By Susan Vela
The Cincinnati Enquirer

EVENDALE - Gorman Heritage Farm, known for its pastoral nature that so many Greater Cincinnatians love, will close indefinitely in mid-August. Sheep, goats and other farm animals will be transferred to Long Branch Farm in Goshen Township. Beds of organically grown vegetables will go fallow.

Ken Butterworth, who has been shearing sheep since 1957, demonstrates Sunday at Gorman Heritage Farm. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

The 15,000 people who visit the 100-acre working farm each year must find new places to commune with nature.

Farming operations have become too expensive, and Gorman eats up $390,000 of the Cincinnati Nature Center's annual $2.9 million budget, said Bill Hopple, CNC's executive director.

"It's not that we don't like what's going on here. It's purely a matter of keeping it afloat," Hopple said. "We just can't make the money fast enough to break even."

The center's trustees, he said, chose to close Gorman rather than scale back operations at its three facilities, which also include Rowe Woods in Union Township and Long Branch. The other two are more diverse and have more acreage and walking trails than Gorman.

Hopple spoke this weekend at Gorman's Sheep Shearing Festival, which invited hundreds to watch wool spinners, and to romp down walking trails.

"We're sad that it's closing. It's really all about teaching the kids to be future caretakers. I hope somebody purchases it and does something similar to what's going on here," said Kathleen Cail on Saturday. The Hyde Park mother of two was watching Warren and Judy Waldren play a guitar and mandolin outside the sheep-shearing barn.

Hopple said the decision to close Gorman came after much debate. For several years, the center's administrators had annually drawn more than 5 percent from a $14 million endowment fund so that Gorman could remain afloat.

Eight full-time and six part-time employees will lose their jobs because of Gorman's closure. Hopple said the center will also conserve money by reducing the center's marketing expenses, scaling back its "Safari" travel program and reorganizing Long Branch's farming operations.

Dorothy and James Gorman, two siblings, pledged their 100-acre sheep farm at Cooper and Reading roads to the nature center in 1992.

The farm had been in the family since 1835. Gorman officially opened its doors to the public in 1996.

On Saturday, Corinna Blodgett of Milford led her five children past Gorman's chicken coops. They have fed chickens in hen houses and enjoyed tractor rides while at Gorman.

"That's stuff that they can't do where we live," she said. "They have a neat time whenever they come."

A deed restriction requires the land to always remain green space, but there's now the question of Gorman's future. Center officials will begin gathering in April to determine whether the farm must be given to another party. The deed restriction bans its sale.

If they opt for that route, the center must first offer the land to the village of Evendale, which already owns a 22-acre parcel that the center leases to operate Gorman.

Evendale Councilwoman Catherine Hartman said she'd support the village's ownership of the Gorman farm.

"This is a gem in the middle of commercial and industrial development," said Hartman, one of Gorman's volunteer educators who attended Saturday's sheep-shearing events. "It's a great community resource. None of us are happy about" this.

The Cincinnati Nature Center welcomes public comment on Gorman. Call 831-1711.

E-mail svela@enquirer.com