By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

ALEXANDRIA, Ky. — Campbell County, Ky., is quickly becoming an urban sprawl. Its proximity to downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, is ideal for commuters. So a few years ago, when a 300-acre parcel was being sold, Gretchen Vaughn immediately purchased 12 acres.

“I’ve been working on this for five years,” Vaughn said. “There’s great potential here with an amazing terrain. I’ve studied permaculture and I believe in the principle of that, and this plot is suited for that.”

The one-time peaceful parcel is now dotted with fancy homes and swimming pools – all except for Vaughn’s property. Her property is no wider than any of her neighbors’, but it is longer and meanders downhill to a pond roughly 300 yards from the house.

“Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants,” Vaughn said. “And my plan for this land is to be an education center.”

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that are modeled on the relationships found in natural ecologies. The word “permaculture” was coined in the 1970s, as a contraction of “permanent” (sustainable) and “agriculture.”

“Permaculture is a holistic way of looking at the land, treating the land with respect and being able to produce a reasonable amount you can share the fruits of the land with others,” Vaughn said. “With permaculture, anything you plant you want it to have more than just one purpose.”

Vaughn works full-time in the theater department at nearby Northern Kentucky University. Though working in the city, her roots are firmly planted on the farm. She grew up as a 4-H kid from a farm in northeastern Ohio. She owned a farm in Maysville, Ky., before purchasing this northern Kentucky plot.

She is a volunteer with the Cincinnati Museum Center, where she holds workshops on canning. With any free time remaining in her schedule she plots her next growing venture on her 12 acres. With any open space she envisions new growth of fruits or vegetables.

“I believe in turning lawn into food,” she said. “Who needs to be mowing a lot of grass when you can be growing food?”

With community supported agriculture (CSA) in mind, Gretchen planted an orchard in 2007. Following that she planted 125 walnut seedlings. Now in place on this hilly terrain is an assortment of berries. A menagerie of fruits and vegetables also dot the landscape, including eight varieties of garlic. Two sheep roam the premises freely; Gretchen has visions of dairy goats and Highland cattle grazing the landscape.

Long-term plans include the construction of a solar cabin. Short-term goals include making use of grains that will be grown on this farm. Helping her in this effort will be intern Zach Tabor, a gardener, naturalist and experienced baker.
“Convenient foods became the trend and that changed everything in this country,” Vaughn said. “I think it’s time to go back to the way it was. And in order to do this, we have to educate others and this property has to be open to the public and school groups.”

While many with such ventures prefer to keep to themselves, Vaughn, with help from her daughter, Rachel, wants to share the fruits of the land. Her goal is to educate others about the importance of keeping the land rural and of permaculture.

“We don’t do monoculture; everything is based on how it relates into the farm as a whole and we try to limit all of our inputs to the soil which we have right here,” says Vaughn, one of several Certified Naturally Grown farmers in Campbell County.

This is one of the quickest-growing counties in the state and Vaughn wants to make sure some of it stays rural. She is a member of the Campbell County Farmland work group, which is striving to educate the public about the diversity within the county.

“We need to preserve some of this land as farmland,” she said. “Permaculture is a positive way of looking at things. It’s not a problem, it’s an opportunity.”