Blessing the Land

By Brit+ Carpenter, Rector, Grace Northridge

A few Saturdays ago, my ministry calling and my agriculture degree finally took root in the same field. I knew I was going into ministry when I began my time at Texas A&M, so I chose to study communications as this seemed the closest to what I assumed I’d be doing in the future. After a few semesters, my guidance counselor called me in and informed me that I needed to choose a minor. I asked for a list of possibilities and quickly dismissed management, marketing, business and finance because I’d never use those in a church setting (ah, young naiveté). When I saw agronomy (soil science and large-scale crop production), I said, “That sounds fun and interesting; let’s go with that.”

To make a long story short, I ended up getting a second degree in agronomy while working at the Ag extension farm near campus. I thought I might serve as a missionary in Africa, combining the gospel with soil reclamation and church planting. It was a good plan, but it never came to fruition. Instead, God planted me at Dallas Theological Seminary to pursue a Master of Theology with an emphasis in missiology. Immediately following my coursework, I took an opportunity to disciple vagabond surfers in Bali, Indonesia. My love of agriculture went dormant but never disappeared. That turning point was deeply formative, but I often wondered if my education in agriculture would ever germinate again.

Now, some 20-plus years later, my love of soil science and crop production is taking root with parish ministry as one of our very own parishioners has recently started an amazing ministry, blending her love of farming with her desire to care for homebound and food-insecure neighbors in our community. Enter Noonday Farms. Amy Brown—yes, Farmer Brown—produced vegetables, fruits and herbs on 25 acres in Central New York, feeding over 300 households through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) model some 20 years ago. In 2023, during a difficult season, Amy encountered Christ while reading Ephesians, and a new life began to take root.

Like me, her love of soil and farming lay dormant until the Lord began guiding her toward a way to connect it with her work at Meals on Wheels. The relationships and conversations she had with the people she served began to plant the idea of growing food with a mission. Noonday Farms is the answer to that vision. Noonday is dedicated to creating a lasting impact by growing fresh, nutritious food, harvesting surplus produce and delivering hope and companionship to those in need, particularly those who are homebound and food insecure. Amy started with her front yard as a pilot earlier this year and produced over 500 pounds of organic fruit and vegetables and served five households. She then approached me to see if Grace Northridge, her home church, was interested in being the pilot for Noonday Farms at churches in our city.

Before breaking ground, we paused to consecrate the land where seeds will soon be sown. Though we missed the proper Rogation Days this year, we knew we wanted to soak the soil and surrounds in prayer. We prayed for the land to be a place of growth, provision and care, a place where both the soil and the hearts of those who labor would be nourished. I prayed Occasional Prayer 23 titled, “For The Harvest of Lands and Waters” (see below)and then led the 30 or so volunteers from our church and broader community through “A Liturgy for Gardening” from Every Moment Holy (EMH, Vol. 1, pp 91-93).

As a church partnering with Noonday Farms, Grace Northridge hasn’t planted a single seed, and we haven’t crossed the threshold of any of our homebound neighbors yet, but we see a thriving urban farm that opens doors to hospitality and pastoral care of our neighbors in the near future. Please join us in praying for a great and plentiful harvest of organic, hyper-local produce that allows us across the thresholds of our homebound neighbors, sharing the love of Christ.

“O gracious Father, who openest wide thine hand and fillest all things living with plenteousness; Vouchsafe to bless the lands and multiply the harvests of the world. Let thy breath go forth that it may renew the face of the earth. Show thy loving-kindness, that our land may bring forth her increase; and so fill us with good things that the poor and needy may give thanks unto thy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.” (BCP 2019, pg. 653)