Reflections from Grow Hope Field Days 2025
Imagine a world where nobody goes hungry. Every summer, across Saskatchewan, that hope takes shape in fields, in families, and in the gentle work of communities showing up for one another.
A Beginning in Langenburg: Aberhart Farms Field Day
The summer began under a wide July sky at Aberhart Farms. Neighbours arrived with handshakes and quiet laughter, children followed the hum of tractors, and the aroma of lunch drifted from the tents.
Aberhart Farms has a way of grounding you. Their values are written not only in words, but in the way they honour the soil and treat everyone who steps onto their land. As one family member said, caring for the land is never only about yields. It is about creating a future big enough for the generations that will follow.
When the lunch prayer rose over the field, it felt almost like the land itself paused to listen.
A Province Opens Its Gates: Saskatchewan Open Farm Days
In Willowbrook, during Saskatchewan Open Farm Days, families wandered through Creekridge Farms with the curiosity of people seeing behind the scenes of something important. Children touched grain for the first time and visitors sampled fresh products.
There is something tender about watching people learn where their food comes from. It reminds us that farming is story as much as science, and that every field has a human heartbeat behind it.
Sweetness in Bruno: Cherry Sunday Festival
Bruno glowed with summer sweetness when the Cherry Sunday Festival opened its gates. Music carried across the grounds of the St Therese Institute, and the line for cherry pie never once got shorter.
Grow Hope has been welcomed here for years through Michelle and Brian Hergott and Hergott Farm Equipment. Their generosity has helped Grow Hope become a familiar presence in the Catholic communities of Bruno and Saskatoon.
People stopped at our table not only to ask questions, but to share stories of their own gardens, their parishes, and their hopes for their communities. It felt like family gathering under the prairie sky.
Young Leaders and New Fields: Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering (CLAY) Visit in Biggar
In August, CLAY leaders travelled to Biggar to visit the farm of Diana Dolack, one of Grow Hope’s newest farmers. Most had never stood in a wheat field before. They walked slowly, listening to Diana’s story of joining Grow Hope, and learning how faith and farming meet in everyday gestures.
They asked questions about stewardship, generosity, and what it means to plant something that will feed a stranger. Their wonder was contagious. It was a reminder that young people carry a deep hunger for meaning, and Grow Hope gives them a space to see hope made real.
The Warmth of Memory: Doerksen Family Threshing Bee
In Carrot River, history came to life at the Doerksen family threshing bee. Antique machines clattered to life, children climbed onto old tractors, and this year a full bus of care home residents joined the celebration.
Lunch was served to everyone, as it is every year, and stories flowed as easily as coffee. The Mennonite community has carried Grow Hope with quiet faithfulness for years, and the threshing bee felt like an echo of that steady generosity.
Harvest at Kariel Farms: Where the Work Comes Full Circle
At Kariel Farms near Main Centre, the harvest day light settled over the fields like a blessing. Grain carts moved in smooth rhythm, combines whispered across the stubble, and families stood at the field edge watching months of work come together.
The Siebert and Holfeld families worked with the practiced ease of people who know that harvest is equal parts labour and gratitude. Their fields fed more than their own community this year. Through Grow Hope, they fed families across the world.
More Than a Season
Every field day, every handshake, every shared meal brought us back to the same truth. Grow Hope is not a project. It is a gathering of people who believe that generosity can change the world one acre at a time.
From cherry festivals to threshing bees, from youth gatherings to harvest days, this summer showed us what community looks like when people choose hope together.
It looks like fields golden in the evening light.
It looks like neighbours laughing under the prairie sky.
It looks like families, churches, and farmers choosing to plant something that will outlive them.