Faith & Farming

By the Work of Their Hands

stories of faith and farming

by Matt Kemnitz, photos by J.D. Benning

Take a look at your hands. What story do they tell? Maybe you just worked in the garden with them and they are a little dirty. Maybe you just used them to fold the laundry. Maybe you just came from Mass and remember receiving the Eucharist or sharing the sign of peace with someone. You might be saying to yourself, “Well, I just used my hands to pick up this Kansas Monks, my favorite magazine!” Each person’s hands are unique, telling their own story.

The look of a farmer’s hands can help tell the story of his or her life. It is a life of hard work. It is a life on the land. It is a life of sweating in the sun and freezing in the cold. It is a life of relying on God.

The following are glimpses of the lives of Catholic, faith-filled farmers. From a 95-year-old looking back on his life, to families who have farmed for generations, to a family just starting with no experience. Their farms span from Grinnell, Kan., to Linn, Mo. We spent time with each of them to gain a deeper insight into their farm and faith lives.

Like the Benedictine motto Ora et Labora, they use their hands for prayer and work. With their hands they have driven tractors, tilled soil, planted and harvested crops, raised livestock and provided for their families and countless others. These farmers and their families work hard and pray hard. They have rooted themselves in Christ and in the land they care for. They are often on their knees praying in Chuch for rain, on their knees in the fields, or on their knees in sheds fixing their equipment. They are models of stability in a sometimes unstable world. Just as the monks profess a vow of stability to their particular monastery, these farmers represent stability on their spread of land. So get your farm boots on and enjoy this rural ride!

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Fiat Farms

Nestled in south-central Kansas sits the quiet community of St. Leo, Kan. Kevin and Mary Ford and their three small children live just south of the Catholic Church. As we approached the house we were greeted with a familiar phrase hanging next to the door: “Let all guests be welcomed as Christ” (RB 53:11). After graduating from Benedictine College in 2007 with a theology degree, Kevin started teaching at a high school in Wichita when he came to a decision — start farming. “I decided I wanted to become a farmer. I just wanted to do it.” The fact that he had no experience didn’t concern him, “I’m very persistent.” They have 12 acres of land, 3 ½ acres dedicated to vegetables. They raise pigs, chickens, goats, two hogs and one new 700 pound boar whom they named “Big Boy.” The main reason Kevin decided to make this leap into farming was because of his desire for stability for his family. “The most stable family life is a life on the land rooted in the earth. I’m there for every meal with the family. If my wife ever needs me, I’m just a call away and I can be there.” Their Catholic faith impacts their lives as farmers. Kevin keeps the Rule of St. Benedict near him and reads it regularly. Since he began farming four short year ago, Kevin has founded the New Catholic Land Movement. It helps bring families back on land to farm and live together. “The Rule inspires everything that we do. Prayer comes first, but even our work should become a prayer. It is a constant, day-by-day, offering to God.”

mense

fa m i ly fa r m s “With farming, everything you do depends on God.”

212 miles northwest of St. Leo lives another farm

family with a much larger spread of land. “Hop in,” Rodney Mense (at right, left) said as he pulled up to meet us on his farm in his red pick-up truck. “We’re going into town to get a tire fixed for a plow.” So we hopped into his truck and began our glimpse into the farming life he and his family live. After we dropped the tire off to be fixed we went to the local co-op and then to the Catholic Church in the neighboring town of Angelus, Kan. Our first few moments with Rodney showed that he was a man of action, rooted in the local community, and a man of faith. He was greatly influenced by the monks, having graduated from Maur Hill Prep School in 1952, and has been farming ever since in western Kansas in the area of Grinnell. His two sons, Larry (at right, right) and Leeland, have joined their father in their expansive farming operation. They farm around 8,000 acres together. It is a large operation but they wouldn’t trade being farmers for anything. Even in the face of challenging weather. “You have to have a lot of faith when planting crops. It’s up to the good Lord to bring moisture,” Rodney said. His family has been farming in Kansas since 1888. Rodney, his wife Frances, and his sons are very active in their parish. They are on Church committees and are involved with the Knights of Columbus. They also volunteer and take care of all the upkeep of the local cemetery.

DIEDERICH

Farms

Driving on the dirt roads one hour north of Manhattan, Kan., trying to reach a farm in

Greenleaf, Kan., even confused our GPS. It was as if our GPS wanted to ask, “Is this even a road?” With a sigh of relief we found Dean and Mary Ellen Diederich’s farm. Greeted immediately when we pulled up in the car in front of their house we felt the Benedictine hospitality they were formed in. Mary Ellen was a 1958 graduate of Mount St. Scholastica

College and Dean was a 1952 graduate of Maur Hill Prep School and a 1957 graduate of St. Benedict’s College. They have 39 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Their farm has been in the family since the late 1800s. They raise cattle and crops and enjoyed raising their kids on the farm. “The kids had all kinds of freedom running up and down the hills. We also had all kinds of pets from a raccoon to a hawk. It’s been a blessing to raise our family here,” Mary Ellen explained. Their faith continues to inspire them to keep on farming and persevere. “Faith is just the most important thing there is. It’s the reason for being here,” Mary Ellen said. “Faith is a gift. You have to use it because if you don’t you will lose it,” added Dean. One day Dean was having a difficult time bringing the cattle in so he prayed to his Guardian Angel by simply saying, “Hey, we got a problem here, and you have to help.” The Diederichs exemplify the stable life of farming. “I would link stability with responsibility to stay here and not leave because of adversity.”

Just outside of Seneca, Kan., is a farm that has been in the family for four generations – since 1898. “With these hands I’ve done almost everything in farming from turning the wheels of tractors to throwing bales of hay. Once in a while you need more than just your hands. Sometimes you need to ask somebody up above to help you,” Dave Nordhus said. He expressed how his faith life and farming life work together, quoting his favorite passage, “All things work together for those who love God and trust in the Lord” (Romans 8:28). Dave and Donna Nordhus have been farming for over 40 years. Dave’s grandfather had twelve children and three of them became monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey and three became sisters at Mount St. Scholastica. “This area of farm ground is fertile for religious vocations. Within one mile we’ve [recently] had two become priests and two become sisters,” Dave explained. The Nordhus family was inspired by the monks they have had as pastors in the area, like the late Abbot Owen Purcell. Now their daughter Charity and son in-law Will Henry, with their two children, live at the original homestead and are continuing the family tradition. Dave and Donna have been blessed with four children and eight grandchildren. Charity thinks back fondly about having been raised on the farm and how it greatly impacted her faith life. “God created this world for us,” she said. “Being on a tractor by yourself gives you time to pray and ponder God’s work in my life. I wanted the same for my children.” Maybe someday the Nordhus farm will continue into the fifth generation. Hopefully the land in that area will continue to be fertile for crops and for future religious vocations as well.

George Holthaus

“I’ve farmed all my life. I started farming at age 6. I’ve always enjoyed farming. You gotta like to work,” said George Holthaus. Living in the town of Seneca now, George, who is 95 years young, continues to share his love of farming. One look at his hands and you know he spent many years using them. In fact, he is missing the tip of one of his index fingers. “I was working with a piece of machinery with a belt when it hit my finger. It hurt but when I looked at the cotton glove I was wearing there wasn’t a hole. When I pulled my glove off the tip of my finger flew off, hit the ground, and then my dog ate it. I never saw that again,” George explained with a hearty laugh. He also mentioned the influence that several of the monks had on his life, especially Abbot Owen Purcell and Abbot Ralph Koehler, who grew up next to him. He has an active daily prayer life and prays often for his family, especially those he has lost over the years. “I pray the rosary every day after breakfast,” George explained. He has a very large extended family with 38 grandchildren.

Tim Becker farms around 7,000 acres in multiple counties of northeast Kansas with the help of his father, Ray. Tim went to public high school with Abbot James Albers. He has great respect for the monks and for their witness they offer the world. “Monks remind me what’s important in life and what’s not,” Tim said. Ray Becker graduated from St. Benedict’s College in 1963 and Tim’s mother, Mary Jo, attended Mount St. Scholastica College. Tim’s wife Kelli attended Mount St. Scholastica Academy and is a teacher at St. Benedict Catholic School. They have four children. Tim was able to get into farming because his grandfather owned land. “I didn’t have to start from scratch from a land standpoint. The opportunity was there,” Tim explained. He grew up 250 yards from St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Purcell, Kan. “You did not miss Mass,” Tim said smiling. “We all swim in the same pool of faith. Some prefer to stay in the deeper depths. I can swim in the deep end but prefer my feet touch.” His faith helps keep him rooted in Christ and the challenges of farming in perspective. “You pray a lot for rain in production agriculture. You won’t produce without it. Once your crop is in, it’s in God’s hands. You are not going to make it rain. At the end of the day you have to ask yourself why you are here and why you are doing this, caring for the land, producing food. It’s a mountain of work sometimes. It does take you away from your family a bit, but it’s the best way to raise children by giving them jobs.”

T & R FaRms

VOSS

land & cattle

Fr. Meinrad was a little nervous getting out of Ralph Voss’s 4x4 utility vehicle in the middle of a rain soaked cow pasture near Linn, Mo., where Ralph farms. As he walked through the middle of the herd of South Poll cattle (shown above), he got mud on his habit from the tall grass and weeds and watched his every step to avoid getting a cow pie surprise on his shoes. With the sound of these bellowing brown cows and their calves at their sides we watched Ralph lead his herd of over 100 to a different part of the pasture to graze. South Poll Cattle were first bred by Teddy Gentry of the famous country music group Alabama, bred to be heat-tolerant. Ralph is also passionate about letting God take care of the farming environment and not using chemicals, striving to be a good steward of God’s beautiful land. He explained the importance of dung beetles and earth worms for the production of superior soil. Ralph even scooped up a dung beetle from the ground while we were talking with him to show it to us up close. “I’ll let it go back to doing its work now,” Ralph said as he gently returned it back from his muddy hand to a pile of dung. We commented on the hands of the farmer and how they tell a story. Ralph responded, “With these hands I have held the Body of Christ as I fed my soul at the Eucharist and have held God’s precious soil that grows food for our bodies.” Ralph and his wife Jerrilynn have had their farm in Linn, Mo., for just over 40 years. Ralph is a 1963 graduate of St. Benedict’s College and helps coordinate an annual men’s retreat at the Abbey.

The life of a farmer and the work they do with their hands is a way of life that demonstrates stability, an integral part of the life of a monk. In addition to the vows of obedience and conversion of life, one of the vows Benedictine monks profess is stability. Upon professing their solemn vows monks promise God and their community to call St. Benedict’s Abbey their home until death. The monastery itself – this structure of stone and earth – is also a symbol of stability. Its formidable appearance looks like something that will firmly remain in the same spot forever. Both monks and farmers can tell a similar story. They have rooted their lives in a specific location where they live, work and pray. They have both rooted their lives in Christ.

Editor’s Note: Faith and Farming, a video featuring these families and others will also be released in the near future.