FARMING Dominican sisters donate produce to less fortunate

The group believes that things change when people commune with nature.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Along the former country roads just east of Columbus, shiny new neighborhoods chock full of look-alike homes cover the landscape.
In the middle sits a 160-acre holdout.
Shepherd's Corner at Dominican Acres is described on its Web site as an "ecojustice ministry." But that lofty term belies a simpler mission: to feed the hungry and reconnect people to the earth.
The staff members call it "human-oriented agriculture."
The property is owned by a local congregation of Dominican nuns and includes organic gardens, farm animals, trails, wetlands and hay fields.
The majority of the harvest from the gardens is donated to food pantries and soup kitchens that serve immigrants and refugees.
Through its programs and volunteer opportunities, the organization also gives people the chance to commune with nature. The staff members and the Dominican sisters believe that once people experience the outdoors and the earth, "then something changes -- something is awakened or healed," said Jane Belanger, a Dominican sister who serves as the land manager.
Shepherd's Corner, founded in 1992, includes 40 acres of custom-harvest hay, five acres of pasture and three acres of intensive, raised-bed vegetable production, said Eric Pawlowski, the organic farm coordinator.
The crop mix is diverse, from collard greens to tomatoes and herbs. This season, about 5,500 pounds of vegetables were harvested; about 20 percent was sold at a weekly onsite market stand.
"We can grow a fair amount of food," Pawlowski said, but there's a bottleneck in harvesting and distribution. The organization, which has four full-time employees, relies on volunteers to help with those tasks.
Shepherd's Corner has an average of 100 volunteers in each of the summer months. That number drops to 40 or 50 per month in the winter, said Diane Kozlowski, the outreach coordinator.
The staff members point to many examples of how Shepherd's Corner has helped its volunteers and others who visit the farm reconnect with the land.
For example, Kozlowski said, a few young boys who volunteered during the summer would come to the onsite market to buy the vegetables they had helped to grow, so they could eat them for dinner.
This past summer, Shepherd's Corner welcomed children from a local YMCA summer camp one day a week; the kids learned about gardening and worked on the property.
Natural processes
Belanger said a farm visit allows children to witness natural processes -- such as insects pollinating -- that they normally don't see. It gives them a broader sense of "all things interacting, and we're part of it," she said.
The main purpose of the gardens at Shepherd's Corner is to feed the hungry, Camp said. The organization provides fresh produce to a few food pantries and soup kitchens.
One recipient is the Community Kitchen of Faith Mission in downtown Columbus.
"It really expands the menu to make sure the food we provide at the mission is healthy and wholesome," said John Dickey, executive director of Faith Mission.
The donations are especially welcome this time of year, Dickey said, when fresh produce is harder to procure.
Faith Mission's weekday clientele primarily consists of people living in its shelters, Dickey said. But on weekends, about 70 families come in for an evening meal -- likely because public schools, which provide free meals to needy children, are not in session.
Noreen Warnock, the coordinator of the Greater Columbus Foodshed Project of Simply Living, applauded Shepherd's Corner for focusing its donations on immigrant populations.
"I think it's really important that someone is addressing the fact that we are many cultures in our community now," Warnock said.
The Foodshed Project "helps to ensure a local supply of healthy food grown in ways that are economically, environmentally and socially responsible," she said.
Volunteering
Julie Scott, a 40-year-old customer service and technical support employee, has been a volunteer at Shepherd's Corner since April.
She learned about the organization while searching online for information about Earth Day activities.
When she visited the farm for the first time, she "really liked what they were doing there -- their care and respect for animals and for the land."
Scott's tasks at Shepherd's Corner have included gardening, helping with the animals, working with children's programs and even honey extraction.
She called the farm "an oasis amidst all the development" and said she appreciates its grass-roots nature.
"You can do something and see the results," she said.