FARM STEWARDS
Saturday gatherings to learn, labor, eat, sing, and pray.
Come connect with the land and with other people of faith who love the land.
Participate on your own, or gather a group of friends from your faith community, workplace, or neighborhood. Sign up for one Saturday or several. This is an opportunity for seasons-long reciprocal relationship with the soil, plants, creatures, and people of Good Courage Farm. Root your spiritual practice in the reading of both Creation and Scripture in the company of other people of faith.
Read on below for information.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit”
The Gospel according to John, Chapter15, Verse 5
“Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer
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Farm Stewards are invited into a seasons-long relationship with one another, with Hebrew scripture, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and most notably, with Good Courage Farm's Vineyard, Orchards, and Creatures. Our goals are to experience reciprocity with Creation, deepen our understanding of vineyard metaphor and imagery in Jesus' teaching and in our lives, and end the season with bottles of Eucharistic wine or homemade pies for sharing in our parishes or congregations.
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Every Saturday in 2026 (March - October) is a Farm Steward "Field Day"
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Individual participants are welcome to join any Saturday! You don't have to be connected to a faith community to be a Farm Steward.
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If you are connected with a faith community, we encourage your congregation to organize a committed group of 8-12 participants and to choose 6-8 Saturdays across the growing season to come out to the farm.
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All tools are provided.
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Participants bring a bag lunch.
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Church groups of Farm Stewards organize their own carpools and internal communication. Sign up for Farm Saturdays via our Sign-up Genius page. ​​​
Want to learn more? Read on below for details...
More about Farm Stewards
What is the Farm Stewards about?
What is "agrarian faith formation"?
This unique, immersive ministry invites you to learn by doing and to reconnect your faith practices to Creation. On each "field day" at the farm, we'll work, reflect, pray, feast and share.
If you participate regularly as a Farm Steward, you will enter into a seasons-long relationship with the living, created beings at Good Courage Farm in Hutchinson. Some Saturdays, everyone will do the same work together, making light work with many hands. Some Saturdays, you'll be able to choose work with vines, trees, or animals, depending on the needs of the farm. In parallel with facilitated reflection on Jesus’ parables and feeding ministry, and on the psalms and stories of the Hebrew Scriptures, Stewards will learn about the art and science of regenerative farming in the upper Midwest.
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If field work isn't a good fit for your body, there are always necessary and helpful tasks that can be done indoors and seating, like grading fruit, candling eggs, packaging food for donation.
Do you have particular skills you'd like to share with the farm? Does your church group have a part of farming that you'd like to focus on together? Let's talk more about your place in the farm's beautiful, generous ecology!
All participants will share the actual fruits of our labors. Some of our yield will be donated to food ministry partners. Vineyard Stewards will take a share of wine to be blessed and shared in the Sacrament of Holy Community in their parish or congregation. Orchard Stewards will take pie and sweet cider to their communities. Eggs from the flocks tended by Creature Stewards will feed their households and those facing food insecurity.
This way of working, learning, and praying doesn't only yield edible fruits, it produces spiritual transformation, as well. Ongoing participants form meaningful friendships with one another, with the farmers, and with the earth which yields the fruit. All tools and equipment will be provided. Expect prayerful, joyful, hard work and satisfying results.
What does a "field day" look like?
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9:00 a.m. Gather in the barn for biscuits, jam, tea and coffee. Reflect on connected scripture texts through the practices of lectio divina and natura divina
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10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Work in the field
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12:00 noon. Eucharist in the barn (open to all)
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12:30 p.m. Lunch (bring your own sack lunch)
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1:00 p.m. Finish field work, clean up tools.
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2:45 p.m. Closing circle in the Silo
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3:00 p.m. Head home with a blessing!
Is this program family-friendly?
Farming has always been multigenerational work. That said, our experience has been that Farm Stewards cohorts are best suited to people ages 8 and up. It may be possible to tailor a particular Saturday to the needs and interest of families with youth - get in touch with us to talk more! The farm will be happy to collaborate with participants who have younger children in their families so that on-farm childcare can be arranged.
What's the time commitment?
That's up to each participant and group! This is our fourth year of Farm Stewards as faith formation, and we hear reliably from participants that the more time they spend on the farm, the more transformation they experience in their relationship with Creation and our Creator. Weaving Farm Stewardship into your own faith practice will give you opportunities for growth and for deeper friendships with other Stewards.
Some folks might come once. Others might come every month. We're experimenting with a more flexible calendar that better meets the needs of people and this place.
Each Saturday immersion on the farm is about 6 hours long. The farm is roughly a 60- to 90-minute drive from the Twin Cities metro area. So, in all, the commitment is about 6-8 hours a Saturday, depending on travel time.
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Who is this for? Will I find it meaningful?
While no prior experience is necessary, Farm Stewardship is a great opportunity for members of faith communities who already have a Creation Care group or a Good News Garden.
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The work of tending vines and trees is physically demanding; while the vineyards, fields, and orchards are not easily accessible to individuals with mobility needs, we do all we can to include everyone in the experience. Reach out to us to talk more about how to get involved, especially if you're wondering how that might look, physically and practically.
Some churches like to form a group of Farm Stewards so that participants can connect in between field days. This is also a great way to form carpools.
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Not connected to a faith community? No worries. Good Courage can become your faith community for a season! We'll connect you to others through the work, study and fellowship.