"Education means enabling persons to reach the fullness of their potential as individuals created in God's image and assisting them to direct their gifts toward building the earth. Like Mother Theresa, we educate with the conviction that the world can be changed through the transformation of persons." - You Are Sent, Constitution of the School Sisters of Notre Dame
In 1995, Earthrise Farm creators Sisters Kay and Annette Fernholz, who are biological sisters as well as sisters of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, came home to Madison, Minnesota. At the time, Sisters Kay and Annette’s parents were both still living on the family farm. So the sisters rented a farm site roughly 10 miles away. However, the rental farm did not allow the sisters access to soil, so they drove to the home farm, intent on their desire to have access to land.
“When we first came out here,” said Sister Annette, “we didn’t have a real clear picture of what we would do. However, we knew we wanted to love and care for the land, as well as be a witness to community building and radical hospitality in our hometown. One can only see far enough ahead to keep moving. We really believe that the Spirit moved us into a position where we could start a Community Supported Agricultural model (CSA), which is what we did.”
The CSA model has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. So what is a CSA? A farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Typically, the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (“membership” or “subscription”), and in return receive seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.
With a strong desire to continue to contribute to the local food movement in a meaningful way, their CSA quickly blossomed to 30 subscriptions, staying fairly constant until about five or six years ago, when Sisters Kay and Annette semi-retired. Earthrise Farm also provided local stores and restaurants with free-range organic eggs and has now passed on the mission to a local young woman farmer.
“The CSA was mission work,” said Sister Kay, “but it was also something we were very passionate about.”
Once the CSA at Earthrise Farm was in full swing, Sisters Kay and Annette decided to add an educational component. As School Sisters of Notre Dame, education has always been central to their lives, so it only seemed natural to offer their mission of farming to students. Over the course of their 20 years as a CSA, they housed at least 30-40 individuals. Typically, a student spent two to three months on the farm, to assist with the farming and delivery of the CSA products. Of the many students who passed through Earthrise Farm, many went on to establish CSA farms of their own, in their home communities.
In 2008, Sisters Kay and Annette welcomed an international student from Beijing's Renmin University, Shi Yan, a Ph.D. student concerned with the widespread environmental damage by chemical-reliant farming practices. As an intern, Shi Yan spent three to four months at Earthrise Farm where she learned everything from farming practices to member management. In 2012, Shi Yan opened her first of two Shared Harvest farms, which supplies fresh produce to its 500 members living in Beijing. Not only is Shared Harvest a completely organic farm, it was also one of the first in China to follow the CSA model, where consumers buy meat and vegetables directly from producers.
“We were instantly intrigued by the vastness and depth of Shi Yan’s questions,” said Sister Annette. “From soil to markets, Shi Yan was thorough. She was also very much aware of the extent industrial farming was forcing people off their land in China. Shi Yan wanted to work to reverse that practice in China through application and education. Today, she’s considered a trailblazer in CSA models for China, as she’s helped many other individuals start their own CSA farming models.”
In 2007, Sisters Kay and Annette moved an old country schoolhouse onto Earthrise Farm. Today, the school house holds classes for children on gardening or Care of the Creation topics. As with all things that move through Sisters Kay and Annette’s lives, they do not have to go searching for answers. The Holy Spirit provides new opportunities, as the school house has become a space for contemplative prayer gathering. For Sisters Kay and Annette, this is only one more example of how a buildings purpose has taken on a new life of its own and in its own time.
“Moving back to Madison has moved us to get deeper into earth spirituality,” said Sister Kay. “We have been actively working to break barriers so that people see the world as our source of life, something that must be loved and cared for. In order for that to happen, education has to be a strong component. For us, the earth is our classroom.”
