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Internship at the Pfeiffer Center is a full time
program that combines academic work with hands on experience in the Center
gardens and apiary. The student is expected to spend 40 to 50 hours in a 5 & 1/2
day week divided between class time and garden work. Class and individual
instruction time is a significant portion of this especially in the winter, with
the garden taking up a major portion of the time in the spring and summer. There
are 4 weeks of vacation in December and early January.
Interns attend all courses and workshops of the Pfeiffer
Center and some classes in conjunction with
Sunbridge College students. Most workshops and some lectures, along with
ongoing garden work, take place on the weekends. The weekly seminar on Rudolf
Steiner’s “Agriculture” and monthly day long sessions in the introductory course
“Training in Biodynamics” anchor the academic work. A strong emphasis is placed
on learning and deepening biodynamic principles and techniques. Along with
gardening, organic beekeeping and gardening in education are important focal
points of the work at the Center.
Working along with Mac Mead, the student will improve
basic skills and learn advanced techniques in the garden, greenhouse and apiary.
After a probationary period the student will be expected to help carry
responsibility for the garden and surrounding landscape.
Internship at the Pfeiffer Center provides a significant
amount of instruction in both classroom and individual settings, unlike most
farm apprenticeships that are more physically demanding and provide little or no
academic background.
The Pfeiffer Center will cooperate with colleges and universities offering
credit for internship programs or work on special projects. It is the
responsibility of the student to secure credit for the internship
Internship is intended for students in agriculture and
environmental sciences and related fields that want to broaden and deepen their
understanding of organic sustainable agriculture and the Biodynamic approach.
Some gardening experience and familiarity with biodynamics is helpful but not
necessary. The main qualification is a willingness to work and openness to new
ideas.
Internships normally last a year and start in the early
spring. Different starting dates are available subject to availability and
agreement of the Director.
Qualified interns are provided with a dormitory room in Holder
House, a 40-room student dormitory on the campus. No stipend is provided. Some
part-time work on campus is available to qualified students. A limited number of
Summer Internships are available under different conditions.
College Credit
The Pfeiffer Center will cooperate with colleges and universities offering
credit for internship programs or work on special projects. It is the
responsibility of the student to secure credit for the internship.
For more information or for an application form, call (845)
352-5020 ext. 20; fax: (845) 352-5071; email:
intern@pfeiffercenter.org.
The Pfeiffer Center is part of a community of institutions
dedicated to fostering a healing impulse in society and based on the work of
Rudolf Steiner. This community, located on approximately 200 acres in Chestnut
Ridge, New York about 25 miles north of New York city, includes the Threefold
Educational Foundation, Green Meadow Waldorf School,
Sunbridge College,
Eurythmy Spring Valley, The Fellowship
Community, Duryea Farm, and the Hungry Hollow Natural Foods Market and dates
from 1926. Internship at the Center provides a unique opportunity to experience
the active educational and artistic life of this community.
The Pfeiffer Center was founded in 1996 to develop and promote
a healthy approach to caring for the land through biodynamic agriculture and is
co-sponsored by the Threefold Educational
Foundation and Sunbridge College. The
Center garden is at the heart of everything we do. Started in September 1996,
this oasis of mixed vegetables, flowers and herbs began to show the benefits of
biodynamic treatment in its first year of operation. Raising up to 40 different
vegetables with their varying growth cycles and needs exposes students to a
range of experience and research opportunities. Perennials and annuals sustain a
wide spectrum of insect and bird life. Dye plants, fruit trees, berries and a
small apiary round out the picture.
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