from your stay at Milkwood Farm, please see our Staying at Milkwood Farm page. To figure out where exactly we are in relation to you, see our Getting to Milkwood Farm page.

For insight into the history of our market garden project at Milkwood Farm, see our market garden blogpost archive here...

We look forward to recieving your application! For any questions on this program, email Michael on michael@milkwood.net or call our office on +61 2 6373 7763