India, Oct. 30 -- In 1986, Esther Detering left her family's 54-acre lakeshore property near Kendallville, Indiana, to a land trust. The old farm became a nature preserve. According to the Winter 2021 issue of the ACRES Land Trust quarterly magazine, the Detering Nature Preserve is on the south shore of Round Lake. It lies in the middle of a busy commercial district in Noble County, like a green pocket in a busy place.

Esther was the granddaughter of August Detering, who purchased the property in 1869. Through the years, it supported the family home and a large farming business. ACRES says Esther called the land "a sacred place." In 1986, she willed it to ACRES, where it now lies in the trust's "forever care."

The farm changed over time...