Gardening : A Cool, Peaceful Oasis at St. Andrew’s Priory : Games, Crafts, Music, Mass to Be Highlights of Fall Festival at Benedictine Monastery
Father Eleutherius Winance is the first to admit his garden is “a little strange.”
In the middle of the dry, high desert, midway between Littlerock and Big Pines, where temperatures in the summer normally stay in the high 90s every day, his quiet, cool, green haven on a few sloping acres is a thriving anomaly, often ill-kept, he says, and even contains some items “stolen” from the church.
Yet, the assortment of flowers and a dozen varieties of trees provide one of several peaceful sanctuaries at St. Andrew’s Priory in Valyermo, established by the Benedictine monks in 1956 and situated 3,600 feet above sea level.
“It’s chiefly the trees,” Eleutherius said. “One man comes here every Sunday from Sunland to picnic and listen to the wind. And children love the sound of the wind through the trees. On festival weekend, just watch: Children will come here to play or just sit quietly.”
Event to Benefit Youths
About 20,000 visitors are expected at the 500-acre monastery, about 20 miles southeast of Palmdale, when St. Andrew’s hosts its 33rd annual Valyermo Fall Festival next weekend, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. As in previous years, the event will benefit the priory’s retreat house and youth-center programs and promises to offer a variety for all ages.
In the children’s world, youngsters can romp on large bouncers, pan for gold, have their faces painted by clowns, ride ponies and visit a petting zoo stocked with animals from 4-H clubs from Pearblossom and Littlerock.
Artists from throughout the Southland and the Northwest will be represented in a variety of media, and craft demonstrations will be given on the grounds in weaving, pottery, wood carving, stained glass and jewelry. A highlight of the art works is the ceramic plaques by Father Maur van Doorslaer, an internationally renowned painter of monochrome studies.
Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, on the hour from 7 a.m. to noon Sunday, and at 5 and 6 p.m. both days, in a cozy building that was once a barn. Also on both days, John West will lead the Valyermo Dancers of Reseda in liturgical dances at 3:30 p.m. to celebrate vesper.
Fun for Young and Old
Roaming the grounds will be costumed mimes, dancers, jugglers and musicians. “We’ll have bingo games for seniors who may want to sit and rest,” said Father Werner de Morchoven, 72, chairman of the festival, whose organically grown apples from 1,000 trees will be on sale.
And, of course, the weary in search of solace can always visit Father Eleutherius’ garden, where the temperature is often 20 degrees cooler than other parts of the facility.
A native of Belgium, the 80-year-old cleric recently visited his homeland for two months in honor of his birthday, and recalled when he first saw poplars in southern Belgium.
“I liked them because they grow fast,” he said. “When I was in St. Cloud, Minn., I saw many trees. But here in Valyermo, no trees. No poplars, only desert. Someone gave me a poplar in 1963. I planted it and from that one tree, all of these (grew). But my garden is purely a hobby. I have no time.”
Over the last 26 years, in between his writing, teaching philosophy classes at Claremont McKenna College in Pomona, celebrating weekly Mass at the monastery and Saturdays at Mira Loma County jail, Eleutherius has found time to plant other trees--three varieties of pine, weeping willow, cedar, cottonwood, maple, a sycamore and a cherry, among others.
Watering twice a day is mandatory. “When it’s very hot and when trees are very young, three times a day,” he said.
Lovingly Planted
He laid out the carpet of grass throughout the garden by hand, beginning with a square of sod taken from the monastery’s pastures near the gate. Several varieties of cacti, including one group from Arizona, border one side of the garden and were either begun from a few leaves or were gifts from monastery guests.
And the flowers, only a few of which are in bloom now, got their start as seedlings in Eleutherius’ room.
“The poor flowers,” he said. “I put them in pots because they were being eaten by the rabbits.”
Neither manure nor pesticides are used and yet, several weeks ago, with flowers in bloom, the garden was splashed in color with petunias, roses, sweet peas, chrysanthemums, dahlias, irises, crocuses, daisies and tulips, among others. Now only the Easter lilies, a few cosmos and marigolds remain, the former also “pilfered” from the church.
“My garden is the garden of the poor, but God loves my flowers anyway,” he said. “I wanted to show that if you work and water and have patience, you can achieve something.”
Despite a serious gopher problem, Eleutherius refuses to use anything stronger than water to combat the rodents.
“I hate the gophers,” he said, comparing them to marauding urban gangs as they destroy roots. “We have lost at least 25 trees to the gopher. When I see a gopher attacking a tree, I water and water and water. Then he won’t come back.”
Being located in the middle of the high desert also means there are snakes, but the snakes at the priory are “good snakes,” he said. To keep the lawn trimmed, he uses an old-fashioned lawn mower because the noise and fumes of an engine-powered one would disturb the garden’s peace and quiet. At night, the cottontail rabbits help keep the grasses trimmed too.
As visitors approach the monastery from the winding hillside road, the 80-foot-high Lombardi poplars and Sequoia giganteas can be seen from afar, an incongruous oasis of green in the brown desert. In recent years, the state forestry service has offered Eleutherius a number of shrubs and grasses to test their fire resistance in the desert clime.
Thriving in Garden
Herbs, such as mint, sage and rosemary, thrive in the garden, but are not used to supply the priory’s kitchen with flavorings and spices. Each of the 27 monks who reside at the facility takes his turn in the kitchen, preparing and serving meals to guests.
Besides Father Maur’s King David, red delicious and golden delicious apples, a variety of foods will be sold next weekend. A farmers market will offer produce from local growers, fast food from hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, soft drinks and beer to finer, more leisurely cuisine including Continental, Oriental and Mexican dishes. The Teahouse of the September Moon, for example, will serve Chinese fare at one corner of a lake populated by ducks.
In the 1930s, the Benedictine monks served as missionaries in Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and in China where they were expelled by the Communists in 1952. They were publicly humiliated and forced to march from western Chengdu in Sichuan Province to the Hong Kong border. Leaders of the order, based in Belgium, chose Valyermo and established St. Andrew’s Priory with the idea of eventually returning to China.
They never returned. Eleutherius spent four years in Rome, before assuming philosophy teaching posts in Zaire, Africa; Bangador in south India, and at St. John’s College near St. Cloud, Minn. When he started his garden in Valyermo, he was 53.
“But Father Phillip is the real gardener,” Eleutherius said. “For myself, it’s only a hobby. When I am not here and have no time to take care of it, I ask people to water it. The rest, I leave to God.”
