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When the moms decided to move to the farm, they imagined a thousand mornings like this one. Birds chirping. Pesticide-free vegetables growing. And children, many children, roaming the land without phones or ultraprocessed snacks.
“You guys want to gather up? Let’s do a quick lesson first,” said Leah Lauchlan, the mother who would lead “Kids Farm Day” on a Tuesday in mid-July. A gaggle of neighborhood children had arrived early on bicycles and tricycles, and were already plopped down in the dirt, pulling weeds.
“Soil supports 95 percent of all food production,” said Ms. Lauchlan, holding a coffee mug that read, “MRS.” Trim, tanned and toned, the 42-year-old mother of five looked ready to shoot an athleisure commercial, pairing spandex and sneakers with shimmery eye shadow and large gold hoops. “If the soil isn’t healthy,” she added, “then the food isn’t healthy — and then the people aren’t healthy.”
Several mothers and their children gather in this spot twice a week, amid cucumber and tomato vines they have planted themselves on a plot next to a small working farm. Most live just a short walk away, in custom-built homes with painted shutters and rocking chairs out front, on roads with names like “Nectar Court” and “Lavender Way.”
Ms. Lauchlan and her husband were one of the first couples to buy a home in 2018 at Aberlin Springs, an “agri-community” in southwest Ohio, commuting distance from downtown Cincinnati. The development includes almost 100 homes that sell for between $520,000 and $1.5 million, constructed around a farm that feeds the residents — with a farm store that sells a $22 beef tallow balm alongside fresh sourdough and eggs. A luxury outgrowth of the hippie commune, the neighborhood has become a mecca for the “MAHA mom.”
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