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33 YELLOW SPRINGS NEWS The GUIDE to YELLOW SPRINGS 2019 – 20 youngsdairy.com One mile north of Yellow Springs on U.S. 68 # 1 For Family Fun DAIRY STORE: Homemade Ice Cream, Young’s Farmstead Cheese, Sandwiches & Side Orders THE GOLDEN JERSEY INN: Country Style Cooking Served in a Friendly Manner UDDERS & PUTTERS: Miniature Golf, Driving Range, Batting Cages BARNABE’S WALNUT GROVE: Catered Picnic Pavilions Complete with Family Entertainment Dairy Store: (937) 325-0629 Golden Jersey Inn: (937) 324-2050 youngsdairy.com email: cows@youngsdairy.com Integrative Massage (combining therapies) Medical/Massage Therapy Relaxation/Deep Tissue Neuromuscular Therapy Belavi Face Lift Massage Pregnancy Massage Evening and weekend appointments also available 767-7609 or 937-215-8446 Licensed by Ohio Medical Board Pamela Funderburg, LMT The Wellness Center 716 Xenia Ave. Yellow Springs two years earlier was a key to the farm’s fate, according to Julia Cady, a task force member and TLT’s board president at the time. “Everyone was working together to get this accomplished,” she said. “Even if we hadn’t been successful, I think we would have said that we did everything we could.” “[Task force co-chair] Al Denman said we need an angel. We had a lot of angels,” Cady added. LaMers, then a TLT board member, also saw how the community rallied when faced with the possible loss of greenspace so close to town. She remembers how yard signs popped up daily, a “cornometer” made by Huston and erected on the wall of Deaton’s Hard- ware showed the community’s fundraising progress and eight-foot tall “NO SPRAWL” letters made by Jim Mayer lined the high - way. Everyone gave how they could, from a villager who organized a 13-hour Kelly Hall concert that raised $7,000, to an elemen- tary school student who raised $7 by put- ting out a jar at lunch to “Save the Cows.” Donations came in from across the coun - try, as newspaper headlines announced, “Yellow Springs shudders at development” and “Village fights for farmland, its values.” The night of the auction 800 people squeezed into the banquet room at the Springfield Holiday Inn, while outside, vil - lagers held a rally, singing “We Shall Over- come” and “This Land is Our Land.” At the auction, bidders made offers on various parcels, and after the first round of bidding, the total value of individual bids reached $2.5 million, the News reported. Then the Neuhardts surprised everyone by attempting to buy the whole farm, upping their price to $3,225,000. Villagers standing at the back of the room began counting down “10, 9, 8….” And then it was over. Reflecting on the successful outcome, Huston said it was a “groundswell of people” that helped save Whitehall. “The best impact 20 years since is that we have 1,000 acres of farmland and it was all paid for by local people, voluntarily, and with much enthusiasm,” LaMers recalls. Today, the story of saving Whitehall is taught in some college courses as a case study for preservation, Magaw said. Yellow Springs would be a far differ - ent place today if Whitehall had gone to developers, according to several villagers involved. “People felt that it would change Yellow Springs and this area forever,” Huston said. Agraria: The next step Agriculture and conservation were the winners at the auction of the 267-acre Arnovitz farm on March 16, 2017, fol - lowing weeks of speculation about the potential for development along the west - ern edge of Yellow Springs. All nine parcels were sold, to a total of seven buyers, for a combined amount of over $1.6 million. Nearly half the auctioned land went to Community Solutions. The local nonprofit purchased two of the nine parcels, a total of 128 acres, for $655,000. “It feels miraculous,” Executive Director Susan Jennings said minutes after the auc - tion closed. By the end of the year, Community Solu- tions had moved its offices to the property and begun to develop a comprehensive vision for the land, combining regenerative farming, conservation and education. The land and project were given the name of Agraria. “The next step is Agraria and the idea of farming the land in a regenerative way,” TLT’s Magaw said of the group’s evolving conservation focus. The majority of Agraria is expected to be put under conservation easement, in part - nership with TLT and the Nature Conser- vancy. That represents about a tenth of the approximately 2,000 acres of land remain- ing to be protected within the Jacoby greenbelt, an area surrounding Yellow Springs targeted for greenspace preserva- tion by the Village since the 1960s. After purchasing Agraria, Community Solutions’ Jennings said the initial inqui - ries focused on how the nonprofit could support regional and national research and education around soil regeneration. Out of that process grew a mission revolving around education, research, conservation and support of the local food system. “Our goals for Agraria are to explore a transition to a polydiverse landscape that builds soil, creates diverse outputs, and provides habitat for birds and insects,” Jen- nings wrote in an article earlier this year. Jacoby Creek, which runs through the property, is being re-meandered and its riparian zone rejuvenated in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. In addition to hosting area grade school students, the nonprofit began renting out some of its fields to area farmers. “We really see Agraria as a community asset,” Jennings said. This article is excerpted from stories by Audrey Hackett, Diane Chiddister and Megan Bachman. SUBMITTED PHOTO Local poet Ed Davis recited his work during a community dinner held in August 2017 to celebrate Community Solutions’ Agraria project. The dinner, featuring locally sourced foods, was held in the property’s 100-year- old, 7,000-square- foot barn. Preserving land