SPRINGFIELD, IL — The Springfield Dominican Sisters on June 12 announced the sale of Jubilee Farm, a 164-acre center for ecology and spirituality near New Berlin.
Its new owners, NextGen Communities, a nonprofit established by the Sommer family of Springfield, agreed to honor the easement established with the Sangamon Conservancy Trust which bans the use of the land for commercial purposes.
A sale price was not disclosed.
The announcement came after contract negotiations on a proposed sale in February fell through, according to a spokeswoman with the Roman Catholic religious order.
A spokesman for the Springfield diocese said Bishop Thomas John Paprocki was made aware of the sale June 12. Paprocki was planning to meet with Sister M. Paul McCaughey, the prioress general of the Dominican Sisters, sometime this week about the sale.
The original 109-acre parcel was purchased by the Dominican Sisters in 1999 from the Leigh family, which had planted conventional corn and soybeans on part of the tillable land.
The farm includes a 120-year-old farmhouse where the sisters lived, a ranch home that served as a center for small group gatherings and offices and the Creative Arts Center, which served as a meeting space and workshops for crafts and weaving.
There are three miles of walking trails on the farm, a small orchard and a mowed-grass labyrinth. It also includes forest, wetlands, savannahs and native Illinois flora.
Through the years, the sisters decided to let some of the area’s natural vegetation take over. They introduced different growing techniques, such as using heritage seeds, and “companion planting,” the use of plants instead of insecticides, as natural suppressants to insects.
The grounds also served as a popular retreat center for individual or small group days of prayer and reflection.
Sister Sharon Zayac, one of Jubilee Farm’s original residents and the author of the book “Earth Spirituality,” said the sale was “bittersweet, but necessary.”
“We have been blessed to be part of the story of the land, learning far more from her than from the workshops we attended and the articles we studied,” said Zayac, who moved in March. “It is the right time to pass it along to new caretakers who are equally committed to respecting the land and all the beings who dwell there. There are fewer sisters with the physical ability and desire to live here. After a year-long process of study and analysis, we came to the realization that we could best foster our legacy here by transferring the land to others’ care.”
McCaughey said the congregation was “pleased to know the land will be in good hands for this next phase of its story and that so many creative ideas are in play to support area youth and the care of creation.”
The sisters formed relationships with the Lincoln Land Association of Bird Banders and the biology club at the University of Illinois Springfield.
At one time, the farm provided garden-grown herbs — lemongrass, lemon verbena, lemon thyme, and purple and green basil — for special menu items at Engrained Brewing Co., and it provided other herbs, blackberries and tomatoes to the restaurant on a regular basis.
A resident llama, two alpacas and chickens will remain with the new owners.
The name of the farm anticipated the “jubilee year” of 2000 and marking the two-millennia milestone of Christianity. The concept of jubilee is an ancient Hebrew practice of periodic cycles of liberation and rest to restore equity and balance.
(This story has been updated to add a video and to include new information.)
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: After 27 years of ministry, Springfield Dominicans sell Jubilee Farm
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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By Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register | USA TODAY Network
