Category: News

We look out upon this land, the beauty of the rolling hills, the flowing creek and the abundant wildlife. They call to us still, even after a quarter century, and we are reminded of Jubilee Farm’s humble beginnings. What began as the dream of the Dominican Sisters in 1999 is now the vibrant, joyful, bustling place loved by so many in Springfield and its surrounding communities.  The Sisters share their experiences and some history as the farm celebrates its 25^th anniversary.  

“We passed this farm one day and said to one another, ‘This land is perfect, but never in a million years will it be ours.’ What a great surprise it was when the land was purchased! While we had a broad vision of Jubilee Farm, it has taken 25 years of hard work and support from our Sisters, our co-workers and the Springfield-area community for us to fully realize what now has become a place of reflection, healing and learning for the people and creatures who might benefit from it.”

The year 2025 has great significance for us. As we recognize the 10^th anniversary of the encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care of Our common Home, and the 800^th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures, we harken back to our beginnings when we decided to make Jubilee Farm a model for sustainable living and for the care of the land and her inhabitants.

Our own ideals are reflected in the 7 goals of Laudato Si which are:

                                    Responding to the cry of the Earth

                                    Responding to the cry of the poor

                                    Building ecological economies

                                    Adopting simple lifestyles

                                    Creating ecological education

                                    Recovering ecological spirituality

                                    Promoting community action and advocacy

As part of our shared ministry, we are pleased to join with others around the world associated with the Laudato Si Action Platform. Arising from the Platform are well over 10,000 Catholic sponsored initiatives that address the specific goals of Laudato Si’. The significance of Laudato Si’ cannot be overstated, as it has helped energize and inspire people of all faiths around the world, just as Jubilee Farm energizes and inspires those who visit.

Initially, Jubilee Farm was comprised of 109 acres and by 2015 expanded to 164 acres.  The lovely hills and valleys encountered on our walking trails provide a space for exercise and reflection. The wild inhabitants of the farm inspire awe and curiosity in adults and children alike. The Creative Arts Center, built in 2017, features the Fiber Arts program, a large gathering space and our small gift shop. La Casa’s ministry center houses a meeting room, gathering spaces for programs and rooms for private and directed retreats.

As it was in 1999 when the farm was founded, 2025 is also a Jubilee Year, and with that, we’re reminded of the admonishment to let the land lie fallow as we have done for 25 years. The result is a unique place of respite visited by a thousand people every year.

In celebration of our 25^th anniversary, we invite you to join us on Saturday, September 20, 2025 from 10:00am-2:00 pm. Come visit the farm that day, bring your lunches for picnics and enjoy a few featured demonstrations and activities:

• permaculture gardening
• outdoor loom/spinning demo and discussion about llamas and alpacas
• display tables with information about walking trails, the labyrinth and our ancient fossil rocks
• information about the Potawatomi Trail of Death
• featured items in our gift shop
• a video presentation on Jubilee Farm (with light refreshments)
• Fiber Arts demonstration
• Lincoln Land Association of Bird Banders Public Bird Banding and a children’s activity, Be a Bander.

As we celebrate Jubilee Farm’s rich history and move forward together, we thank all those who have been great friends of the farm along the way. It is your unwavering support that enables us to continue our important work and to welcome and educate the many visitors who call Jubilee Farm their “happy place.”

 

We know spring has truly sprung when the Lincoln Land Association of Bird Banders returns to Jubilee Farm! We’re happy to announce the Spring 2025 Public Bird Banding will be held at Jubilee Farm on Saturday, May 3, 2025 from 8 a.m. to Noon. The farm is located at 6760 Old Jacksonville Road, New Berlin, Il. 

This highly anticipated, family-friendly event allows participants to get an up close look at birds on their migratory routes through this area and provides a unique educational opportunity that’s of interest to adults and children alike. 

We’re also delighted that the Illinois State Museum will be partnering with us again this year!  A representative from the museum will be on hand with a children’s activity and can answer questions about the museum’s other programs.

We hope you’ll come out to visit and experience the beauty of our winged friends. The event is free of charge.

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”  Albert Camus

As Jubilee Farm winds down from the holidays and heads into a new year, we dream of blossoms and blooms and turn our thoughts to garden planning. By planning, outlining and picturing how we’d like this year’s permaculture garden to shape up, we can begin our 2025 growing season with greater focus. In addition to being a practical, fun way to use our time indoors, this head start will help us get right to the task in the spring. 

Many of the steps we take can be applied to every home garden, and by sharing what we’re doing in preparation for this year’s growing season, we hope to inspire you to try new plants and new methods at home. 

To begin, we revisited the things that worked and the things that did not in last year’s garden. We’ve analyzed the success or failure of various aspects of our garden to determine what bears repeating for this year. We took stock of the types of seeds we used, how we started them (greenhouse versus direct planting) and we noted what helped or hindered their growth and yield. We identified specific challenges we faced and how to address them. 

Once we completed this general brainstorming, we then plotted out a diagram of our garden. Dividing the garden into smaller sections will help us pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses that lie within the overall garden. For example, we can see that comfrey grows very well in a certain part of the garden; however, there is a physical point where it becomes less fruitful. Noting topographical changes in the garden helps us transition our planting and allows us to utilize our space to its greatest potential. 

We then took a look at the types of perennials we planted last summer. We examined placement, watering frequency, methods and yield. This helps us decide what perennials we want to plant again this year and which ones we want to avoid. Taking stock of how our perennials performed helps us consider new varieties we’d like to try. 

Planning for this year’s garden now gives us time to retool plans as needed and to purchase seeds and arrange for any hardscaping we need to install.

Whether your garden is large or small, you, too, can plan and apply these ideas to your space. With a little foresight, we trust that our garden can be even more beautiful and fruitful in this coming season, and we hope yours will be, too.