Join us for the Inaugural Grasslands Gathering
April 25-26, 2025
Bethany House and Garden
835 SW Polk Street, Topeka, KS
The Grasslands Network is made up of every day folks we call Creation Trustees. They are Nature-Food-Faith leaders who seek to live out Jesus’ Way of Love through their varied local efforts to care for God’s creation and people across the U.S. grasslands.
You are invited to join this network!
View the Event Flyer and register online.
Contact the Rev. Caroline Howard with questions. choward@episcopal-ks.org
Event Schedule
Friday, April 25th
5pm – check in
The Diocese of Kansas Bethany House and Garden – teaching prairie, culinary garden, spiritual life garden and outdoor chapel – will host tours and be open for refreshment.
All Saints Hall in Grace Cathedral is the backup site in case of inclement weather.
6:30pm – Session 1: “Film, Literature, and Prints from the Prairie”
PBS Film Maker Dave Kendall, Author Thomas Fox Averill, and Artist Laura Mead will share their works on the place of the grasslands in their artistic imagination and elements of their craft. A panel discussion will follow.
Saturday, April 26th
8am – check in day 2, breakfast
Participants will each join a small Affinity Circle for conversation over the course of the Gathering, choosing one of the following:
- Church Lands and Urban Gardens
- Nature Restoration, Preservation and Wildlife
- Smaller Farmers and Ranchers
- Larger Ranchers and Farmers
9 a.m. Session II: “The Beatitudes and Sustainability: A Rancher’s Perspective”
Mary Emeny, owner and manager of The Frying Pan Ranch near Amarillo, TX since 1978, will reflect on how Jesus’ teaching in the Beatitudes is foundational for experiments in living and ranching sustainably on the Texas high plains. Affinity Circle Conversations: “What spiritual text or theological idea most undergirds your efforts? Name one practice Mary mentioned that you have or would like to try to adopt or adapt for your context and scale?”
10 a.m. Affinity Groups
10:30 a.m. Panel: “Bringing the Beatitudes and Sustainability to Scale”
11:30 — Lunch served at Bethany House and Garden and Upton Hall. Take time for dioceses to discuss their local realities.
12:30 p.m. — Session III: “Preserving Nature Near Towns and Cities”
Rebecca and Kail Katzenmeier, Prairiewood Retreat and Preserve is nestled amongst 600 private acres set aside specifically as a tallgrass prairie preserve, lodging, and event space
just a mile west of Manhattan, Kansas and Kansas State University
Peter and Judie Storandt, Restoring Roots Prairie Artscape has transformed urban lots in the heart of El Dorado, Kansas into a sculpture garden and native prairie greenspace.
Affinity Circle Conversations:
2pm – Restor promo and invite to session V
2:30 p.m. — Session IV: “Watered Gardens and Restored Streets: Transforming our Land as Part of Jesus’ Way of Love”
Brian Sellers Petersen, founder of The Faithful Agrarian and the Spade-Spoon-Soul podcast
Cathleen Bascom, Tenth Bishop of Kansas and founder of the Episcopal Grasslands Network
Affinity Circle Conversations:
4 p.m Eucharist in St Simon’s or the Mary Chapel, Dioceses/neighbors share their unique diocesan actions and perspectives as offertory
5 p.m. — Session V: “Restor Mapping Presentation and Network Next Steps”
Madison Bishop-Knoth, Eden Food Farm, Derby, Kansas and Grasslands Eco-Fellow
835 SW Polk St.
The Harvest is the diocese’s triennial news magazine