Page 16 Stories of the Heartland • Sunday, September 20, 2026 hometownsource. com / heartland /
Where purpose takes root
Camphill Village Minnesota is a life-sharing community where residents and staff grow together
BY JEFFREY HAGE STORIES OF THE HEARTLAND
The air was thick with humidity as low clouds hung over the gardens at Camphill Village. The scent of fresh basil lingered between rows of vegetables stretching across the fields.
Standing at the edge of the garden, Angela Michieli and several house leaders talked about production— what was growing well, what would soon be harvested and how the season was unfolding. For Michieli, the connection to the garden stretches back more than three decades.“ I came in 1993,” she said. She arrived after serving in the Peace Corps and completing a six-month internship on a biodynamic farm nearby.
“ I came for the kind of farming that they do here, which is biodynamic farming,” Michieli said.
She has stayed for more than three decades and continues to oversee Camphill’ s garden, where food production is part of the daily work of the village.
“ Here in the garden, we try to grow as many vegetables as we can for fresh eating in the summertime, and then for freezing and canning in the wintertime,” Michieli said.“ And it’ s also a workshop for all the people that come to live and work at Camphill— the people with special needs, the volunteers, the international volunteers and long-term coworkers.”
The garden is one of the most visible parts of Camphill Village Minnesota, but it is only one part of a much larger operation.
Camphill Village Minnesota is a life-sharing residential community of about 50 people, including adults with disabilities who live alongside house leaders, coworkers, volunteers and families. Villagers participate in workshops based on their interests, abilities and individual goals, sharing in the work and responsibilities that sustain daily life across the community.
Some work in the garden and greenhouse or help process the harvest. Others work in a licensed commercial bakery, the weavery, pottery studio or woodshop. The workshops provide work while producing food and goods used throughout the village or sold to help support the community.
The philosophy behind Camphill did not begin in Minnesota.
In 1939, Austrian physician Karl König and a small group of colleagues established the first Camphill community in Scotland after fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. At a time when many people with developmental disabilities were isolated in institutions, König envisioned communities where people of different abilities could live and work together.
Camphill was influenced by the ideas of Austrian philosopher and educator Rudolf Steiner, whose work also inspired Waldorf education and biodynamic agriculture. Those influences remain visible at Camphill Village Minnesota, from the farming practices that first drew Michieli there in 1993 to the Waldorf-inspired education available to children living in the community.
The idea spread. Today, more than 100 Camphill communities operate in more than 20 countries.
Minnesota became part of that movement in 1980.
Jeff Hage / Stories of the Heartland
At right, the buildings and ground of Camphill Minnesota are depicted in this art project made by Camphill villagers during one of their workshops. The image has been framed and hangs in the Camphill dining room where villagers, staff, volunteers, and guests meet each day to share lunch together.