- Event date:March 17, 2024 at 5:00 PM
- Event end:March 17, 2024 at 8:00 PM
- Size40
You are invited for poetry, storytelling, and a community potluck as Sister Grove Farm prepares to welcome the Spring Equinox. The farm will provide chicken pot pie from chickens they raise. You are requested to bring a side dish and/or a beverage of choice (wine, beer, soda) that is as locally sourced (to you) as possible. If all you can bring is an appetite, that’s okay too!
Sister Grove Farm hosts these dinners to build community around the possibility of creating a healthier and more resilient local food system. Joining the party to share some of their farming story will be Chuck and Molly Trowbridge of Prairie Farmstead in Sherman, Texas. And the group would like to know your story too. This picturesque farm in Van Alstyne is just 20 minutes north of McKinney and invites people of all walks of life to come together and reconnect with the land and each other.
Portions of time together will be outside, so dress for the weather. This event will be held rain or shine. Check in at the Pavilion by 5 pm to drop off your food. The group will then gather at a natural spring just west of the pavilion for a bit of ceremony to acknowledge the changing of the seasons and celebrate our place in it. Simple and brief rituals will be offered based in Celtic Christian and earlier pagan customs with visitors of all faiths and backgrounds invited to participate as they see fit. This time is dedicated to:
- welcoming the promise of spring,
- crossing a threshold into a new time – a time of light, of renewal and new growth, and
- rejoicing at Spring’s reminder that after death comes rebirth. Always.
The potluck and community conversation will follow this ceremony, held in a gorgeous dining space, surrounded by agrarian and Texas history. Farm owners Sarah and Rodney Macias come from deep Texas roots and enjoy connecting with others over local food, regenerative agriculture, Texas history, celebrating faith, learning from the land, and working together to build a brighter tomorrow. This is a special opportunity to come see all the amazing connections happening at Sister Grove Farm, and to hear some incredible stories about lives and land in North Texas.
Tickets are pay-what-you-want, with a minimum of $25 per person. Proceeds support event logistics and farm operations. To book, select the total number of tickets, and booking widget will update to reflect basic ticket price. Under Products & Services, you can also add any additional payment in increments of $25 (use the quantity buttons to adjust as desired).
Interested in learning more about farm or coming on a different date? Try a farm tour: Learn local history, regenerative farming in Van Alstyne.
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Hosted By Sister Grove Farm
Sister Grove Farm is committed to building community: where strangers become neighbors and neighbors become friends. Where this happens is at the table. And with locally sourced food, the transformation reaches beyond just the people at the table.
The farm is 149 acres of rolling blackland prairie just 45 miles north of Dallas. Nestled along the east prong of Sister Grove Creek on the ancestral lands of the Wichita people, this patch of earth is now cared for by Rodney and Sarah Macias as a regenerative farm and small retreat center.
The land was once owned by Collin McKinney, oldest signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and an 1859 farmhouse (restored as one of our accommodations) was home to his son and daughter in law, Younger Scott McKinney and Sarah Janes McKinney. The farmhouse can accommodate up to 9 people but is also perfect for a solo or couple’s get-away.
The farm also features two communally designed guesthouses and an indoor group-use space with a commercial kitchen and everything needed for meetings and dining.
Using holistic grazing and regenerative approaches to agriculture, Sister Grove Farm raises grass-fed cattle and sheep along with heritage breed chickens. Joining the farm in these tasks are two livestock guardian dogs and one barn cat.
At Sister Grove, the farm's mission is to “grow and raise a diversity of plant and animal species for food and beauty in such a manner that the land is healed along with all who visit and live here.”