Stories of the Heartland September 2026 | Page 18

Page 18 Stories of the Heartland • Sunday, September 20, 2026 hometownsource. com / heartland /

tered,” Welck said.

Assignments are based on individual interests, abilities and goals developed with villagers, guardians and case managers. A villager might spend part of the day harvesting vegetables, working with clay, helping in the bakery or completing a woodworking project.

“ It just depends on the person,” Welck said.“ Everybody kind of chooses where they work based on their interests and their skill set.”

Morning workshops are followed by one of the few times each day when nearly everyone comes together. Villagers, house leaders, workshop leaders and volunteers gather in the main hall for lunch.

The midday meal provides a natural meeting place for people who may have spent the morning working in different parts of the 525-acre property. Conversations carry across the tables before people return to their afternoon workshops. Breakfast and dinner are eaten in the individual homes, giving each household its own daily rhythm while lunch brings the larger village together.

After lunch, people return to work before heading home for dinner and the evening.

From garden to pantry

Inside the harvest kitchen, villagers and coworkers preserve vegetables for the months when Minnesota’ s gardens are dormant.

Produce is washed, blanched, frozen and canned. The work extends the usefulness of a relatively short growing season and is one reason Camphill can rely so heavily on food produced on the property. It also requires reliable storage. Welck remembers one season when an apple storage room created an unexpected problem.

“ Our apple room, for some ungodly reason, was heated,” she said.“ Things were festering and rotting.”

The community had to move quickly to process what could be saved.

Bread and belonging Camphill’ s licensed commercial bakery is led by Diego Topete, who came to

Camphill Minnesota

Camphill Minnesota villagers work in the community’ s 40-acre garden near Sauk Centre. During planting, growing, and harvesting seasons the majority of Camphill’ s residents work in the garden.