Heartland Farm
1049 Circle 390
Pawnee Rock, KS 67567
620-923-4585
Fax: 620-792-1746
Heartland Farm, an 80-acre homestead, is a ministerial project of the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend, Kansas. It started in 1987 with three Dominican Sisters and one married couple and their three children.
Heartland Farm is a place for experimental experiential learning of small-scale sustainable organic agriculture, holistic health, alternative energy, and the integration of body, mind and spirit. It is also home for an intentional ecumenical Christian community of adults and families who believe in and work for an interdependent healing of the earth and care of persons. Members of the community are committed to exploring and living the principles of simple living, community, nonviolence, justice and peace, and the nurturing of all God’s creation.
Heartland Farm offers opportunities for others to expand their knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience in eco-justice through education, retreat work, and a volunteer program. Guests, folks who want to make a retreat, and volunteers have always been welcome here.
Services and AccommodationsSuggested offerings for services per person:
Summer Youth Camp
Alpacas!
Directions
Sr Terry’s Blog
Services and Accommodations
We have two straw bale buildings on the farm, one of which is a hermitage and the other an art studio with a pottery, and the spinning room. We also have a large organic garden. We have a four bedroom guesthouse. Come to visit us sometime!
No one is excluded from sharing the experience of Heartland Farm because of financial limitations. Bartering of contributed services, as well as extended time payment may be pre-arranged. Gift certificates are also available.
Suggested offerings for services per person:
Accommodation per person per night . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15
Three meals per day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10
Therapeutic massage per hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $40
There is ample space for hiking, strolling, picnicking, making a retreat, meditating, or walking the labyrinth. Spiritual companioning, experimental art, and educational tours are also available, as well as the purchase of organic produce in season. Visitors are also welcome to browse through the gift shop.
Summer Youth Camp
This annual three-day youth camp in early June is a time to share with nature, make new friends, join in prayer, and have a good time. Participants make items like sand candles, do farm chores like harvesting garlic, go swimming, learn about the environment, and learn about farm animals like alpacas. Read about the 2007 Summer Youth Camp below.
Homemade Solar Ovens and Banana Boats? Thank Heavens for the Sun!
With a basic understanding of solar energy, and access to simple materials such as cardboard, aluminum foil, and saran wrap, each camper was able to build a personal solar cooking oven that could reach over 100°F inside!
This simple solar box cooks because the interior of the box is heated by the energy of the sun. Sunlight, both direct and reflected, enters the solar box through the saran covered top. It turns to heat energy when it is absorbed by the dark materials inside. This heat input causes the temperature inside the solar box cooker to rise until the heat loss of the cooker is equal to the solar heat gain.
What do you get when you add a little bit of newspaper, black construction paper, foil and saran wrap to a cardboard box? Why, a homemade solar oven fit for cooking the best banana boats in this part of Kansas . . . unless of course you don’t have any sun!
This was just one of the lessons that eight campers learned recently at the Peace Camp sponsored by Heartland Farm on June 12 - 14.
Add a few banana boats—peeled and split bananas stuffed with marshmallows and chocolate chips – and you have a recipe for environmental education and gooey delicious fun.
There’s one small problem. As the campers took shelter from the rain on their first night at the farm, it was questionable about whether there would be any sun! But as the smiling faces attest, there was just enough. And so we say, thank heavens for the sun!
Alpacas!
Alpacas have added a great ambience to our Farm, which has existed since November 1987 as a place to visit and make a retreat, or just relax! Visitors who come now usually head first to the barn to check out the alpacas! We started with a foundation herd of just three alpacas in November, 2003: Marshfellow, Sarendipity, and Miss Daisy. Now we have a herd of thirteen!
The first three alpacas came to Heartland Farm to add a new dimension to our ministry. Their gentle, humming ways, beauty, wonderful fleece and inquisitive nature have “added value” to our farm! They are being raised for their wool and for their organic compost, as well as for show and breeding. We spin their fleece, sell roving and yarn, and knitted and crocheted garments.
Since we started with the alpacas in late 2003, we have had seven crias born here. Each birth is a great and wonderful experience for us!
A few Alpaca Facts from the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association
- Alpacas are members of the camelid (or camel) family. They are mild-tempered, gregarious animals with an inquisitive nature and a penchant for bringing great delight to their owners.
- There are two different breed-types: the huacaya (wah-Kl’-ya) and suri (surrey). Although both types of alpacas are physiologically nearly identical, one main physical difference is clearly identifiable: the fleece. Huacaya fleece has a degree of “waviness,” or “crimp” thus giving huacayas a flu
- Alpacas require only modest amounts of food (approximately 1 to 2 percent of their body weight in hay per day), plus free access to fresh water and free-choice minerals. Some owners also supplement their animals’ diet with additional grains and crumbles, based on specific nutritional needs and pr
- Alpacas stand approximately 36 inches tall at the withers (the area where the neck and spine come together) and weigh between 100 and 200 pounds.
- Indigenous to South America, the alpaca is raised for its soft fleece. This fleece is sheared once a year, yielding roughly five to ten pounds. After only minimal preparation, it is ready to be spun into yarn (for knitting, crocheting, and weaving) or used to make felt (for creating hats, cloth,