In April, the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Farm celebrated its fifth anniversary. It is hard to believe it has been five years. So much has happened - lessons learned, friends made, sheep sheared. We have made a lot of mistakes, but little and by little we are making our way. When we first started the farm, we expected our primary mission to be growing organic food and producing wool products for the poor. While we do those things, what we have discovered is that our main mission is to witness to our Benedictine Spirituality of “ora et labora” and life on the land. Having an “open farm” policy allows anyone to participate in the work of the farm, either to help us serve the poor, to grow their own food, or to learn homesteading skills.  We have met a lot of amazing people who have been inspired to try to live more simply.  May 1 marked the 85th anniversary of the Catholic Worker Movement. Let’s hope we are around to celebrate its 100th!

   

 

 

We have had an eventful lambing and kidding season this year.  Ten lambs and three kid goats, with three bottle-fed mouths to feed. All are thriving. It is so much fun to watch them jump around and play.

 

Misericordia University students wrapped up their year of volunteering by turning over the winter cover crop in the raised beds to prepare them for planting. It was a fantastic year with these students. Many thanks and blessings to leaders Michael and Sarah as they graduate - though they’ve promised to return to the farm to help out when they can.  We have been assured that the group will return next year with new leadership. This has been a fun and fruitful collaboration.

 

 

 

We were honored to receive the David Frey Community Service for Peace Award from the Peace and Justice Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Thank you to Linda Pulchalski, a member of the Steering Committee and volunteer from St Therese’s Parish, for nominating us and presenting the award. We were quite surprised and feel very blessed.

 

We are looking forward to a busy summer. Let us know if you’d like to be busy with us. Send us your prayer intentions - we include them in our Morning Prayer everyday.