Apprenticeship application - Rancho Mastatal

1. Why are you applying to be an apprentice at the Ranch? What do you hope to get out of your experience?
   I am applying because living to heal and sustain life makes me come alive, and I hope to gain the knowledge and skills through an apprentice at the Ranch! I only recently aiming for this after discovering permaculture in december 2018, and it is a very transformative experience so far. Until 6 months ago I had spend all my life in a city, so from being a citygirl to now where I honestly do not know what I would spend my time on other than learning about sustainable living, expand my connection with nature and share this with likehearted people. I hope to observe, engage in and contribute to communities, and become confident in building them myself. I see this as a stepping stone on my journey towards a regenerative lifestyle where I most efficient can create social change as well. David Holmgren sums it up my expectations very nicely when he says " When we all become permaculture jacks-of-all-trades, building houses, gardening and self-reliant, as well as being self-employed and involved in community affairs, we have more chance of developing an intuitive sense of the patterns of resource allocation that work." -  I want more experience with sustainable living and I believe your place would be perfect.
2. What skills, interests, and/or experience will you bring with you?
   In june 2019 I will have done my first PDC at Kendall Permaculture and by that time I have also volunteered at his permaculture demonstration site for 6 months with similar experience to your life skills tasks, such as managing a cow-manure biodigester, chopping wood and making fire for hot showers, and harvesting bananas. So far I've been here for 3 months and helped building a big swale, managing 5 cows, 5 goats and 80 chickens, preserving of crops and taking care of a big veggie garden. And I dont know what other skills I will gain from his site, but this is such a valuable experience for me as I used to live very disconnected to nature. Last week I went to a talk about apothecary, and by the end of april I will have done a Lomi Lomi massage course. I will bring some skills and experience in my interests, which at the moment is all about sustain and heal natures and our health. My Australian visa expires in september, and if I get an a apprentice at the Ranch I might have experience from working on an organic vegetable farm in Tasmania and from volunteering on an aquaculture farm in Vietnam. Other than hands on interests, I want to be better at creating space with open hearts and give peace to suffering minds.
3. Have you lived in community before, and if so, what was it like?
   I have not lived in community before, but I have done a lot of volunteering work and have got an understanding of how many different personalities and needs requires tolerance, patience and clear communication.
4. Tell us about your work ethic.
   I want to finish a task and gladly put my name on it! I will gladly put my name on something that has been done well and efficient, and where ones involved feel satisfied. In my experience so far it is done best when ones invovled are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, where every effort is appreciated and with a focus on the task with a clear understanding of its purpose and the overall goal. I have greater trust in strategies that are made from cooperation, so when I take on the leader hat Im very open. My work ethics are alligned with the ethics and principles of permaculture, which makes hard work so enjoyable!
5. Do you consider yourself to be a positive force?
   Yes and I see it as the fuel for resilience. All the things I desire to learn and gain at the Ranch, I believe will be learned and gained at sometime if others apprentice application overshines mine. My positive force has become so much stronger after discovering permaculture, which main goal I believe is to enhance living systems to benefit all life. Also I use singing, dancing and being silly as my positivity tools!
6.  What do you like to do in your free time?
   I read a lot at the moment, Im surrounded by amazing permaculture books and just finished "The one-straw revolution". I have whole days free in the weekends and the other volunteers and I play board games, go to the beach, experiment with processing food and go out for live music. I love swimming, whether its a creek, pond or the ocean, and dancing, both are like meditation for me. Im also very interested in photography, though im not very skilled, I take alot and enjoy taking pictures of special moments, giving those a part of them a story to hold on to and share.
7. Is there anything else that you'd like to tell us about yourself?
   I am like the people who's interested in the Ranch, very passionate about healing our shared home, and it excites me and brings me joy in life that there are so many ways to do it. I feel very hard and I felt all the individual, collective, social, cultural and ecological suffering of the world, and before permaculture I was completely paralyzed. Feeling this urgency to act, I tried to affect those around me towards sustainable awareness by trying to put my fears on them, but I was left more isolated and in apathy. With the awareness gained so far on my permaculture journey I feel love very hard from all the individuals, collective movements and communities I've met, that driven by love to Earth live to social, cultural and ecological healing. Other than that I really hope to hear from you!