Thursday, February 11, 2010

On Jan. 29 the Ursuline Sisters of Brown County granted an agricultural easement to the Southern Ohio Farmland Preservation Association (SOFPA) to insure that 83.368 acres of agricultural property in the village of St. Martin will remain available for agriculture.

Present at the signing of agricultural easement from the Ursuline Sisters of Brown County to the SOFPA were, seated, Jerry Schwallie, president of SOFPA, Sister Patricia Homan, congregational minister, Brown County Ursulines,  and Patrick Hornschemeier, attorney for SOFPA. In the back row are Sisters Phyllis Kemper, Ruth Podesta, Mary Paul Walsh and Agatha Fitzgerald. (Courtesy photo)

The Ursuline Sisters have owned the property for more than 160 years, and the 83 acres surrounds Chatfield College and the long-time motherhouse of the Brown County Ursulines.
 
In a legacy statement issues last March, the Ursulines stated, “Our land is holy ground supporting efforts to experience and share the love of God in a myriad of ways…We value the agricultural potential of the land and the interdependence we share with the people in the surrounding towns and countryside and with Chatfield College. Proposed projects consistent with our mission for the betterment of the individual must also respect the land assuring its preservation and its unfolding potentials.”

SOFPA, a local non-profit headquartered in Georgetown, was enthusiastic about joining in the effort of the Sisters. SOFPA works with landowners who wish to preserve their land from development. SOFPA now holds agricultural easements in Adams, Brown, and Clermont Counties and is also available to assist farm owners in Highland County.