Internships

Our mission

Kōanga’s Mission is to inspire, encourage and support regenerative self-reliant communities by: 

• protecting, developing and sharing our NZ heritage food plants, and animals
• researching, experiencing and sharing knowledge on regenerative systems
• engaging with others to facilitate the adoption of a regenerative culture

Kaupapa of Internships

Kōanga 12 month Internships are a wonderful opportunity to fully engage with a team of people learning to live in ways that regenerate the ecology and all life around them by the way they live. It is an opportunity to learn many skills which you can then take back to your own community, and potentially an opportunity to create employment for yourself or even take a job at Kōanga. You will get out of this what you put in,  and we will support you in any way that we can… we are committed to training people in key fields that feel critical for the future. We are looking for highly motivated Interns who are out to support and be a huge part of the “Regeneration Revolution”

These internships are unique as you are not only learning from experienced experts in your desired area of focus but you are also sitting within the wider Kōanga framework and could immerse yourself in far wider learning than your specific internship will provide, including all aspects of soil health, crop health and human health, and many other  aspects, as well as experiencing living simply.

Internships can be suitable for couples wanting to learn together.

We have a range of possibilities;

Gardening and Seed Saving Internships (two internships – one starts Jan 2023 for 1 year, the other starts Jan 2023 for 4 months and may lead to permanent employment)

These internships are designed to equip the intern with the skills to be able to grow their own high quality food, to develop skills needed to save their own seeds and to potentially develop a career in food production or seed saving. It also provides the intern with the opportunity to fully engage with a team of people who are learning to live in ways that regenerate the ecology and life around them by the way they live.
As part of this internship you will work alongside our gardeners learning skills such as:

• Bio-intensive practices
• How to work efficiently with low impact on your body.
• Propagation
• Regenerative soil development techniques
• Growing nutrient dense food.
• Garden planning and management
• Plant health
• Compost making

Animals and Research Garden Internship (begins Feb) – Position filled for 2023.  

This Internship covers working with animals (cows, many types of poultry, pigs and potentially sheep) as well as managing our Local Regenerative Food Production model (our research garden).

This Internship will be especially suited to somebody looking to be working in integrated land use systems including a wide range of animals as well as vegetable production. In this case the vegetable production is a small scale commercial model using only local resources and committed to growing nutrient dense food and building soil.

Position filled for 2023 – now taking applications for 2024 intake. Applications will be held until November 2023 and considered then.

Forest Garden / Tree Nursery Internship  (begins March) – Position filled for 2023

This internship is designed to provide the intern with the opportunity to fully engage with a team of people who are learning to live in ways that regenerate the ecology and life around them by the way they live, and to learn forest garden and tree nursery related skills and knowledge. Learnings will include Forest Garden Design and Management, the role of forest garden support species, the importance of heritage fruit trees, fruit tree propagation including growing from seed, cuttings, grafting and budding.

Position filled for 2023 – now taking applications for 2024 intake. Applications will be held until November 2023 and considered then.

Spaces are strictly limited on these internships and we ask that if you are interested you e-mail [email protected] and request an internship application form or to be put on the mailing list for internships as they become available. If you are keen to apply for an internship at Koanga come and visit us, check us out and get a clearer idea of what it is like here and if that fits with you.

Wwoofing / Internships in Hokianga

These are long term wwoofing arrangements at Gail & John’s farm in Hokianga (so not at Kōanga near Wairoa in Hawkes Bay). Gail & John have been involved with Kōanga for many years. They are seed growers, grow their own food, have the Kōanga Northern Fruit Tree Collection on their land, have Dexter Cattle, Wiltshire and Arapawa sheep and the usual assortment of ducks, chooks and geese. The experience is very much about creating a productive homestead. Length is negotiable and there are potentially possibilities for the right people to settle there long term.

For more info e-mail [email protected]