FarmHers & Land Preservation

According to the USDA’s 2017 agricultural census data, 26% of Ohio farms are owned and operated by women – that is 26,569 Ohio women at the helm!  This year, Tecumseh Land Trust has had the pleasure of working with two extraordinary women who, not only are dedicated to their farming operations, but also to preserving their land and legacies. 

Brickel Creek Organic Farm was founded in 2007 by Sue Borton.  The 68 acre farm was the original farmstead for the Brickel family in Ross Township, Greene County.  The farmhouse dates back to 1890 and is surrounded by an organic fruit, vegetable and herb  operation with high tunnels and greenhouses.  The other acres  beyond the farmstead are cultivated in row crops.  Over the years, Sue has enrolled in various conservation programs to protect the stretch of Brickel Creek that runs through the farm and to promote wildlife habitat.  The farm is located in an area of Ross Township that was hit hard by rural residential development.  In an effort to prevent more sprawl on this very productive farm ground, Sue worked with TLT to purchase a permanent agricultural easement.  That easement closed earlier this year, protecting this fertile and diverse land for generations to come.

Organic row crop farming isn’t an easy business, but Maryann Burr has persevered since moving back to Madison County and taking over her father’s farms.  Maryann has donated easements on all four of her farms over the years, most recently a 401 acre farm on Old Xenia Road in Paint Township.  Madison County is home to some of the finest soils in the country and, so it’s TLT’s great pleasure to protect those soils in perpetuity.  Maryann is proud of her  commitment to organic farming and  conservation.  She finds comfort in the heron that has resided on this farm for 8 years now.  As Maryann observes the lovely bird she wishes, “to be so graceful & take only one’s daily needs,” as a way  toward a simpler life.