Editor's note: The term "just transition" is part of a growing vocabulary about the shift from a fossil fuel-based economy to clean energy. But the meaning of this phrase varies. The term may also imply the need for a fair transition to new jobs for employees in industries such as mining. The Catholic sisters are involved in the scope of transition work.

Stamfordville, New York — With the arrival of November and Thanksgiving, the frost is coming and the air is tinged with chills. It's time to reflect on the recent growing and harvesting seasons.

For farmers David Hamilton and Ella Schwartzbaum, despite the hot and humid summers and wet and rainy autumns, the year at the sister mountain farm was a bumper year.

They say that every cycle has its own challenges, although it is the rhythm of the land that connects the years and seasons, and believe that their work is conducive to a just transition to a more sustainable planet, and their labor is spiritually grounded.

"This is definitely a call," said Hamilton, who reviewed his experience as a farmer since 1999 and since 2017 as the supervisor of Sisters Hill, a 10-acre farm near Stanfordville, New York. As a division of the New York Sisters of Charity, Sisters Hill is one of the few farms in the United States that put the sisters' environmental ethics and commitments into practice.

"It contains so much. It just doesn't grow food," Mr. Mary Ann Garisto served as farm director from 1997 to 2017 and now holds the title of honorary farm director.

Gallisto is still one of the biggest boosters on the farm. "This is a spiritual thing," she said. "It's a mutual relationship. It's a friendship. It's people getting together. It's caring for the earth. It's not just vegetables."

Sisters Hill, like other farms in the Hudson Valley in New York (including the Harmony Farm in Goshen), is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. This means that it does not aim for profit, but provides products for members, non-profit organizations and charities (such as food banks).

Like other farms, the land used for farming itself is only part of the property; Hambleton said the sisters originally owned 141 acres of land, but half of it had been handed over to the local conservation organization as land easements.

Kirstin Bailey, senior project assistant at the Nebraska Rural Affairs Center, said that the United States does not have a definite number of CSAs, and the number of CSAs listed by the US Department of Agriculture is close to 1,000, which is far from accurate or complete. A national advocacy group.

Miriam MacGillis of the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell in Caldwell, New Jersey, is the co-founder of Genesis Farm in Blairstown, New Jersey, an organization considered a groundbreaking model . For such a farm. She counted at least 32 farms, gardens or ecological centers, all of which originated from educational seminars held in Genesis.

(Some congregations, such as the Dominica Hope Sisters, which is also in the Hudson Valley, do not have a farm but maintain gardens and provide vegetables for residents and local charities, such as pantry and food banks.)

Bailey told GSR that CSA is a model of sustainable agricultural practices.

"CSA is a great way for local farmers to contact customers directly," Bailey said in an email. "They are able to provide consumers with seasonal fresh produce from the farm at a fair price without going through anyone. The system weakens the dominant corporate food structure in the United States by returning high-quality products at a sufficiently high price. A viable one. farm."

She said that when paying membership fees, CSA members "paid" for farmers to "buy seeds, upgrade or install infrastructure, and get income before the growing season."

Sisters Hill estimates that it has "planted and shared" more than 1 million pounds of agricultural products with its members and charities in the past 22 years.

For 48-year-old Hamilton, a native of Orange County, New York, leading four crew members—two farmers and two apprentices—represented a service needed. But it is also an alternative to the corporate farming model, in which food is produced on a large scale and distributed across the country—obtained by multinational companies that usually have no connection with the local community and pay little attention to “earth-friendly” sustainability. profit.

The CSA model provides a possible path for a just transition to more environmentally friendly food production and sharing methods. "The way I tried farming was to promote a well-balanced ecosystem," said Hamilton, who finished work with Schwarzbaum on a bright and cool November afternoon.

In single agriculture, the model of large-scale enterprise farms is to plant a single crop to obtain maximum yield and maximum profit.

But what it does is "dig the soil" with the elasticity of the soil. "This is not a natural and healthy environment," Hamilton said, noting that the use of pesticides on such farms actually increases insect resistance to pesticides and increases the possibility of plant diseases.

Hambleton said that the focus of sister mountain farms and other sister farms is "balance-a natural and healthy environment, a naturally functioning elastic ecosystem" in which no pesticides are used and different crops are planted side by side.

"We are a model for building better connections with the earth and our neighbors," he said.

On Tuesdays and Saturdays of the growing and harvesting season, these neighbors are members of the nearby area. They come to this quiet and tranquil ecosystem, not far from the hills, valleys and plains, streams and streams of Poughkeepsie. Tributary composition, New York.

Also on Tuesday, neighbors included members of the CSA in New York City, about 100 miles south of the farm. Of the 380 families that received “shares,” approximately 60 live in the city. Members receive 4 to 20 pounds of food every week-usually including lettuce or loose vegetables and seasonal vegetables. The distribution time is 24 weeks-about half a calendar year-from May to November.

In late October, members of the city's CSA stopped at the campus of Mount Saint Vincent College, a liberal arts institution founded by the Sisters of Charity, located in the tree-lined Riverdale residential area in the Bronx, New York City.

There, Hamilton paid tribute to members and friends—the same is true of Gary Stowe, who said at the age of 89 that she has always been energetic, energetic, and passionate about the sister mountain farm and its mission.

Standing next to a container of fresh vegetables—potatoes, winter melon, garlic, onions, green tomatoes, arugula, Swiss chard, and lettuce—Garysto praised Hamilton, who grew up in Lutheran, because he " Profound spiritual values" and long-term commitment to the farm. "I call him a Renaissance man because he is omnipotent," Gallisto said. "He has been with us from the beginning, and he is in sync with the mission of the Sisters of Charity."

Gary Stowe explained that several factors influenced the creation of the farm and her 20-year leadership position.

One was inspired by a neighbor in New York City, the late famous theologian Thomas Berry, a crucifix priest and the founder of the Riverdale Center for Religious Studies. Berry’s lectures in the 1990s focused on the intersection of theology and ecological issues, and his personal contact with the Sisters of Charity, made Garisto and other nuns aware of the emerging field of ecological theology.

"Berry has done a lot for the whole movement to make people understand that we are all connected," said Gallisto. "We are all part of this earth. We are all together."

Another element of awakening was that in 1991, Garisto took a vacation at Genesis Farm and met McGillis. Gallisto praised the Dominican sisters as "inspiration and mentor" and introduced her to the concept of community support for agriculture.

Fortunately, her congregation has a land that can create dreams.

"A light bulb went out in my mind. I said,'Wow. We have this property in Stanfordville. It is a farm. It has a history.'"

The congregation has owned this land since 1916, when it was donated by a couple who appreciated "what the sisters did in the New York City ministry and hoped that there was a place for them to relax." "

The sisters operated a farm there until World War II, when there were not enough people to engage in physical agriculture. In the end, Gallisto said that the farmland was still open, and nearby farmers used them to grow hay.

With land available, Gallisto—inspired by Berry and Genesis Farm—is determined to make this place a working farm.

The initial response of the congregation was not positive, because environmental issues are not yet a priority for the congregation. However, when the sisters accepted "Caring for the Earth" at the 1995 chapter meeting, this situation would eventually change.

"The time is ripe," Gallisto recalled. The congregation leaders began to "wake up and realize,'We are now living in a different world.'" With land available, the congregation decided, "Yes, we need to do something."

After years of research, thinking and persistent advocacy by Gary Stowe and others, Sister Mountain Farm opened in 1997-the name is taken from the road where the farm is located.

"When we started the farm, there was a group of enthusiastic nuns working with me," Gallisto said, adding that the Sisters of the Earth, an informal network of American and Canadian nuns, strengthened the ecological work of her congregation.

Although proud of the actual results of the farm—providing products in an environmentally sound manner—Garysto is also proud of the realization of the congregation’s values.

"For more than 200 years, the Sisters of Charity has been an advocate for the poor. If we are to be this farm, there must be some components, some way that allows us to connect with the poor," she said.

From the beginning, the sisters decided to donate about 10% of their harvest to the kitchen and pantry every week. Donations went to organizations in New York City and nearby areas. The farm also provides free shares or subsidized shares to those who need food. "We will not reject anyone," she said.

Although the harvest season is over, the Thanksgiving "bonus" distribution day is an annual event—distributing "pumpkins", she said.

"I tell people:'This is your farm. This is our farm. Come anytime. Sit down.' This is a wonderful place of peace and tranquility."

A similar spirit and a sense of tranquility envelops Harmony Farm, a 285-acre piece of land located in Goshen, New York and supervised by the Sisters of Saint Dominic in Blauvert, New York. 

Like Sisters Hill, Harmony Farm also has a CSA project—now there are 30 families—products from 7 acres of land; the property also includes a vacation home that was formerly a boarding school. Like Sister Mountain, this land has been sister-owned property for decades, and the farm began in the 1990s. The congregation is discussing putting part of the property in the land trust.

In late October, just as the harvest season is about to end, several sisters and volunteers are preparing for the last sharing of the season and preparing for food distribution at the First Presbyterian Church in Goshen next weekend.

In the kitchen, Ellenrita Purcaro, 74-year-old farm co-manager of Blauvelt Srs., and 87-year-old volunteer Gertrude Simpson are preparing lunch, including pasta and fresh vegetables. The aroma of freshly peeled garlic was floating in the air.

For Simpson, a long-time religious teacher at St. Raymond College in the Bronx, the time spent on the farm was refreshed in spirit and at the same time rekindled relationships; she spent there as a high school student during the summer. "This is part of my roots," she said.

Chris de Goede, a 67-year-old farm manager, has lived there for 37 years. He does a variety of jobs—from building maintenance to assisting in the farm work itself—and praises the sisters’ leadership and property management. "They listen," he said of the sisters. "No one would work for it so beautifully."

At lunch, Purcaro contemplated the importance of locally grown fresh food. She said that the farm’s CSA program makes people feel that there is some connection with the land-a necessary corrective measure in a society where mass-produced food is harmful to the land and the body.

"We don't know what we are eating," she said of the entire food system. "Everyone should know where your food comes from." In a later email, she elaborated: "Many of us are out of touch with our natural resources, so much so that we don’t pay attention to where our food or water comes from. Where, where are they thriving or in danger. We need to ask questions, buy local ones, and check our wells and water sources."

After lunch, in one of the fields, another farm co-manager, 64-year-old Didi Madden (Didi Madden), continued the discussion. He said that farms like Harmony were making a small invasion of the food system operated by the company. , This kind of system may not be able to run continuously for a long time.

"How come there is a problem?" she said. She said a key issue is that large-scale agriculture treats land as a commodity that is used to satisfy a "constant demand system."

"I think the culture of comfort is killing us," she said. "People don't eat'real food' for several days."

This kind of food is very obvious, because the sisters’ eggplants, peppers and garlic were distributed in a parking lot of the First Presbyterian Church in Goshen under the auspices of the Goshen Universal Pantry.

Purcaro removed the product early in the morning. Volunteers put vegetables and other donated food into bags, and gave them to customers who had driven by to prevent new coronary pneumonia.

Carolyn Keller, a member of the church and a long-term volunteer in the pantry, said that people appreciate the fresh vegetables from the sisters. "Fresh is best," she said.

There were 33 cars in line that day, and it is estimated to serve 61 households—twice as many as the 31 households that distributed food before the beginning of October. Long-term volunteer John Stroble said that such jumps are not uncommon near the end of the year holiday.

He and volunteer Susan Armistead praised the sisters’ contributions to their efforts to represent the six faith traditions.

"Sisters are great," Amistad said. "What they are doing is sharing the fruits of their labor."

The labor force is constant-even on medium-sized farms like Sister Mountain, there is always work to do even when the harvest season is over. I take care of vegetables for a long time. But farmers say the rewards are huge, partly because they are tangible.

28-year-old Schwarzbaum grew up in the Upper West Side of New York City and majored in environmental studies at the university. He said: “There are many people who do well, but you don’t always see the good things you do. "Hambleton did it. 

"There are some benefits to tangible work," she said. Schwarzbaum is an elementary school science teacher. After her initial apprenticeship, she became an assistant manager of the farm in 2020. "It's good to talk to people who eat our food."

In the experience of the farmers, what may not be direct but still very real is the spiritual example of the Sisters of Charity that they have known for many years. "I always have sisters in my head," Schwarzbaum said.

Hamilton agreed. However, he is also aware of the concerns of Gary Stowe and others: For now, the model of Sister Mountain Farm cannot be immediately copied suddenly-the corporate food model will not change overnight.

"I know I can't solve all the problems in the world," Hamilton said, sitting on the porch. At noon, the autumn light began to dim. "But I can have an impact on my family, neighbors, sisters, and where I live," he said. "It's an expanding circle, ripples in the pond."

Gallisto said it’s important to remember these ripples, but to be aware of the bigger challenges. "You can't do it without systemic changes," she said. The road is not easy. Gary Stowe warns that never underestimate the power of the company or uncompromising.

"These companies must change, but they will not change because they are only interested in money," she said.

But the farming model advocated by her others is at least the beginning—the seeds of a just transition to a more sustainable planet. 

Gary Stowe said: "It's about all of us working together." 

Chris Herlinger is the New York and International Correspondent for Global Sisters Report and also writes articles on humanitarian and international issues for NCR. His email address is cherlinger@ncronline.org.

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