A group of nuns is being honored for combining progressive farm practices with historic preservation at their southeastern Indiana farm.
The Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg won this year’s Rural Preservation Award from Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana and the Indiana Farm Bureau.
The nuns’ 300-acre Michaela Farm about 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis in Franklin County has a 100-year-old barn with solar power and other alternative energy sources. It houses a herd of beefalo and stores food, hay and straw.
Two brick farmhouses and a brick pump station, all more than 140 years old, provide office and living space. A reservoir built in 1906 provides water for irrigation and animals.
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