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Green University™ LLC Internships
Wilderness Survival Skills, Sustainable Living
and Green Business Opportunities
Alumni: Meet Previous Interns from Green University™
Read Norm's Primitive Skills Internship Journal
Change your world while learning to change the world. Our Green University™ LLC Internship program connects the dots from wilderness education to sustainable living. Through wilderness survival skills and adventures, we immerse participants in the natural world to address the issues of survival and sustainability at an intimate level. We focus on the essentials of physical and mental well-being, shelter, warmth, clothing, water, and food on a model scale as we journey to meet our needs. This survival living leads to discussions about global survival and sustainability. Conversations started in the wilds are continued as we return home and work on projects such as high-efficiency construction from mostly recycled materials. We begin with self-sufficiency and look outward towards global sustainability.
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| The 2,300 square-foot intern house is 95% complete. It has a daylight basement, main floor, loft, and greenhouse. |
Green Business OpportunitiesGreen University™ LLC 2009 Schedule
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. We took a break from the internship program for most of 2008, but wrapped up several projects on the house. There are additional house-building projects to complete with the internship program in 2009 and beyond. However, the primary focus of the internship program is shifting away from house-building, towards primitive skills, wilderness survival, and green business projects. We especially hope to expand our primitive skills programs for public schools. Additional green business projects are encouraged
March - April: Building a high-efficiency masonry fireplace in the intern house is the big project for spring. Other projects include plastering the basement, completing and trouble-shooting the new composting toilet, plus landscaping and planting the yard. 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! We will also tackle some hide-tanning projects.
May: May is our big month for working with the public schools. We elementary kids out on day trips and junior high classes out on overnight camping trips. We give you the necessary training to assist in mentoring students in wilderness survival and nature awareness skills and games. Afterwards, we will head to southwestern Idaho for a week-long wilderness survival trek and blue-camas harvest.
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!) Expect Tom and Renee and family to be periodically absent throughout the summer for some quality family time. Otherwise, we will tackle some small jobs on the construction site, but primarily focus on primitive skills and having fun in the great outdoors. This year we are gearing up for a month-long Stone Age living experiment in August. Interns will have the opportunity over the summer (if interested) to tan hides and make the necessary clothes and gear for this trip. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fully immerse oneself into Stone Age living.
September, October, November Tom and Renee and kids attend Rabbitstick Rendezvous for one week every September; it is an annual gathering in Idaho of primitive skills practitioners from across North America. Interns are also encouraged to register for this special event. Afterwards, we expect to begin construction of the garage that will be attached to the intern house. Fall is also time for making apple cider, always a treat for everyone!
Winter: Winter is a great time for craft-type primitive skills projects, such as tanning skins and making clothes, as well as philosophical discussions and developing green business ideas. However, Tom has several large writing projects scheduled for the coming winter. He will be either seriously distracted or completely absent for most of the winter. If the internship program runs through the winter it will be entirely on its own momentum, according to the interests and motivation of participating interns. Otherwise, we'll take a break from the internship program until Tom finishes his writing in the spring.
How to Apply
To apply, first read through our Internship FAQ's. Please give careful consideration before you contact us. It is helpful to read Tom's books, Participating in Nature, Botany in a Day, Living Homes, Roadmap to Reality and Direct Pointing to Real Wealth, so you know where we are coming from philosophically. Applicants who apply for six months or longer are favored in our selection process. The cost for internships is $500 per month, or a one-time fee of $2,500 for the entire year.
When ready, you may click over to our Contact Page and send us a detailed biography of yourself, what skills and ideas you have to contribute to the Green University™ LLC internship program, and what you hope to learn while you are here. We will read your bio and ask questions to make sure our program is appropriate for you before approving your application. All interns are required to read and sign our Liability Waiver and Release Form (PDF).
Too Good To Be True?
If our Green University™ LLC internship program sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. After all, you are paying to come serve as an intern (i.e.: slave) to learn by helping out with our many existing projects and business ventures. Also, please don't make us into something we are not. We are ordinary people. We eat frozen pizzas. We drive cars that burn gas or diesel. We watch television--or at least a lot of movies, since we have no TV reception. We have kids, and we are busy, scattered, and our schedule utterly unpredictable. Keep your expectations reasonable, and you just might be surprised by the unadvertised things that you would never expect.
Green University™ LLC Contact List
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, wilderness survival classes and informal canoe trips and walkabouts.
Alumni: Meet Previous Interns from Green University™
Return to the Green University™ Home Page
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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