GALENA, Ill. (DTN) -- A 177-year-old Catholic convent located on a hilltop near the Mississippi River in southwest Wisconsin is taking steps to honor its educational heritage by helping create a farmer-led learning center on its grounds.

The Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa (sin-sin-ah-wa) are partnering with farmers to carry forward the work of the late David Brandt, a pioneering farmer and regenerative agriculture advocate from Ohio.

LEGACY OF STEWARDSHIP

Sinsinawa Mound, the convent's 200-acre farm and 143-acre forest, has long been a site dedicated to education, spirituality and agriculture. Brandt, known for his innovative soil-health practices, forged a strong connection with the sisters after speaking at their events. Before his death in 2023, Brandt envisioned the convent as a hub for agricultural learning.

"He was the one who spurred the image that this should be a hub," said Sheila Fitzgerald, a sister at Sinsinawa. "He was impressed with what we were doing, but he had his own vision of regenerative agriculture and put that vision out there."

The convent had already been transitioning to organic farming with a long-standing stewardship plan, emphasizing minimal chemical inputs and environmental preservation. However, Brandt expanded their vision by highlighting that regenerative agriculture could offer soil health improvements without requiring strict organic practices.

Meeting Brandt and learning about his soil-health practices became a watershed moment for the sisters and their farm.

"He had the conviction and the vision, and it became our vision," said Sister Julie Schwab, a member of Sinsinawa's leadership team. "It matches our values to care about God's creation."

FIELDS OF SINSINAW: A HUB FOR REGENERATIVE AG

In honor of Brandt, a memorial event was held at the convent in 2023, drawing 200 people, including some of the country's other leaders in regenerative farming. Jay Brandt, David's son, said his father wanted a commitment to action by producers to expand regenerative farming practices.

"That was sort of a visioning event to talk about what Fields of Sinsinawa could be," said Julia Gerlach. "We didn't even have a name at that time."

Gerlach came on in August as a consultant for Fields of Sinsinawa. A former editor at No-Till magazine and soil health specialist at the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) Gerlach had been volunteering with the Sinsinawa project before that. Her life partner, South Dakota farmer Rick Bieber, also had started working with Sinsinawa's tenant farmers as a soil health consultant last spring just as planting season began.

A year later, Fields of Sinsinawa organized a two-day workshop focused on regenerative agricultural practices that included an afternoon field tour of the farm operation at the convent. A lot of the focus highlighted some of the work with the convent's tenant farmers to grow cover crops on the fields.

"Everything done on our farm was always done because it was economical, not because it was cool," Bieber said as he stood in one of Sinsinawa's fields with a cover-crop mix. He talked about the value of living roots in the soil. "What it all boils down to is that it has to make sense for the tenant farmers who are doing it."

Fields of Sinsinawa is now working to establish itself as a formal training center for farmers and conservationists. The convent is currently renovating buildings to house a conference center, offices and possibly accommodation for future educational programs.

"We'd love to work with the sisters to make Sinsinawa a permanent hub for agricultural education," Gerlach said. "I know it's a huge decision for them to make, one way or the other. I know they love the idea of Fields of Sinsinawa being here to help further the educational mission of the sisterhood."

SINSINAWA'S HISTORICAL ROLE

Sinsinawa has deep agricultural roots, with its dairy farm being a key part of convent life. During the 1980s farm crisis, the sisters took a leading role in rural community support, helping to form the Food, Faith and Farming Network. The convent's commitment to education has been longstanding, hosting programs and bringing in experts for agricultural training.

"We've always seen it as a place of education not in the way we're doing it now -- the leadership of farmers -- but as inviting in people and putting on programs," Fitzgerald said. "Down through time we saw the need to care for the land. This is part of our heritage."

CHALLENGES FOR THE CONVENT'S FUTURE

At its peak, there were nearly 2,000 nuns who regularly came to the mound for education and worship. With a chapel, administration building and dormitory, the convent looks like a college campus. The Sinsinawa sisters expanded its building footprint in the 1960s just as the Catholic Church held the Second Vatican Council that led to a revolution in the lifestyles and independence of nuns.

"We were being sent all over the world to teach, but we always maintained the role of oversight for the farm," Fitzgerald said.

For the sisters of Sinsinawa, their numbers have fallen to around 250 sisters. There are now about two dozen or so sisters that live in or around Sinsinawa, though most are older and live off the convent grounds. The convent once had a boarding school, St. Clara Academy, and a college on the grounds, St. Clara College.

"We finished all of these buildings in 1964, right before that decline happened and so they were never fully utilized," Schwab said.

Despite these challenges, the sisters remain hopeful that Fields of Sinsinawa can become a permanent site for learning and collaboration.

"We're really hopeful that this can just continue to grow and be a place of learning. It's not meant to be only for organic, or only for regenerative, or only for conventional -- it's a place to come to learn if somebody wants to try something new," Schwab said. "The hope is to focus on common ground and not exaggerate our differences."

CARRYING THE TORCH: A VISION FOR FAMER-LED LEARNING

Rick Kaesebier and his wife, Kathy, became friends with Brandt nearly a decade ago after taking a tour of his farm. Kaesebier remembers calling Brandt just a few days later with a question and Brandt quickly responded. Kaesebier said a goal of the foundation is to follow Brandt's passion for helping producers beyond hosting field days or speaking at conferences.

"We want people to be involved and have a name or contact they can call if they have a question or issue," Kaesebier said. "We really want to be about farmer-based learning. It's a big vision and a lofty goal, but we have a lot of good people involved."

See more information on Fields of Sinsinawa at https://fieldsofsinsinawa.org/….

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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