Groundwork Food Systems Fellowship

Our world asks us to radically reimagine ourselves and our society. It’s common knowledge that U.S. society is too destructive to our world to continue into the future, but what does the alternative look like? This fellowship offers a structured space to build a steadfast vision for a livable future. Throughout the fellowship, food serves as the lens through which we see our personal and societal relationships with the Earth. Our food systems are a web connected to all aspects of our relationships with the Earth. In our relationship with a single seed, we can see our relationship with water, fossil fuels, climate, land stewardship, histories, economics, supply chains, policy, and culture.

Each morning, fellows tend to our organic vegetable and seed farm. Mixed into the work of planting, weeding, and harvesting are opportunities to learn about food and seed systems, building a base of skills and knowledge for fellows to become changemakers with the food system. Through the week, each afternoon brings a different form of learning: Tuesdays are our local farmers market, Wednesdays are academic seminars on cultural shift and post-capitalist theory. Thursdays are “crafternoon”—a hands-on exploration of place-based lifeways. We engage our heads, hands, and hearts in the practices of remaking ourselves in relationship with the land.

Seasonal cycles set the rhythm of the fellowship as we deepen our roots in the land and build a holistic understanding of what a real, multi-generational form of sustainability might look like. In today’s world, living well and growing healthy food is an act of defiance, and Groundwork’s farm is a place where we explore what it means to take power back from the flattening forces of industrialism, consumerism, and capitalism. The farm is a place to find joy, pick fruit, weave baskets, and plan (and plant) the revolution.

For future environmental and agricultural leaders who sense that there is another way, this fellowship offers deep opportunities for growth and exploration. We want to be honest and upfront; this fellowship is challenging in many ways: physically, mentally, and socially. These seven months are characterized by a full schedule, physically demanding work, and nonstop learning. It might not be for everyone—success here requires a certain level of grit, humility, and adaptability that is uncommon from many jobs or internships. Through the process, this fellowship has been life-changing for everybody who has committed to it since it began in 2021. It’s a big commitment, and you can expect your learning and growth to be proportional to the effort you put in.

We invite those who would step forward and become visionary leaders for change in the coming years and decades to apply. Join us this year to dig deep, invest in your relationship with the Earth, and ask what it looks like to create a just and livable world for a time beyond our own.

Fellowship Highlights

• Gain the skills to become a part of your local food system. Fellows spend mornings tending our 1-acre vegetable and seed farm. We grow seeds for seed companies in our bioregion, sell vegetables at local markets, and grow a large portion of the food we eat. Engage with a community focused on local, organic food production, processing, and distribution. After the fellowship, you should expect to have both a broad and deep base of experience to be a leader in the food system.
• Experience a lifestyle grounded in and connected to the landscape of Western Colorado, where the Rocky Mountains drop off into the red rock canyons of Utah.
• Be part of a cohort engaged with the process of finding joy, purpose, meaning, and a viable livelihood.
• Experiment and live with sustainable alternatives like solar ovens, composting toilets, earthen building, and passive heating and cooling.
• Attend weekly seminars focused on the intersection of ecology, economics, culture, and place.

“Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit. To become naturalized is to know that your ancestors lie in this ground. Here you will give your gifts and meet your responsibilities. To become naturalized is to live as if your children’s future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass