MANSFIELD, Ohio -- Even those who have heard of Mansfield may not know about Malabar Farm, a shining example of sustainable agriculture and more in Lucas, which is 12 miles southeast.

I had never heard of it or its creator — Pulitzer-Prize winning author and progressive farmer Louis Bromfield — until a coworker, hearing that I was planning a roadtrip to Ohio, said he knew of an interesting place called Malabar Farm. I looked at a brochure of Richland County and there it was — in Mansfield’s back yard.

Now part of the Ohio State Park system, Malabar contains Bromfield’s “Big House” farmhouse where Humphrey Bogart married Lauren Bacall in 1945 and where plenty of other famous folk visited (and pitched in with chores).

Photos of the wedding and headshots of Hollywood elite, including Shirley Temple, are in the house, which has been kept as it was when Bromfield died in 1956.

The recently built visitor center incorporates many green features, including solar panels, and dozens of interesting and interactive learning stations. Visitors can learn firsthand how to milk a cow and identify bovines by markings. There are exhibits about the birds and the bees, Bromfield’s work and much more.

Malabar Farm’s theme of sustainable agriculture and earth-friendly philosophies is delivered even in the visitor center bathrooms, where there are tiles made from recycled items and soy soap.

The adjacent gift shop offers fresh meat and dairy products from the farm, and items that hark back to a simpler time ala Lehman’s, the world-famous, old-fashioned store in Kidron, Ohio. Purchases through Malabar Farm’s Web site to Lehman’s online store help support the farm’s educational and preservation programs

Bromfield, who was born in Mansfield in 1896, studied agriculture at Cornell but left school to help on the family farm. He studied journalism at Columbia in 1916 but left to fight in World War I. When America entered WWI, he enlisted in the army’s ambulance service and saw action in seven major European battles. After being awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor, he finished his education and became a reporter.

In 1921 he married Mary Appleton Wood, with whom he had three daughters. In 1924 he published his first novel, “The Green Bay Tree,” set in a small Ohio town. It mentions Shane’s Castle, which was actually Oak Hill Cottage in Mansfield and can be visited today.

The Bromfields moved to France in 1925 where they lived until 1938. His third novel, “Early Autumn,” won the Pulitzer in 1927, but he was said to be more proud of the horticultural prize he won in France. There he helped Ernest Hemingway get published, and was compared favorably with Fitzgerald and Steinbeck. He eventually wrote 30 books plus articles, screenplays and stories. The Bromfields also lived on the Malabar Coast of India.

He was drawn back to central Ohio’s Pleasant Valley in 1938 and began to put in place the principles of grass-based, sustainable farming at Malabar Farm.

India’s influence is seen in the portico over the front door of the 32-room Big House, which features a statue of the Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the lord of success. Bromfield and architect Louis Lamoreux designed the house, a blend of Western Reserve styles which was built to appear as if it had been added onto.

Visitors can take a shuttle tour of the farm or walk up to the horses and cows in the paddocks, step inside the smoke house with a presidential connection and tour the Big House. Louis Bromfield’s Sustainable Agriculture Library, established in 1992 in a house on the park grounds by youngest daughter Ellen, consists of 2,500 books and journals.

On its more than 900 acres, Malabar offers camping, 12 miles of trails, picnic sites, fishing ponds, barn dances, star gazing parties, and a log cabin for meetings. There are autumn hay rides as well as ski trails. Sledding, ice skating and cross-country skiing are permitted in the winter.

You can stay on the property at a hostel, a white 1919 Sears Roebuck Catalog home with 20 dorm beds as well as private rooms.