Area student Mitchell Janechek completed his Eagle Scout project at Prairiewoods this spring. He rebuilt four raised beds in the Green Prairie Garden, our 1,400-square-foot vegetable garden. Thanks to the hard work put in by Mitchell and his team, the garden will continue to provide about 2,000 pounds of produce each year! About two-thirds of…
As part of EcoFest 2019, eleven area Eco Champs were honored for their commitment to caring for Earth. According to the nominating website, “Eco Champs are individuals or groups in our Cedar Rapids and nearby communities that care about environmental health and work hard to bring that passion to wherever they are—school, work, at home…
Prairiewoods is sponsored by Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA), a Catholic community in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The FSPA community has practiced perpetual adoration (or round-the-clock prayer) since Aug. 1, 1878. For more than 140 years, at least two people have been praying day and night before the Blessed Sacrament. Nearly 20,000 prayer requests are…
Have you ever thought about all of the amazing benefits of gardening? As we welcome spring, here are some great benefits to keep in mind. (Thanks to the Doris Ackerman Team of realtors and BombBomb for sharing this beautiful infographic!) —Doris Ackerman Team & BombBomb
Last week, we hosted two dynamic events that held the energy of a tidal wave! Charles Eisenstein, author of The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible, and Bayo Akomolafe, author of These Wilds Beyond Our Fences, co-facilitated a mid-week retreat-tsunami called The Grace of Decomposition. The retreat celebrated the rich composting process of letting go…
Open the gate and come inside! This glorious destination, where sunshine and water have joined forces to bring forth a profusion of life, beckons you! Peeking out from abundant green growth are glowing colors: red tomatoes, orange nasturtium and purple plums. Beans snake their tendrils up metal trellises until they form shady alleyways, while sweet…
A direct encounter with Jesus in a Prairiewoods tree taught me how God shares life with each of us individually. During a 2015 Prairiewoods retreat called “Beauty is the Path to God’s Life,” led by Father John Quigley, OSF, I discovered some answers to questions I had about reconciling suffering and hardship. Honestly, the world…
In October 2014, I was blessed to be able to take a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, the home St. Francis and St. Clare, with a group of strangers-turned-friends from other Franciscan institutions. And I got to share this amazing journey with my beloved mother! As the marketing coordinator for a Franciscan retreat center, it…
It happens when I’m not looking: things appear—wrapped packages in the refrigerator or on the table surprises to open—plates of pumpkin bread bowls filled with miso couscous or mango pistachio rice, jars of hardboiled eggs as if elves or fairies had been at work while I slept or read or wrote poems, as if this…
Mary Oliver, who published more than 15 collections of poems since 1963, was known for her observant, hope-filled responses to nature. As the New Yorker said, “For America’s most beloved poet, paying attention to nature is a springboard to the sacred.” Mary, like Prairiewoods, understood and celebrated the holy intersection of ecology and spirituality, that…