Volunteering at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, was a life changing experience for 19-year-old Sarah Curless, a sophomore majoring in animal science at Cornell University.
Over several summers, Curless learned to garden, make cheeses and care for animals at the abbey, which advanced her college career interests, but also exposed a typical kid from suburbia to a new world.
“When I first came to the abbey, I think it was the first time I had been that close to a cow, except maybe at a county fair,” she says. “It was kind of scary learning to milk an animal so big that you knew it could hurt you if it bumped you wrong.”
Curless, who was up at 5:30 a.m. to milk cows, was struck by the hard work and dedication of the nuns at the abbey. She says the experience "...made me realize that in farming and in life sometimes you have to work at a problem for a long time and think outside the box to find the answer you need.”
Marthanna Yater's insightful, organic images capture the heart of the Abbey of Regina Laudis (see the full gallery here) by telling the story of hard work, simplicity, and the relationship between the Earth and its caretakers. -- by Carol McGarrahan
