In Howard County, with new subdivisions slowly going up where farmland once stood, Franciscan friars, staff and volunteers welcome guests on pilgrimage to St. Anthony Shrine, nestled on nearly 300 acres of farm land.
And, near the front of the property, a small, three-acre garden is changing lives of Marylanders in need. Under a hot sun on the day we visited, Farmer Matt Jones and a half-dozen volunteers pulled weeds and picked vegetables for a good cause.
Anne Reed was filling a basket with zucchini blossoms that would be delivered later in the day to a chef in Baltimore, not at a pricey restaurant, but at the Franciscan Center. There, the delicate blossoms would become part of a gourmet meal for a Marylander who otherwise would go without a meal.
Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor
In the late 1920s, the Conventual Franciscan friars purchased the rural land near Ellicott City. These early friars grew their own food and cared for animals that provided them eggs and milk. Over time, however, they stopped farming and began to lease 85 acres of land to a neighboring farm. The crops looked lush, but that came at a cost. It turned out that use of chemical herbicides and pesticides was harming the soil and environment.
By 2012, the friars, followers of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment, sought to make changes. First, rain gardens were installed to control storm water runoff and then, by 2014, over 1,000 solar panels were installed. Solar power now provides one-half of the Shrine’s energy.
The next year, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical called Laudato Si’, On Care for Creation. He wrote, “Today … we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
The friars took Laudato Si’ to heart and shifted to sustainable farming through a new partnership with nearby Mary’s Land Farm. Mary’s Land took over 82 of the 85 acres of leased land and began to restore the soil and shift to permaculture that is sustainable and organic.
The last three acres were reserved for Little Portion Farm, which was established in 2019 to provide food for the poor. The farm is an “agro-ecosystem” of sustainable farming methods and a balanced habitat. The result is a bountiful harvest that truly links “the cry of the earth to the cry of the poor.”
And, the farm is still growing. In its first year, 3,000 pounds of vegetables, from 20 beds, were donated to the Franciscan Center. The next year, 20,000 pounds from 60 beds were donated and, in 2021, 100 beds were planted, along with perennials, such as raspberries and blackberries, that will yield fruit in future years.
Learn more about Little Portion Farm at www.littleportionfarm.org