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Green University™
Green Building, Green Business, and Primitive Skills Internships
Read Norm's Primitive Skills Internship Journal.
Apply to our Internship program and change your world while you learn to change the world. Expect a well-rounded, although exceedingly informal curriculum that includes everything from stone masonry and welding, to wilderness survival expeditions--as well as the more cerebral exercises of writing project proposals and applying for grant funds for projects such as the Jefferson River Canoe Trail. |
| The 2,300 square-foot intern house is 90% complete. It has a daylight basement, main floor, loft, and greenhouse. The greenhouse is nearly ready for planting. |
Here is approximately to expect for 2008:
Thomas J. Elpel has spent the past two years writing a new book, Roadmap to Reality. He expects to have the book off to the printer in March of 2008. Tom plans to be more fully engaged in the family through the rest of 2008. Therefore, we are only accepting previous interns into our 2008 program. We are not presently prepared to take on anyone new, but be sure to check back for 2009.
In 2005 we tore down the 1970 Blair mobile home previously used as intern housing. We recycled everything possible from the trailerhouse and broke ground on a new passive solar stone building to serve as the intern house for Green University™. We worked on the project through 2007 and now have a mostly functional structure for 2008.
March, April, and May: As soon as the new book is off to the printer, Tom and son Donny, and a handful of previous interns are headed south to Arizona for a month-long walkabout.
Top priorities after the trek will include building the stairwary to the loft, landscaping the yard, and planting gardens. Expect to be mostly engaged in construction. Yes, the bottom line is that you are paying good money to come work your butt off building a house that is ultimately for somebody else, but future interns will be immensely grateful for your efforts! Read More.
Along the way we will have a variety of distractions, such as taking the entire 7th and 8th grade classes out for overnight wilderness survival camping trips. Hopefully, we'll squeeze in some other field trips with the elementary school kids as well. You will also have time to pursue your own primitive skills/green business interests.
June, July and August: Summer is play time in Montana, when the snow melts out of the mountains and wildflowers explode with color in every meadow. (Okay, so it can snow here in the middle of June, but it is still summer by our standards!) There will be plenty of projects to keep up with around the place, and we'll probably tackle some small jobs on the construction site, but we will mostly focus on having fun in the great outdoors. Tom and Renee's highest priority in summer is to put in some quality time with their kids. Expect the Elpel's to be entirely absent for up to four weeks during the summer.
Summer is a great time to pursue your primitive skills or green business interests, and your enthusiasm and questions are the spark that gets Tom excited to teach. Every year is different, based on the interests that our interns bring to the school. Some individuals have had a passion for botany, others for grandiose primitive shelters, and some have focused almost entirely on hide tanning, making their own head-to-toe buckskin outfits. Whatever your interests are, we will coach you to the best of our abilities, with our enthusiasm for the subject typically matched to yours: If you're excited about it, then we probably will be too.
We'll take a break from Silver Star from time to time for some primitive wilderness survival treks for recreation and entertainment. For a sampler of some of the outings we do, be sure to read In Search of Spring and Summer of Walkabouts.
September - December: Just as soon as our kids go back to school, we'll head out on a primitive skills expedition somewhere in Montana--either a walkabout or a canoe trip. Interns will have had an opportunity over the course of the summer (if interested) to tan hides and make clothes and gear. This outing will be a good chance to test out skills and gear in the wilds. This is not an actual class, and anyone else who has at least some buckskin clothing and primitive gear is welcome to join us for fun. After the expedition we will head off to Rabbitstick Rendezvous, an annual gathering in Idaho of primitive skills practitioners from across North America.
Immediately after Rabbitstick we will build a masonry stove in the intern house and film a video of the process, plus we'll tie up other remaining building projects around the place.Then we will transition more formally into the green business aspect of our program. We will be able to discuss green business ideas throughout the time that you are here, and potentially begin the research and development phase of those projects. Winter is also a good time for craft-type primitive skills projects, such as tanning skins and making clothes.
Don't expect anything remotely resembling an organized schedule. We will work together on building projects part of the time, while at other times you will be on your own, doing self-directed learning. We will gladly coach you in any way that we can, but we will not get you out of bed in the morning and walk you through a schedule to accomplish your goals. Self-directed learning is a foreign concept to most people, since our educational system encourages people to become dependent on other people to tell them what to do and when to do it. Green University™ is a great place to develop your skills as a self-learner, as long as you are willing to put forth the effort to make things happen.
Duration: Green University™ 2008 Internships start March 1st, or as soon after that as you are able to come, and run until you have successfully launched a Green Business (if you desire to)-- or until we mutually get tired of each other, whichever comes first!
Cost: The cost for internships is $500 per month, or a one-time fee of $2,500 for the entire year. Most previous interns have thus far stayed from March or April through September or October, but now that we have a roof on the intern house, some interns have returned numerous times throughout the year. Applicants who apply for six months or longer are favored in our selection process. Lodging and basic food staples, (rice, beans, flour, oats, etc.) will be provided. It would help to read Tom's books, Participating in Nature, Botany in a Day, Living Homes, and Direct Pointing to Real Wealth, so you know where we are coming from philosophically. All interns will be required to read and sign our Liability Waiver and Release Form (PDF)
Applications: To apply, first read through our Internship FAQ's. Please give careful consideration before you contact us. When ready, you may click over to our Contact Page and send us a detailed biography of yourself, why you are interested in our Green Business Internship, and what kind of Green Business projects interest you the most.
To be notified about upcoming additions and changes to our programs, you are invited to join our Green University™ Upcoming Classes Call List. Please click over to our Contact Page and send an e-mail asking to be included on the Green University™ Call List. The list is not used for any other purpose, and it will not be shared with any other source. Expect to receive class updates 2 to 4 times a year, with notices on stone masonry classes, earth skills classes, and informal canoe trips and walk-abouts.
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The longer it has been since I was out there the more I appreciate my brief time with all of you. My memories of sitting on a big fallen cottonwood by the river at your store and watching the birds dart around just above the surface of the water, or of hiking in the Tobacco Roots through the thick grass beneath the conifers, have only become clearer and more profound with the passing of time. Even remembering the pain of hunger and cold, it all seems so... necessary. I just wanted to thank you, Tom, since I don't think I really have quite properly enough, for the whole experience.
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