Eli

Travel information

I am currently

Activities i am interested in:

I am looking for opportunities to do a farm-stay and support community living in Spain and Italy.

Description

My name is Eli Gold and I am from Berkshire County, Massachusetts. I was raised in a rural community rich in natural beauty, vibrant agriculture, and simple small-town charm. Though medicine was my family’s business, I spent much of my childhood and young adult life stoking the fire of a passion for music. I dove into playing guitar, saxophone, banjo, piano, and singing. Performing in vocal groups, concert and jazz bands, theater troupes and garage bands. Running sound and lighting. Producing, engineering, and performing shows; every part. This became my path, and I went on to study Arts Management and Theater Technology at Indiana University-Bloomington. I continued to perform in and even direct ensembles throughout college. During the summers I worked as a stage technician for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, managing the Tanglewood Music Festival performances held in Ozawa Hall.

After 5 years of studying and working in stage technology and performing arts management, I found myself at a crossroads in my career when the COVID-19 Pandemic abruptly disrupted the performing arts industry, and live concerts with audiences vanished. After graduating from college in the spring of 2020, I uprooted myself and moved to New York City to take care of my grandmother and look for any scraps of performing arts work. I couldn’t rely on working concerts anymore, so I shifted to working for essential services. Delivering Amazon packages in midtown Manhattan, volunteering as a facilities associate at a food pantry in Harlem, working the graveyard shift as a grocery store night clerk. I moved back to Massachusetts in the winter of 2021 and became a student teacher for an outdoor remote learning program that served elementary and middle school students from schools that were closed due to COVID-19.

Immersion in public service, distance from the music industry, and a taste of metropolitan living prompted a deep and intentional reflection of my values. Values centered around the unvarnished pursuit of living; fresh and wholesome food, water, natural resources, energy, homes and structures, art and culture. All of these values engaged under the umbrella of sustainability and community. At the core, fueled by a drive to explore the world. To venture away from that small town where I grew up. To gain perspective on how life is lived across this planet. This was an awakening for me to begin putting the work into living those values.

Work-trade came to my awareness when a close friend from college told me about World Wide Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF). After the first few encounters, it seemed that most people I talked to knew someone who had done a work-trade. In the fall of 2021 I flew to O’ahu, Hawai’i to volunteer on a farm in Wai’anae. Since then I have spent the past two years working on farms in O’ahu and Maui. I worked in many capacities and a variety of conditions. Camping in a tent for two months, landscaping and leading CSA harvest packs. Hunkering down in a small cabin and managing a garden that produced over 700 pounds of produce a week. Living in an old honey house and operating a small-scale commercial honey production. Much of the lifestyle and skill absent in my upbringing is what I so clearly aspire to now. This time has been a grand exploration and study of regenerative agriculture, permaculture, horticulture, apiculture, animal husbandry, orchard management, sustainable water technologies, agricultural products, homesteading, carpentry, mechanics, and managing a sustainable and healthy lifestyle. Of course, much of the time has also been spent cooking and eating incredible food, experiencing local culture, and playing a lot of music.

I am on a mission to continue exploring myself and the world through agriculture, food, music, community and service!

Interests

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Beginner
French: Beginner
Hebrew: Beginner

More details about my language interests
I am interested in strengthening my French and learning Spanish and Italian. I want to respect every culture I enter into by making an intentional effort to learn and communicate in the native language.

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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Eco Projects

Art Projects

DIY and building projects

Animal Care

Life at a Farmstay

Charity Work

Languages

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Some knowledge of:  

Gardening

Creating/ Cooking family meals

General Maintenance

Helping with Computers/ Internet

More details about your skills

Work-trading, Farming, and Community Living:

I have 2 years of experience working on farms in O'ahu and Maui, Hawai’i. In Wai'anae, O’ahu, I worked on a 5-acre farm called Mouna Farm Arts and Cultural Village. I practiced organic weed and pest management, plant care, irrigation systems installation and repair, garden bed building, harvesting, composting, and general farm maintenance/chores. I have planted/transplanted, tended, harvested, and processed a diverse array of fruits and vegetables. Mango, coconut, banana, papaya, ulu, noni, lilikoi, avocado, dragon fruit, breadnut, kale, collards, beets, arugula, basil, gotu kola, dill, carrots, mizuna, radishes, rainbow chard, green beans, and cilantro, among many other leafy greens, herbs, root vegetables, and fruits. I learned how to use tools such as draw and scuffle hoes, pickaxes, tree pullers, gas-powered weed trimmers, loppers, shears, shovels, rakes, and fruit pickers. The farm had a CSA program and sold produce to Honolulu and Waikiki, and each week we would lead a harvest of about 100-200 pounds of produce. We possessed, packaged, and delivered to the CSA site, downtown restaurants and grocery stores.

In Kula, Maui, I worked at a 4-acre market garden and commercial honey farm called Maui Bees. I spent much of seven months there participating in nearly every aspect of beekeeping. Tasks included: building hive supers and frames, applying melted beeswax to fresh frames, placing supers on active hives and harvesting supers from 11 bee yards (~20 hives each yard) throughout the north-west slope of Haleakala, capturing swarms and making hive splits, extracting and processing honey with professional equipment, bottling honey and labeling jars (3oz to 45oz). The farm was committed to no-till regenerative agriculture, operating an on-site farmstand and vending at the upcountry farmers market. I tended to the farm's ~100 avocado/citrus/banana trees, biodynamic compost system, three large garden, and helped with construction projects. In the realm of animal husbandry, I helped care for three coops of chickens, feeding, collecting roughly 80-100 eggs per day, cleaning the coops/feed/water troughs, and moving the yard of chickens each week to a new spot on their field rotation. Three dairy cows and milking goats that I helped feed, clean, and herd to new grazing spots. I milked the goats and built a new milking stanchion for them. We bottled the raw cow and goat milk for a herd-share program and processed the milk into yogurt and cheese. I returned to Maui Bees in February of 2022 and spent three months working on the garden, and primarily leading the honey-house operation when we were processing the winter harvest. I supervised new work-traders and troubleshooted issues with the honey processing equipment, all while going out to the yards and harvesting/inspecting the hives. During this period I also took up shifts cooking crew lunches. Making fresh meals with ingredients from the farm and feeding 10 staff 1-2 days a week.

In fall and winter of 2022, I worked for Pono Grown, a production farm in Olinda, Maui. This 14-acre garden and permaculture food forest produced 700-800 pounds of fruits and vegetables each week for a CSA program and for vending at the upcountry market. The farm crew managed the soil building, seeding, weeding, bed preparation, planting, organic pest control, pruning, harvesting and processing of the gardens and fruit trees. All utilizing regenerative and permaculture-informed techniques, and we performed soil tests and made amendments to the soil. I learned to cultivate tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, green onions, lettuce, taro, sweet potatoes, radishes, turnips, fennel, lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges, avocados, bananas, and various herbs.

Each of these farms was a host for communal living. Kitchens, bathrooms, showers, and living quarters were shared. This invited the necessity for me to communicate clearly, consistently, and effectively. To have increased awareness of my space and respect for other spaces/belongings/tools/equipment. To resolve conflicts early and with dignity, before tensions infiltrate the community. Living with my crews has entailed an intentional effort to treat my coworkers and friends with kindness and respect, to take responsibility for my relationships within the community.


Performance, Stage Management and Technical Theater:

I have been immersed in music and live performance since I was 5 or 6 years old. Throughout my schooling, I played saxophone in concert and jazz bands, sang in choirs, and acted in plays and musicals. I started playing the guitar and piano. I sang and played at open-mic events, cafés, bars, and busked on the streets (I still do today) In high school, I became exposed to not only performing but to producing and running the shows. Operating the lighting and sound, designing and building sets, focusing lighting systems, positioning speakers, connecting microphones, seeing where the wires and cables ran.

I went on to study Arts Management at Indiana University-Bloomington. The focus of my degree was in the business and social/community practices of non-profit arts organizations; orchestras, dance and theater companies, museums, etc. The curriculum introduced me to music industry, accounting, law, professional business technology, community engagement, professional writing, critical analysis and involvement in performing arts. All paralleled by seeing shows, writing concert reviews, producing shows, and of course performing. I sang in a large choir called the Singing Hoosiers. In addition to singing, I was on the logistics crew, managing our instruments and stage gear. I also sang and directed a small a cappella group. I taught music, led rehearsals and booked gigs. Both groups performed on campus and toured throughout the country.

For the past 5 years, I have been a stage technician for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I serve as the Assistant Stage Manager of Seiji Ozawa Hall during the summertime Tanglewood Music Festival. This festival is an intensive 3-month marathon of classical and popular music. Over 100 performances are held throughout 3 venues featuring the Boston Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center student orchestra, and legacy acts such as James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and Ringo Starr. I have had the chance to work with lighting designers, stage technicians, audio engineers, and stagehands who tour with some of the largest acts in the business.

As a stage technician, I am involved with stage elements of lighting, sound, furniture, accessories, and storage. Boiling it down, all operations of stage activity that contribute to the performance directly. We also received official training in Fall Arrest Systems and the operation of Mobile Elevated Work Platforms.

As Assistant Stage Manager, I led a crew that served the technical needs for effective rehearsals and performances of the student orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC). We coordinate the use of furniture, set pieces, pianos and large percussion instruments throughout the Tanglewood campus.

This job has been an intensive education in both the operations-focused stage technology and the tender dance of human relations. I have gained confidence in distinguishing and properly using a vast range of tools and equipment, building power and data networks, and doing massive amounts of heavy labor safely and efficiently. The workplace ecosystem relied on assisting each other, whether that meant stepping up to help a coworker with a task or stepping back to give another team room to work.

Age

25

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements