Sarita and I spent the weekend on Orcas Island, Washington, at a reunion of farm interns from the Bullock Permaculture Homestead. Some 40 interns from the past 15 years returned to the homestead to share what we've learned and what we've done. This was the first time I've really grasped the impact that one farm can make with an internship program. More than 150 interns have trained with the Bullock family.  All 40 who returned were implementing permaculture principals in their lives. One of the first interns, Mike Lockman, started a sustainable landscaping and design company in Seattle, WE Design. Justin Hanseth spent a year in Burundi, Africa using permaculture to create food security in the genocide- and AIDS-stricken country. He started a nursery and propagated more than 2,000 edible plants while working for Village Health Works. The project is described in the new book Strength in What Remains, by Tracy Kidder.  And, of course, Sarita and I built the original GrowFood.org while interning at the Bullock’s in 2001. Since then, we’ve helped more than 20,000 people find internships on roughly 2,000 organic farms across the U.S. and Latin America. And the entire program was inspired by our own farm internship, at the Bullock Permaculture Homestead.

-Ethan Schaffer
(Photo: Past interns planting garlic at the Bullock Homestead)