A love letter to Bethlehem Farm – 

When I found myself back in Ohio, the question that I was constantly asked was, “What was your biggest takeaway from your immersion?”  I find myself thinking back on the farm and how I am still constantly growing from my experience. As my classmates and I entered into the farm, I was an anxious teenager who was nervous about a week spent offline. The nerves quickly went away once we were warmly welcomed by the sweetest people with the phrase “welcome home.” These words tell a story themself and remind me of my week spent at the farm.  

At the farm, I especially loved morning and night prayer because it was beautiful starting and ending my day with God. I learned various different ways to pray whether that would be music, reading, partner reflection, art, and more. I try to add in these types of prayer into my daily routine still today. I also really enjoyed the serine nature at my fingertips. Not having my phone helped me connect and strengthen my relationship with God. I learned to love the silence. It was so peaceful being able to sit and talk with God on a deeper level. Being woken up extra early to go do yoga with the sunrise or watching the sunset made for great times to really live in the moment, taking in the beautiful scenery and time.  

The friendships that I made throughout the week will be forever cherished. I could make genuine connections with people by removing small distractions. The pure connections made with the summer servants and caretakers is something that I think about daily. I loved getting to truly get to know each one of the summer servants and caretakers while on worksites, morning chores, or even during free time. I made a close connection with a genuine girl named Alice. On our very first morning I signed up for berry picking with Alice. We chatted while we picked weeds and berries. Alice became someone who I knew that I could talk to about anything. I am very happy to say that I still stay in touch with Alice and almost everyone that I met while at the farm!! One last connection that I made was with my crew, or better known as The Dirt Deniers. I loved getting to know everyone in my crew and we bonded so much. One core memory is Colin eating true dirt… it is a long story!! I especially liked how we would each help each other out whether that was on a worksite or at the farm. These lifelong friendships make up the Bethlehem Farm community that is so important to me. The community supporting each other no matter what is something that I have tried to bring back and implement into my daily life back at home.

Overall, my week spent at the farm was nothing short of memorable. Once back in Ohio, I have tried to use less water (while showering especially), have a better sense of community, and implement different types of prayer. Thank you, Bethlehem Farm for pushing me out of my comfort zone in the best way possible. I am forever grateful.  

Much love,  

Elena Rizzo

Elena Rizzo first came to Bethlehem Farm as a volunteer in Summer 2024.