Anna Zimmer, standing, a director at the Camp St. Croix Farm, supervises gardening. (Photo by Joe Winter)
Joe Winter
Special to the Catholic Herald
Students and adult parishioners from St. Patrick, Hudson, recently braved a hot summer day to work out in gardens, in a volunteer event that also had a strong and bright educational purpose.
But this was not just summer school, and these were great big gardens.
The Farm at Camp St. Croix, just south of Hudson, is the first nearly year-round educational agricultural facility for youngsters in the St. Croix Valley, and maybe even the Twin Cities and Diocese of Superior, officials said.
Almost two dozen people from St. Patrick Church, Hudson, volunteered there on a recent Wednesday, pulling and hoeing any weeds that might have sprouted, watering and mulching, and turning and replenishing earth.
Housed at the farm, which also teaches ecology and earth sciences while kids are schooled on how to grow crops, are high-tunnel gardens the size, shape and length of covered greenhouses, a discovery garden, an RCU Prairie Harvest Barn, and flora the size of trees.
The volunteers were flanked by grazing sheep and poultry, since this is summer and pasture time, and egg-laying hens are present year-round, complete with hen house and chicken tractors, both movable. All are meant to be regenerative.
Students from St. Patrick’s, in this suburban area of Hudson, got a firsthand look at the day-to-day operations of a working farm. But they also got to see more.
The tunnel greenhouses are unheated to allow food production all year, due to heat trapping and ventilation ability, according to Anna Zimmer, who oversees the farm. She says such education is vital for today’s children.
The discovery garden has growing forts, gardens of bright flowers and patches of asparagus and raspberries, “scratch and sniff” gardens of herbs, wacky and wild vegetables for imaginative play, and views of pollinators.
At the harvest barn, construction includes a maker space, a spot for demonstration cooking, and a farm store with goods for purchase.
“Our parish vision calls us to open the minds and hearts of all the people at St. Patrick Parish, that we may joyfully accept God’s call to live as stewards of his abundant gifts,” said Heidi Young, one of the organizers.
Food is large among them.
“We helped with weeding in the tunnel gardens, prepared another garden for planting and helped with preparations for the upcoming ‘Pizza on the Farm’ event,” Young said. “In addition to the work completed, these events also serve to strengthen the connections between our parishioners.”
The pizza feed incorporates those locally grown vegetables and more into its pies, in a regular series of dinners throughout the fall.
Among all the events that could have been picked, Young, who coordinates regular monthly programs along with follow parishioner Claire Zajac, explained the choice to serve for a day at Camp St. Croix.
“Claire and I are well-connected in the Hudson community and consider the needs of our own St. Patrick Parish and school, other organizations in our community and personal contacts to set our volunteer event calendar,” Young said.
“We try to choose a different activity each month, with the hopes that over a year’s time we have provided enough variety that anyone can find an event that appeals to them. Most all of our events are open to all ages and require no specific skills.”
Twenty-two volunteers from the parish worked at the event. “Ages were grade school through adult,” Young said.
The farm and garden provides farm education and nutritious food to its campers and community, she noted. It also uses a large portion of its harvest to support local backpack food programs for children and families throughout the year, Young said, especially during the long days of summer when meals served directly by many local public and parochial schools do not fill a void because classes are not in session for many students.
Hundreds are aided by the main backpack program in Hudson, which has seen greater usership during its weekly distribution by various community members held in the lower level of St. Patrick’s Church. It takes hours to get all the goods set up on a series of long kitchen tables, and goods are also handed to people who pull up in cars.
I GOT TIME, the program through which this event was coordinated, is an acronym for Individuals Giving of Time and Talent in Missionary Experiences.
“The I GOT TIME program at St. Patrick Parish provides families and individuals with easy and fun opportunities to make sure that service to others can still find a place in our hearts and hands, (like working the earth, literally, with them),” says its mission statement.
A different event is scheduled each month, and all are family friendly.
“Our hope is that volunteering can be made easy and simple enough that families and individuals are attracted to participate,” Young said. “We hope to build new relationships between parishioners and form greater bonds within our parish. Bonds that are outward reaching and positive for all involved.”
