Internships

Through our affiliate farms and collaborating experts/mentors, Ayers Foundation offers internships to secondary school students.

Our internship program incorporates science, technology, engineering, and math where applicable and will even integrate the arts and humanities as appropriate.

Please contact us to explore what’s best for you or your students, and let's collaborate in tailoring a program to your needs and those of your students.

• Operating a Small Farm - Developing and practicing common skills required in farming (carpentry, electrical services, plumbing, preventative maintenance, farm safety and use of power tools, fencing, brush management, restoration of historical stonewalls, etc.)
• Organic Agriculture - Immersion in all aspects of organic agriculture (seeding, transplanting, soil management, plant care, cover crops, intercropping, Integrated Pest Management, bio-control, plant nutrition, crop rotation, energy conservation, etc.)
• Invasive species management - Learning and practicing techniques for managing invasive plant species
• Sustainable forestry - Ecosystem-based management of the land - taking all of its elements into careful consideration, which include water, soils, wildlife, timber, non-timber specialty products, biodiversity, scenic beauty and more. Students will help collect data in the forest and may even participate in the composition of management/stewardship plans.
• Woodlot management - Sustainable and even flow of fuel wood. Program focuses on safe and environmentally sound cutting and extraction of logs for processing into firewood
• Animal husbandry - Caring for goats, cows, and other ruminants to maintain animal wellness and production
• Aquaculture - Learn the basics in the burgeoning industry of shellfish farming. Come to understand the important economic and ecological role of RI salt ponds and how "best practices" are self-sustaining.

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Johnson & Wales Culinary and Sustainability Wellness/Workshop

For students at JWU, we recently launched a culinary and sustainability/wellness workshop. The group took a learning expedition at Wild Harmony Farm and Hillandale Farm to kick off the program.

We complete 6 events per year at Partner Farms.

This program is most likely evolving into a full degree program, entailing internship at partner farms in addition to learning expeditions.