A Rocha is a conservation organization – a conservation organization that farms! Meet Paul Neufeld, A Rocha Brooksdale’s Farm Manager. Paul joined the A Rocha team early in our work in Canada. He was (and is!) a gift and has helped A Rocha grow food in a way that cares for the earth and cares for people. The Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) project that Paul started now serves a combination of over 100 families, foodbanks and service providers, in addition to the hundreds of people who eat weekly meals at the Brooksdale Centre. (If you’re in the Vancouver area, check it out, there are still CSA shares for 2015: www.arocha.ca/csa)

But A Rocha’s farming doesn’t stop with Paul. This past year, former A Rocha intern Katie Wood joined Paul in farming Brooksdale’s gardens.  Another former intern, Queenie Hewitt, took the training she received in sustainable agriculture and used it to launch A Rocha’s Community Garden Network, through which she has trained community gardeners across Canada, equipping churches and community groups to practically care for their neighbours through the good gift of food.

Further afield (forgive the pun), Paul Neufeld’s sister and former A Rocha staff  member spearheaded the Just Growing Project, a food security project that has been growing organic food for and with those living on the economic margins in Winnipeg, MB. The project has been led by the uber capable Bethany Paetkau the last several years.

Our latest foray into food security has been in Hamilton, ON, where A Rocha folk, led by Carrie Van Dorp, are working in one of the most impoverished neighbourhoods in Canada. The program, Earth to Table, connects new immigrants and refugee claimants to creation and community through organic gardening and cooking.

In all A Rocha’s farming, we give thanks to the Creator who sustains the earth that feeds us.