Learning to live sustainably at the Eco-Justice Center in Racine, Wisconsin

The Sisters of St. Dominic of Racine, WI. founded the Eco-Justice Center on a farm in 2004 to promote sustainable living and care for creation.

In 2004, one of our esteemed clients, the Sisters of St. Dominic in Racine, Wisconsin, planted the seeds of a community movement. These “seeds” were quite literal and became their Eco-Justice Center, where visiting individuals and groups can learn about good land stewardship and care for creation.

The Sisters have always had an active mission in Racine, and have founded and led several other community centers and initiatives over the years. Their diverse endeavors include a domestic abuse shelter for women and families; the HOPES Center, which serves the unsheltered; and the Siena Retreat Center, a place for faith-based lectures and “transformative” spiritual retreats.

While these other projects focus on living in harmony with humanity and oneself, it is the Eco-Justice Center, or “Eco-J,” that teaches visitors how to live in harmony with the earth. What the Racine Dominican Sisters started in 2004 has grown into a movement that has rippled through their community's surrounding areas in Wisconsin and the greater Midwest. The important message they have helped to spread is one of “justice, healing, and right relationships among all living things,” per Eco-J’s mission statement.

Caritas Vehicle Services had the opportunity to sit down with Eco-J’s executive director, MaryLynn Conter Strack, who oversees the grounds and the center's many programs. Strack was able to speak to the growing importance of environmental education and organic farming practices, and explained to us how Eco-J teaches it's visitors about key sustainable living practices.

In an era where we're seeing our planet plagued by rising global temperatures and seemingly constant ecological disasters, many have wondered what individuals can do, especially as blame for the widest-spread damage falls more on the doorsteps of major corporations and governments.

Strack, who has degrees in biology, environmental education, and captive animal management, started her career at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Drawing from her own background and the work she’s now doing with Eco-J, Strack had the answers to these questions and more.

Question: How did you first become interested in leading Eco-J?

Conter Strack: I spent most of my career doing informal education, or education in nature centers and zoos. My previous position was as senior manager of enrichment programs for the Zoological Society of Milwaukee, which is at the Milwaukee County Zoo. I taught zoo classes and supervised staff for 19 years. Then in 2020, I was looking for a change, and a friend of mine saw an advertisement for program manager at Eco-J. I read their mission and really connected to it, especially to the mission of helping people feel a sense of belonging in nature. I interviewed for the position and became program manager. Then, when the executive director was leaving, she asked me if I was interested in applying, and I did. I’ve been executive director since October 2020.Executive director of the Eco-Justice Center in Racine, WI., MaryLynn Conter Strack, pictured on the farm with "Rosie."

Q: What is Eco-J's property like?

Conter Strack: Eco-J sits on a 15-acre historic farm. It’s a small urban farm in Racine County, bordered on one side by a county park called Cliffside and on another side by neighborhood houses. The property has a nine-acre hay field in addition to forests, an ephemeral creek and pond, and several historic buildings.

Q: What is the property’s history?

Conter Strack: The Racine Dominican Sisters bought the property in 2004 from Dennis Kornwolf, whose family had been on the property for over 20 years. The Kornwolfs found out the Sisters were looking for a property that they wanted to use to show people how to live sustainably with the earth, and they were reportedly very happy that the land and buildings would be preserved and put to good use.

Q: Are the Racine Dominican Sisters still involved at Eco-J?

Conter Strack: They’re still our ministry partner and we meet with their leadership once a year. The founding Sisters - Janet Weyker, MaryAnne Weyker, Kathleen Bohn and Rose Marie Dischler - no longer live on the property but still help teach felting classes. They also knit items for the gift shop and teach jelly making.

Q: What sustainability practices can one learn by visiting Eco-J?

Conter Strack: We use the manure from our animals and food scraps, leaves and lawn waste for our compost system, which we then use to fertilize our gardens, bringing it all back to the earth. We have a lot of composting needs, so we make big piles that are turned with a tractor, but we also show people how to compost on a smaller scale - with bins, tumblers, and even apartment-sized composters. Composting at home helps reduce the amount of waste that's going into landfills and, if used for gardening, replenishes the soil. At Eco-J, we grow food using organic gardening practices, which means that we don't use chemicals or pesticides, and we offer classes on how to grow your own organic kitchen garden and give people tips on plants that help reduce pests in a natural way. Additionally, right now, Eco-J produces about 40% of our own electricity through renewable sources. We have solar panels, a wind turbine, solar hot water panels and geothermal heating and cooling, and we're in the process of building a solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station. Once its completed, Eco-J will be producing over 90% of it's electricity through renewable sources.Kids from Racine Unified School District helping out with gardening at Eco-J.

Q: What other ‘green practices’ are interwoven throughout the guided tours at Eco-J?

Conter Strack: Energy conservation is something we talk about a lot, and water conservation. In our self-guided tour books, we include a number of suggestions for how to reduce the amount of energy you use, like programming your thermostat a couple of degrees cooler in winter or warmer in summer. We also focus on water conservation. For example, whenever we're planting new spaces, we look for species that are drought tolerant, which means they don't need a lot of water. We are also going to incorporate rain gardens in some of the property's lower areas where rain tends to pool. In those areas we want water-loving species so they can soak up the extra water and prevent it from overflowing the creek and pond. Another way that we conserve water is, instead of using sprinklers to water vegetable gardens, we use soaker hoses that are laid down next to our plant beds. Putting a layer of straw on top of the soaker hose helps to hold in the moisture.

Q: How else does Eco-J serve its community?

Conter Strack: One of the things we’ve been doing for the last few years is donating 30% of our harvest to the Northside Food Pantry. We also partner with other organizations in the community. For example, we're now working with the Great Lakes Community Conservation Corps, who have an “ag vet” program where veterans are sent to work at different ecological sites. There are currently some vets working at Eco-J, helping to plant trees and put up fences. We also partner with Hawthorne Hollow, a nature center south of us in Kenosha, WI. We work in tandem with them to teach first-graders about nutrition through our "Growing Healthy" field trips, which are held at both Eco-J and Hawthorne Hollow. We have seasonal internships where students learn about land stewardship, organic farming, food justice, and sustainability. There are also summer camps at Eco-J that are open to the public every year, and we offer scholarships to those who can't afford them.

Q: What are the grants Eco-J recently received?

Conter Strack: In the last year we’ve gotten two major land-use grants. One of them was for silvopasture, an agroforestry technique that utilizes pasturelands in multiple ways. We have seven alpacas on our property, so we have been following the silvopasturing tradition by creating pastureland that also has specific kinds of trees that are A) not toxic to alpacas, and B) can be used for multiple things. Besides sequestering carbon and helping with our carbon footprint, the trees provide shade for the alpacas and can be used for basket weaving. They can also be used as tree forage, where we cut some of the branches off, dry them, and use them in the wintertime for our animals. The second grant was given to us to restore the riparian buffer along our creek. The plan is to restore that space so we can stabilize the soil, decrease erosion, improve biodiversity, and clean the water as it's coming through our property on the way to Lake Michigan.

Q: What is your favorite attraction at Eco-J?

Conter Strack: I think I have to say the alpacas. They're often out at pasture right by the road, so a lot of people will slow down as they pass by to steal a look. It's kind of funny because, when alpacas lay down, they kind of look like they're dead. We've gotten calls in the past where people have said, 'I'm sorry, I think there's something wrong with your alpacas.' We just have to say, 'No, they're just sleeping.'

Q: Considering all these different efforts towards sustainability, what would you say is the overarching mission of Eco-J?

Conter Strack: Connecting nature with people in our community. We focus on facilitating interactions in nature with people through field trips, summer camps, and classes. We might have first graders from the Racine Unified School District learning about digestion in the alpaca pasture, or doing a healthy foods taste test in the garden. Or we'll have fifth graders come out to learn about solar energy in a STEM-based field trip, using hands-on solar tilt kits to determine the best direction, angle, and location for solar panels. We have farming field trips, summer camps and adult classes like Yoga with Alpacas, gardening, and felting.Yoga with Alpacas is one of Eco-J's most popular adult classes.

Q: What events are coming up on the Eco-J calendar?

Conter Strack: Our Spring Equinox celebration is in March, and 'Pacas & Pints events occur monthly from June to August. We're also bringing back our popular 'Farm to Table' dinner in August. For summer camps, Yoga with Alpacas, classes and other events, feel free to visit our website.

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