Full Table CSA: Tending the Turning Internship NC

Tending the Turning is a 2+ month experiential learning internship offered by Full Table CSA at Common Ground Ecovillage in central North Carolina. The program provides hands-on training in small-scale ecological farming and sustainable agriculture practices on approximately 1.5 acres of cultivated land. Full Table CSA is a farm business that supplies fresh produce year-round to over 90 community-supported agriculture members, demonstrating how productive food systems can be developed on limited land while maintaining ecological integrity.

Interns commit to 20 hours of farm work per week spread across four days (Monday through Friday), plus a minimum of 5 hours weekly of community work. Community responsibilities include meal preparation, maintaining common spaces, and supporting community events such as seasonal celebrations. The internship is guided by an experienced team at Full Table with over 64 combined years of organic farming expertise, ensuring participants receive dedicated mentorship throughout their learning journey.

The educational curriculum extends far beyond conventional organic gardening and farming. Interns gain exposure to diverse regenerative practices including beyond-organic gardening techniques, cheesemaking, goat husbandry, mushroom log inoculation, composting methods, natural building, sociocracy governance systems, compassionate communication, farm-to-table cooking, and permaculture design principles. This comprehensive approach reflects the farm's commitment to developing both hard agricultural skills and intangible competencies related to business management and community living.

Common Ground Ecovillage, where the internship takes place, is a justice-oriented intentional community spanning over 100 acres with deep commitments to environmental and social justice. The ecovillage integrates gardens, orchards, meadows, woodlands, trails, streams, and ponds into its design. The community operates using sociocracy as its governance system, emphasizing compassionate communication and collaborative decision-making. Full Table CSA operates as part of this larger vision, contributing to the ecovillage's mission of creating a model for new social futures through deep collaboration with living systems.

Interns are expected to embody specific values during their participation: patience and kindness toward themselves during the learning process, tidiness and mindfulness in shared spaces, respect for all beings on the land, and a commitment to finding joy, reverence, and gratitude in growing healthy food while advancing justice and local food sovereignty. The internship represents an opportunity to engage in meaningful agricultural work while becoming part of a broader movement toward regenerative living and community-based food systems that prioritize both ecological health and social equity.