CLEARCREEK TWP., Ohio — Kyra Roesle kicks up her weed wacker and catches it. She rips the cord, smiling.
“This is my paintbrush,” Roesle said.
She’s standing on a huge farm in Clearcreek Township. The sun is setting, and she’s racing to get as much done as she can.
“This is how we make our lines,” Roesle said.
She's trimming the grass to make the letter “O” in Ohio. A few minutes later, she grabs a bucket full of mulch and rubs it into the ground. Then, she sprinkles some on top of that.
“I wanted to write protect our farmers, but I ran out of room,” Roesle said.
She settled for: protect our farms.
And to do that, she's turning this farm into a protest. By literally writing a 1-acre message in its field.
One that's best seen from above.
WATCH: We went to the farm to see how they did it
Leslie Nogle has owned this farm for 55 years. It’s called Toothacres because her husband was a dentist.
“Once you move to the country, it’s hard to move back,” Nogle said.
She's sitting on a stool in the grass, using a board to make straight lines in the mulch.
“People don’t want these,” Nogle said.
She’s not talking about the piece of art — known as an earthwork — taking shape behind her. She's talking about large data centers. The closest of which is being proposed about 20 miles away in Trenton.
In the upcoming election, residents there will vote on whether to ban data centers or not.
“This is an issue that affects every Ohioan,” said Bethe Goldenfield, who's helping organize an event at Nogle's farm.
Goldenfield is the former chairwoman of the Warren County Democratic Party, but she tells me both sides of the political divide often agree about data centers. And that's why she's here — with gloves on, digging in the dirt.
“I guess we’re raising the issue in hopes of finding a solution,” Nogle said.
And they hope the farm will get people talking. Even if the message is difficult to see from the ground. Roesle uses her drone to show me — even though it's still a work in progress.
“I grew up on a farm,” Roesle said. “I learned so much about what mattered in life, and I want this to be preserved.”
