We miss Modern Farmer, so it felt right to revisit and share one of our favorite pieces from the December 2014 issue of the magazine.
Ben Harper reports on faith-based farming enterprises, profiling six operations from across the U.S. For these organizations and individuals, growing food is not only a lifestyle preference, but also an imperative.
The operations featured in the story vary in size and the scope of work they do. Some operate CSAs, or apprentice programs. Another grows and mills grain. Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina operates a mushroom farm that provisions restaurants. Marrakech Farm in Haymarket, Virginia raises lambs for ritual slaughter.
As the piece notes, the numbers of faith-based groups working the land is growing.
“It’s absolutely on the rise,” says Fred Bahnson, the director of the Food, Faith & Religious Leadership Initiative at the Wake Forest School of Divinity and the author of “Soil and Sacrament,” a memoir chronicling Bahnson’s experiences at four religious farms. “It’s partly influenced by the larger cultural renewal of interest in food, the whole food movement phenomenon. But I’d say it’s also coming from more a place of spiritual hunger, the desire for a deeper connection with our food, with the land, with community.”