“I experience God frequently through a sense of wonder and awe, recognizing the beauty of an insect on a leaf or the way a plant grows,” he says. Jones also feels more connected to God and loves that he has developed such an intimate understanding of this small patch of land. “I think you can get paralyzed by the scale of the environmental crisis we’re in, but doing something on this small, local scale makes it more manageable,” he says. Jones says he feels a new sense of purpose while working on the farm because it’s a tangible way he can respond to a growing environmental crisis. This past spring, the farm partnered with the Sisters of Bon Secours to double the amount of food provided to a food desert in Baltimore. Lasky estimates that as of last summer the team has donated more than 23,000 pounds of food to the center. All the food-grown without pesticides or chemicals-is harvested and donated to the Franciscan Center of Baltimore, which provides meals for unhoused populations and others who are experiencing hunger. Jones and Lasky’s goal is to diversify the farm ecosystem while growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables for those in need. Next year, we will plant some blueberries and eventually some fruit trees.” “Just in the spring this year, we planted raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. “Last I checked, we had something like 45 different fruits and vegetables,” Jones says. After a farming training program through an organization called Future Harvest and “a lot of trial and error and a lot of YouTube,” Jones started small, planting 10 beds of vegetables. He saw the opportunity as a tangible way to live his values of caring for creation. Jones previously worked in environmental advocacy for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and had little farming experience. In the summer of 2019, Lasky invited Matthew Jones to join the effort as the lead farmer. They brought cows out to pasture and planted cover crops to increase nutrients and ease the soil back to life. “It didn’t smell like dirt.”ĭuring the first two years, the friars partnered with the family-owned and organically run Mary’s Land Farm of Howard County, Maryland. “At that time, you would go out and dig into the ground, and it was hard as concrete,” says Father Michael Lasky, director of the farm. In 2015, inspired by the writings of Pope Francis in the encyclical Laudato Si’ (On Care for Our Common Home), the friars began a slow process of reclaiming and rehabilitating the land, which they dubbed Little Portion Farm. Also included is farmland that for many years was leased to a local industrial farmer who used pesticides and fertilizers to support his crops. Owned by the Franciscan Friars Conventual of Our Lady of the Angels Province, the 310 acres include a grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes and more than two miles of walking trails. Anthony outside Ellicott City, Maryland have been a haven for those seeking a peaceful refuge. For many years, the hills and fields surrounding the Shrine of St.
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