Growing Food, Faith, Community

 St. Martin’s church in Davis was the host for a day-long event on April 2, 2022 called “Growing Faith, Food, Community,” sponsored by The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California and attended by representatives of parishes around northern California including Deacon Mary Boeger, Kathy Mahannah and Grace Mahannah from St. Timothy’s.  The central question for the day was: “What is necessary to connect, support and inspire the agrarian ministries of the diocese?” Agrarian ministries focus on sharing God’s love through our relationship to the land, and include a variety of food and creation care ministries – gardening, farming, beekeeping, composting, gleaning, feeding, and food justice advocacy.

  The keynote speaker was Brian Sellers-Peterson, author of the book Harvesting Abundance: Local Initiatives of Food and Faith. As a worker in the Good News Gardens movement (the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement), he noted that when Christianity began most people worked the land, and “. . . the best place to learn the essentials of the Christian faith is in a garden.” Sellers-Peterson explained that the Episcopal Church stewards a lot of land in the USA, likely more land per communicant member than any other religion, and every church can grow something that will bring the human family together, connect us to God and change the world.  

Jim Schaal, founder of the SPR Food Garden in Chicago, spoke about a theology of agrarian ministry based around the prophetic call (Isa. 58: 6-7) and prophetic promise of Isaiah (Isa. 58:10-12), as he explained how his church of St. Paul and the Redeemer was able to create a garden to grow fresh food for the community in the midst of the “food desert” of southside Chicago. Schaal outlined assets that churches can use to develop their land for the good of the community, including visibility, collaboration with community groups, adaptability, sustainability through a core of committed volunteers, as well as grants through Episcopal Community Services of Northern California and other resources such as UC Master Gardeners.  

The last speaker was Steve Schwartz from Faithlands, an initiative of the Agrarian Trust, that works to transform lands held by faith institutions into sustainable gardens and farms for the common good. Schwartz explained that faith communities are uniquely positioned to offer land for agrarian uses because (1) they own substantial amounts of land outright, and (2) they can make decisions locally about agrarian use and preservation of the land for future generations. Schwartz also pointed out that (in his experience) the Episcopal Church, of all faith groups, seems to have the greatest interest in repurposing its land for agrarian use.   Workshop participants concluded the day with a visit to Grace Garden, a community garden adjacent to Davis United Methodist Church, a few miles from St. Martin’s.  

By Grace Mahannah, St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Gridley