Of the Garden: Serving and Reflecting at Farm and Foodshelf

Benedictines have long valued an intimate connection with land and food (and wine), but that spiritual and hands-on relationship with the earth too easily slips from the modern view. The ways that Americans process and consume food can cause us to become inattentive to the greatest mysteries of life and creation. It is time to get the soil of God’s earth back under our fingernails, to remember how life sprouts from seed by the gifts of water and light, and to embrace the just sharing of food as an expression of true community. This day of service and reflection opens with a bus ride to Fresh Earth Farms , a model of Community Supported Agriculture in Hastings, Minnesota, that provides food for the Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery, among many others. There, the farming family will instruct participants in their chores for the day. Staff will continue to guide a reflection on our service over a home-cooked lunch. Participants will then travel to Christian Cupboard Emergency Food Shelf in Oakdale, Minnesota, to learn more about food insecurity and the role that food shelves play in our community. After some time to reflect on what we have learned together, the group will return to St. Paul’s Monastery by 4p. All participants will be entitled to $50 off a year’s food share subscription. Participants are welcome to participate in the community potluck at the Monastery beginning at 5:30p Friday evening.

This event is part of a weekend-long series of events related to Food & Faith:

(Friday Eve) Taste and See that the Lord is Good: A Celebration of Food and Community

(Friday thru Sunday) Com-Panions: Do This in Remembrance of Me