“It’s a beautiful tomato,” Josh Arcaro coos just outside of the kitchen at Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center. “I would cut this up into sixths or eighths, leave it raw, drizzle it with extra-virgin olive oil.” Mr. Arcaro is the...
The Garden at Mariandale was put to bed for the winter. As I stand before the seventeen raised beds, now seeded with winter rye to bring fresh nourishment for the spring, I am caught in a kind of reverie. I recall the fresh energy of new beginnings from former spring...
My path to becoming an Associate has been a long and winding road. After graduating high school in June 2007, I briefly attended courses at a community college but soon realized that was not the path I was to follow. (I have Cerebral Palsy, which limits my ability to...
In her office dotted with wooden sculptures and Earth posters, Dominican Sister of Hope Bette Ann Jaster pores over a long, hand-written list of “beautiful solutions” sitting on her lap. These solutions, she enthusiastically explains, are intended to address climate...
