Part of our Encounter Creation series includes a Sunday morning speaker series at 10:05 in the Modern Sanctuary. We’ve got poets, farmers, physicists, beekeepers, a mountain climber, and other people lined up to talk about creation, our role in it, and ways you can get involved this summer.

June 30: Sam McLemore, Bountiful Harvest Farms
Bountiful Harvest Farms was started by Sam and Isabel McLemore in the spring of 2011 in Starkville, Mississippi. What started with a desire to grow vegetables for their family turned into a new career for Sam and an adventure to grow vegetables for the Starkville area. Bountiful Harvest Farms are Certified Naturally Grown, which is a farmer-to-farmer certification following National Organic Program practices.

July 7: Kate Bishop & John Martin, Chicory Market

Kate and John took over the old Oxford Farmer’s Market in 2017, turning it into Chicory Market. The store sells items from over 50 local farmers and food makers including Native Son Farm and Brown’s Dairy. Chicory Market is a place where people who care about eating good, fresh food can get whatever is on their grocery list. The market works to support the local food system and the local economy, bringing fresh produce from local and regional farmers.

July 14: Charlie Buckley, Mississippi Landscape Artist

After studying at Ole Miss (BFA 2004) and Miami University (MFA 2009) and teaching drawing and painting at Miami University, Mississippi State University, and Ole Miss, Charlie Buckley spends his time as a working artist. He has participated in international and national exhibitions, and shows regularly in the region. He operates a full-time studio in Tupelo, MS, and any and all are welcome to come a take a peek at what he is working on. 

July 21: Beth Bowers, Adventure Hiker hiking Mt. Rainier

Beth moved to the North Mississippi area from Seattle Washington about nine years ago and is currently a teacher in the Respiratory Program at Itawamba Community College Tupelo Campus. About five years ago while battling breast cancer, Beth found that her energy and activity level had been severely effected by the treatment.   During those five years, her energy never returned to the same degree prior to her treatment. She knew she had to have a really big goal to push her through the tough days so that she could finally break the cycle of weakness.  Last summer, she decided that turning 60 in November 2019 and the need to get stronger could be accomplished by training to climb Mount Rainier at 14,410 feet in Washington state.  It has been 10 long months of hard work, but she is ready to summit Mount Rainier in July and encounter creation at new heights.

July 28: Ann Fisher-Wirth, University of Mississippi professor/poet, Editor of Ecopoetry Anthology

Ann Fisher-Wirth teaches poetry workshops and seminars, 20th-century American literature, and a wide range of courses in environmental literature. She also directs the Environmental Studies minor at the University of Mississippi. A senior fellow and board member of The Black Earth Institute, she was 2017 Anne Spencer Poet in Residence at Randolph College in Virginia. She has held a senior Fulbright at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and the Fulbright Distinguished Chair of American Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. She has received numerous awards for her work, which appears widely in journals, online, and in anthologies. She and her husband, Peter Wirth, have taught at the University of Mississippi for 30 years.