CINCINNATI, Ohio – Farmland has been dwindling around Ohio’s largest cities. Cincinnati, bordering the Ohio River is in the middle of Hamilton County. 

There’s 413 square miles of land in Hamilton County but just 18,000 acres are tillable. In 2017, Hamilton County boasted 314 farms. Today, a fourth of farms in the county are in the 1-to-9-acre category, and there are just 78 of them. 

“We’ve transitioned from farms that were once active with corn, soybeans and wheat to many of those same farms being leased, and not being farmed as they traditionally were,” said Joe Boggs, 33-year Ohio State University Extension agent for Hamilton County. “In many cases, farms that were once registered in this area have been transitioned to hydroponic farms only, and still many other farms grow specialty crops like garlic, asparagus, peppers and others. In a lot of areas of Hamilton County, they’re not registering as one-acre farms, but rather just going into specialty crops and keeping things small.

“In many urban counties, because of the price of land, you can’t afford to put in corn or soybeans. The per-acre value of farmland is so high you’d be foolish not to take the money. Around this area there are a couple of demonstration, or educational farms, as we are continuing to urbanize.”

There are two popular demonstration/educational farms in Hamilton County that enable those in the inner city of Cincinnati and on the fringe of the city limits to visit a working farm to see all the farm animals, crops and observe the many chores involved in keeping a farm afloat.

Evendale in Hamilton County is about 13 miles north-northeast of downtown Cincinnati. The small village is not exactly an agricultural setting as it is home to GE Aviation, the largest manufacturer in Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky. It is also home to Formica Corp., Gold Medal Products and 20 other large-scale businesses.

Nestled in the heart of this business metropolis rests Gorman Heritage Farm, a working farm on 122 acres that includes 30 tillable acres, a farmyard, gardens, five miles of hiking trails and a wildflower preserve. The farm raises livestock, grows produces and flowers, and produces biochar.

Visitors to this day are treated to the landscape at it was more than 170 years ago. The original farm dwelling is an early version of a “pre-classic I house” type. The four-bay, two-story, stone house was constructed in 1835 and banked into a slope at the rear. Around 1858, a stone kitchen ell was added to one corner of the house and by the early 1900s, the limestone bearing exterior walls and walnut lintels were stuccoed.

In a county with the fewest farms in the state, Gorman Heritage Farm offers many educational programs, such as school field trips, summer day camps, summer farm tours, farm-to-school programs, scout programs, preschool story hour and family programs.

Gorman Heritage Farm is a significant example of historic agricultural production and farming practices that spanned 160 years in Hamilton County and embodies the era of diversified family farms.

The property consists of the original 99-acre farm, which was owned and managed by five generations of the Brown and Gorman families from 1835 until 1996, when it was deeded to the Cincinnati Nature Center to preserve it from encroaching residential, commercial and industrial development.

A significant contributor to southwest Ohio’s early corn, wheat and swine economy, Gorman Farm endured development pressures that all but eliminated the working farms that once characterized the rural landscape of northern Hamilton County.

From a peak in 1880, when there were 4,064 farms in Hamilton County, there has been a steep attrition of the county’s agricultural land, such that by the turn of the 21st century there were a scant number of remaining farms – and Gorman Farm was among those.

The Brown-Gorman farmstead represents a central courtyard farmstead plan, with the house and barn at opposite ends and outbuildings defining the perimeter of the courtyard. The large Pennsylvania-type barn was built concurrently with the stone house and was constructed on a rubble limestone foundation. The heavy timber oak framing of the barn is the original.

The farmstead retains two 19th-century stone springhouses, one built in 1835, the second one in 1890. Also remaining is an early-20th century alfalfa barn, a 1920 limestone smokehouse and a 1930s rabbit house.

Jim and Dorothy Gorman deeded 98 acres of the farm to the Cincinnati Nature Center in 1995, retaining the house and one acre as a life estate. In 2003, the deed of the property was transferred to the Village of Evendale. Since that time, the farm has been operated by the Gorman Heritage Farm Foundation. Today, the National Register-listed farm and adjoining property serve the community as an agricultural educational center open to the public.

Another popular demonstration farm in Hamilton County is Parky’s Farm, located roughly 15 miles northwest of downtown Cincinnati. Parky’s Farm is part of Winton Woods, a 2,000-plus acre park with 2.6 miles of paved trails, boating and fishing, a campground, a waterpark, a 1.1-mile fitness trail, basketball courts and a horse trail. The farm offers 100 acres of indoor and outdoor playgrounds and picnic shelters.

More importantly, the farm offers gardens and orchards to explore, ponies, chickens, goats, cows and even bee hives, allowing city-dwellers an opportunity to see life on the farm as it is in urban areas outside this county. 

Visitors to Parky’s Farm can witness the changes in the growing season of fruits, vegetables and herbs. There is also natural habitat space to explore, from fields and opens spaces to ponds, wetland and woods. There is a large variety of native flora and fauna for visitors to see.

Visitors can pet goats and sheep, observe pigs, donkeys, horses and llamas. There are chickens in the hen house and a few turkeys mingling on the premise. Cows are present, as are plenty of ducks and geese. Horses are a main draw at Parky’s Farm, as is the working windmill. Children can also experience riding a horse in the outdoor arena for just $2.50.

Gorman Farm is located at 10052 Reading Road in Evendale. Parky’s Farm is located at 10073 Daly Road in Cincinnati.

“As we urbanize, we’ll still not be able to get away from growing food,” Boggs assured