UNION TWP., OHIO — Inside her community in Lebanon, Leah Lauchlan walked down a hill towards pigs. Two of her sons tossed a football in the street behind her. Her 3-year-old drank a juice box while riding on another child’s back.
“Watch out for the pig poop,” Lauchlan said.
A few years ago, these were just baby pigs. Now, they aren’t as cute. One of them barked when Lauchlan’s kids fed them.
“Eventually, they’ll be in our freezer,” Lauchlan said. “So that’s kind of weird.”
At one time, it was her children's job to get them used to people.
The family was on their way back from the market at Aberlin Springs — a community residents say is unlike anything else in Ohio.
It’s not a rural farm, and it’s not a residential neighborhood. It’s both.
“We just couldn’t believe it,” Lauchlan said. “This is everything I always wanted — I just didn’t know it existed.”
Watch: We go inside the agri-community and speak to residents about their experiences
Lauchlan’s family was one of the first to move into this subdivision built around a working farm. It’s called an agri-community, and the developer says it’s the only one in Ohio. It's like a homeowner association, except you pay to support the 53-acre farm.
Those fees pay for a weekly bag of produce. And next year, it’ll include livestock.
“Moving here just created more opportunities to be outside,” Lauchlan said. “More green time, less screen time.”
Leslie Aberlin, the founder of Aberlin Springs, laughed when I asked her to describe an agri-community.
“An agri-community is very much like a golf-course community,” she told me. “But instead of a golf course as the amenity, we have a regenerative farm.”
This used to be her parents’ farm. The idea for the development really started when she got sick. She told me an autoimmune disease puts her in a walker at the end of most days.
Aberlin realized she needed to make a change. Part of that change meant organic food.
“So we decided to support a regenerative farm — really so I could have access to it,” Aberlin said. “I feel like this is the way we need to live.”
When I visited, the farmers were transitioning into winter operations.
“We're going against conventional farming. Instead of applying conventional synthetic fertilizers, we use a lot of compost,” said Nathan Reidel, the farm manager. “We need to prove to the masses — and to the world — that it can be done in a different way.”
In a flower garden nearby, horticulturist Ellie Mae Mitchell made a flower bouquet. When I first met her, she was petting a pig. Mitchell grew up on a farm in Appalachia, and she told me the sound of chainsaws feels like home.
“The direct relationship between who you’re growing your food for is something I’ve never experienced before,” Mitchell said. “It really means a lot to me.”
