Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling, and Community

Book Review - Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling, and Community by Leah Kostamo
Published by Cascade Books: Eugene, Ore., 2013

I'm back! It has been awhile since I last contributed to this blog. Rather than try to make up excuses why this might be so, I'll just get back to it.

Over the past number of years I have been somewhat involved with A Rocha Prairie Canada here in southern Manitoba. It has been an interesting and rewarding experience and I have learned much about conservation and environmental care from those I have met through A Rocha Canada. The initial A Rocha Environmental Center was founded by Peter and Miranda Harris in 1983 while in Portugal where Peter was serving as an Anglican priest. Some twenty national organizations spanning five continents later, A Rocha has become a significant Christian presence in the conservation and environmental care movement. "A Rocha" means "the Rock" and reflects not only the geographic origins of the first Center in Portugal located in Quinta da A Rocha - farm on the rock - but also its grounding in a Christian worldview. 

Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling and Community is the story of the founding and early growth of A Rocha Canada. The book is written by Leah Kostamo who, with her husband Markku, ended up in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Here they started inauspiciously, first at the mouth of the Little Campbell River and then further up along the watershed, developing a study centre which would function both as a place to model and also then to mentor others in environmental care from a Christian perspective. From modest beginnings, the Center has become an important Christian resource in the Lower Mainland and has expanded to help start another Canadian site in southern Manitoba down in the beautiful Pembina Valley south of Winnipeg. An added feature of the book is a short description of the events and main characters involved in the start of A Rocha Prairie Canada.

The book is an encouraging yet honest account of the very real issues in building something out of only a vision, a vision which at first is more a conviction then something well-defined. Leah writes with verve and humour, never shy about describing the foibles of living in community with very real 'characters' and on a shoestring, often wondering where the resources would come from to keep them going. She also does her own illustrations which add humour and make pointed observations about different aspects of life at the Center. 

Creation care is a work of faith in progress, sometimes hidden and sometimes open but, as Leah has reminded us, always worthwhile. Wendell Berry once stated that we should "be joyful though we've considered all the facts." I am grateful to organizations like A Rocha and people like Leah and Markku Kostamo for having "chosen joy."