Catholic Land Movement with Michael Thomas

Title: Catholic Land Movement | Building Communities Where Stewardship, Work, Worship & Family Belong TogetherGuest: Michael Thomas - Executive Director and co-founder of the modern Catholic Land MovementRecorded: April 2026The New Orchard has always been about more than farming.Across previous episodes I've explored regenerative agriculture, homesteading, rural life and land stewardship through conversations with guests including Mary Berry of The Berry Center, regenerative farmers, agricultural innovators and the founder of Cultivate Farms. Running through each of those conversations has been a deeper question: what kind of way of life enables families, communities and cultures to truly flourish?This episode takes that question back to its oldest source.The opening chapters of Genesis begin not in a city, but in the Garden of Eden. Before there were governments, markets or institutions, there was a family, productive land and a God-given vocation "to work it and keep it." What does that tell us about the relationship between work, worship, family and creation? Is the Garden of Eden simply where the biblical story begins, or does it reveal something enduring about how human beings were created to live?Joining me is Michael Thomas, Executive Director and co-founder of the Catholic Land Movement (CLM). Michael and his family have spent more than a decade homesteading in upstate New York, and today he helps families around the world reconnect with productive land, Catholic social teaching, local community and a life of stewardship.In this conversation we explore:• The origins and modern revival of the Catholic Land Movement• Catholic social teaching, subsidiarity and the family• The biblical vision of stewardship in Genesis and the Garden of Eden• Homesteading, regenerative agriculture and rural community• Wendell Berry, Thomas Jefferson and the case for rooted local communities• Land ownership, distributism, self-sufficiency and human flourishing• Practical pathways for families interested in joining or starting a Catholic Land Movement chapterWhether you're interested in regenerative farming, homesteading, Christian living, Catholicism, rural life, food sovereignty, stewardship, family formation or simply searching for a more grounded way of life, I hope this conversation gives you plenty to reflect on.If you enjoy this episode, you'll also find related conversations in The New Orchard catalogue with Mary Berry (The Berry Center), Sam Marwood (Cultivate Farms), Matt Wong and Jake Wolki on regenerative agriculture, family life and reconnecting people with the land.Links and interview references:Catholic Land Movement - https://catholiclandmovement.info Substack - https://oldhollowtree.substack.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/michaelthomasofsharon/ Rerum Novarum Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Capital and Labor