'Let everything that breathes praise the Lord'
[ Psalm 150:6 ]
From the beginning to the present day Cistercian communities have seen themselves as stewards of the land, taking care of the earth’s resources. This is a pressing problem for our time as highlighted by Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ On Care For Our Common Home published in 2015.
The community has been working since 2006 looking at the ecological merits of different heating systems and in 2008 we swapped from oil to a Biomass Boiler which uses woodchip. This was renewed in 2015 and together with Solar Panels we are using renewable sources of energy and gaining a greater level of fuel efficiency than before.
As part of this project we also wanted to plant trees which we did in 2008, two fields as woodland, and replaced old fencing with hedges which benefits the wildlife, birds in particular and the environment in general. This is in keeping with the teaching of a ‘Christian life strives to order this world’s goods to God and to fraternal charity.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church Popular and Definitive Edition paragraph 2401. 2000 Geoffery Chapman, London).
We keep bees and we apply organic principles to the market garden, herb and flower gardens