There’s a back-story here that I’d like to share, but I fear I will go too far down a rabbit trail before I ever reach my point. I’ll have to do that sometime in the near future. The short version of the story is that at the end of 2023, I was asked if I would give a talk on my faith and homesteading, along side one of my good friends, for the annual diocesan Rural Life Day event that was to be hosted at our parish the following spring. There was so much to say and just not enough time to say it. I went through revision after revision and was just struggling with how to organize this all and what to share. In my heart, I knew that the Catholic faith and homesteading were deeply intertwined, but I couldn’t articulate why. So, I set my writing aside, grabbed a blank sheet of paper, and started to write what I saw.

Within minutes, I had 27 items of commonality between the two, which I later broke down into six categories. Both homesteading and Catholicism are scriptural, seasonal, educational, physical, relational, historical, and lived. In this post, I’d like to explore a little of what I mean by each category in order to help the reader better understand why these two things really work together so well, or why they at least mirror one another. So, let’s start at the beginning and work our way through the list!

Scriptural- There is so much I could say on this point alone, but honestly, both “lifestyles” are rooted in Scripture, whether we want to believe it or not. Gardening and working with the land is a part of our very nature. God created man and put him in the Garden to keep it. He put him there to care for the animals and to guard it. Through the work of the land, we are able to understand the parables and stories of Scripture at a much deeper level than we ever could if we are continually disconnected from Gods’ Creation. When we work the land, we see God’s fingerprints everywhere, but when we know Scripture, even more is revealed. The Catholic faith embraces this agrarianism, though it is often not seen today because we live so disconnected from nature. Catholicism is deeply rooted in Scripture, from the words proclaimed throughout Mass to the traditions that we carry with us. Seldom do people outside the Church, and sadly, even within it, do people understand the incredible amount of tradition that has been carried down from the Israelites to the Catholic Church, much of which is described in books of the Old Testament.

Seasonal- One of the first things that I really began to deeply appreciate about homesteading is that in working with the land I was reconnected to the natural rhythm of the seasons. So often today, we long for what is not here… in summer we want pumpkin spice everything, in fall, we want Christmas, in winter, we’re anxious for flowers, and in spring we long for summer vacation. There’s nothing wrong with well-ordered longing, but too often, as a society, we’re living such incredibly disordered lives, and we don’t see the damage it does to our souls. When we work the land, we may at times anticipate the coming of a new season, but more often than not, I find that I am too thoroughly living in the present and handling the concerns of today to worry about what is to come months from now. True, there is a fair deal of planning ahead that we do, but that kind of preparation is more akin to what we do as Christians to prepare for the coming Kingdom. It’s not disordered at all. The Church echoes these seasons in a number of ways and even embraces and celebrates the natural seasons of Creation. The Liturgical year reflects in many ways the natural seasons, but we also have traditions like the Ember Days which happen for the four seasons, in which we specifically ask for God’s blessing for the various needs of the people, the land, and the Church. In the Church we find rightly ordered seasons of waiting and anticipation in Advent and Lent, and seasons of joyful celebration during the Christmas and Easter seasons which last so much longer than a single day! There are so many feasts within the liturgical calendar that one could celebrate, and throughout the year, there are so many little successes and causes of celebration in the work of the land.

Educational- As Christians, we should always feel challenged to grow in our faith. We should try to learn more about God. Of course, we will never understand everything about this Infinite Creator, but we can come closer to understanding through study, prayer, and work. When I say work, I don’t imply we will somehow work our way to heaven. God clearly created us to work. But we aren’t just called to deepen our own understanding. We are called to share our faith and to teach it. Our faith doesn’t come to us magically out of nowhere, it does not arrive to us out of some vacuum, nor does some denomination suddenly get it “right” after the Church “failed” for nearly two millennia. The faith of Christians has been handed on from generation to generation, family to family, friend to friend, stranger to stranger, through the faithful sharing of stories, love, traditions, worship, and of course, Scripture. In a similar manner, the tradition of working the land does not just magically appear out of nowhere. There may have been gaps in near history of generations who have stepped back from life on the land (as sometimes a generation does not carry on the faith), but much of what is taught and known is still handed down, though our sources may, at times, be less direct (such as YouTube videos and books). In the work of the land we learn about a million different things. We learn the history of the land, we learn about our food and the stewardship of the land, and we learn about ourselves, each other, and Our Creator. In both ways of living, there are times when we have to “discover” something for ourselves, a truth that was somehow lost to us but never stopped existing.

Physical- Homesteading is so obviously physical. We toil by the sweat of our brow to provide food for our tables, straining muscles, suffering injury, kneeling in the soil during planting, standing to survey the crops and animals, processing throughout the land as we make rounds for our daily chores… we smell the soil and flowers, the wheat and the rain, we taste the “fruit of the vine (or fruit of the earth) and work of human hands,” we listen to the sounds of nature, teaming with life. If we sit still enough, we can hear the earth at work, from the twisting of plants as they grow to the rustling of leaves in the wind, the honk of the geese or the rhythmic noises of the cricket, we feel all that we do from the warmth of a freshly laid egg to the dirt under our feet, and we see. We see the beauty of Creation around us, and we marvel at it all. In the Catholic faith, we are not deprived of our senses, either, but instead, fully engaged. God gave us physical bodies, not as something to do away with or overcome, but as a vessel to receive Him through, whether it be in the work of the land or worship at the altar. We kneel, stand, process and recess and bow our heads out of reverence and respect, in the “work” (if you will) of worship. Our knees may ache, our backs be sore, but we push on as we are able to out of reverence for the Most High. We listen to God’s word and sing praises, and bells mark moments of significance. Often we can smell incense and flowers. We even see God and taste and feel God in the Eucharist, oh great Miracle of miracles!

Relational- We were not created to live alone. God made man AND woman. He gave the command to be fruitful and multiply. He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden! We were never created for the kind of independence that society tells us to seek today. For the longest time, I did not understand the communal nature of our faith. As I stated before, it doesn’t come to us in a vacuum, but has been handed down from generation to generation. We receive and learn through relationship. The Trinity is a relationship. The body of believers is both the mystical Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. In ways we will never fully understand we are one. The homestead is likewise relational. Anyone who tries to do it alone will quickly find that they cannot. We need the knowledge of others, we benefit from the tools others have crafted, we use recipe books and we learn from working with others. Much of my personal homesteading experience has been edified through books and videos, but the single best teachers, the best experiences I have had homesteading involve other people. The homestead is a place for families to work together and grow together. Alone, we suffer. Together, we thrive. Yes, our personal experiences, our personal participation and effort and beliefs matter, but so do our relationships with others. We are communal by nature, made for relationship, made for love!

Historical- The Catholic Church is rich with history and tradition (big “T” and little “t”). Through Scripture, the writings of the Early Church Fathers, traditions that help pass on the faith to the lives of the saints and more, our faith is one steeped in history. I’ve heard people complain that the Catholic faith is too complicated, but really, it’s quite simple. It is, however, very, very deep. Homesteading also comes to us with a rich history passed down throughout generations, dating much farther back than the Homesteading Acts of the 1800s in America or the modern homesteading movement. In homesteading, we take up old methods of food preservation, engage in skills and practices that much of the world has foregone, and we often look to the past to see how we can move forward in the future. There is no limit to what we could engage in learning. In my research for the book I am working on, I had to spend hours and hours studying the history of my ancestors, local communities, and medieval history. Most of this blog is dedicated to exploring historical traditions that tie our faith to the work of the land.

Lived- The homesteader who never acts isn’t really much of a homesteader, and neither is the Christian who doesn’t act. Our lives need to be shaped by the beliefs we hold, and for these labels to hold true, it requires a participation on our end. I can believe that Jesus existed without believing Him to be God or without engaging in a relationship with Him. I like to point out that Satan most definitely acknowledges Jesus, and recognizes his Divinity, and yet he does not love God, but works against Him. Is my heart moved enough to change my actions? On the homestead, I can know all about pigs or raising potatoes, but if I don’t act on this knowledge, what good does it do me? If I take steps to plant, but not tend, then there will be no harvest. Jesus “sends out laborers for the harvest.” What do they find? An empty faith, or a faith that transforms?

I could elaborate so much more on all of these points, and I’m sure I haven’t presented them eloquently, but I hope you can see what I do. These two things, where they may not explicitly mingle, at least reflect one another and have much to teach us about each other. Through both our faith and the land, we can come to know God better and live out what He calls us to. Through the work of the land, we are just a little closer to Eden, and through the Mass, we are a little closer to Heaven, and both are places of encounter with the Lord.

I pray for those of you searching for answers, for light as to why you’ve been called to this life, and find that there is more to it than strictly the work we choose to engage in. God is calling you to something more. God loves you and wants to grow closer to you! You are so deeply loved by the One who knit you together in your mother’s womb, and you have a purpose.

In Christ,
Danielle