Island Grown Initiative is one step closer to transforming Thimble Farm into a local food source for Island schools.

The Mill Brook is one of the Vineyard’s great natural treasures, with its clear, unpolluted waters that run from the glacial boulder-strewn terminal moraine of the North Shore to the sandy outwash plain that rims the Tisbury Great Pond on the south shore.

In an effort to protect a rare and pristine groundwater resource, the Island Grown Initiative will buy the Dunkl family property off Old Farm Road in Chilmark, leaders at the nonprofit announced Wednesday.

The 23-acre property sits at the head of the Mill Brook watershed and abuts the Roth Woodlands and Waskosim’s Rock Reservation.

Sarah McKay, president of IGI, said protecting the water source struck home with the sustainability aspect of the nonprofit’s mission.

A vocal gathering of Vineyard farmers heard about plans for a campus-style educational agricultural center during a tour of the former Thimble Farm property this week.

Sponsored by the Island Grown Initiative, which bought the 40-acre farm in the center of the Island last year, the tour sparked a lively discussion among some 30 growers about how best to encourage growth and also ensure survival for the burgeoning network of small farms on the Island that operate with little or no subsidy. Opinion was far from unanimous.

His passion is soil, but his career has been inside greenhouses.

Now, as the new manager of the former Thimble Farm property in Oak Bluffs, Keith Wilda will get to do both.

“I have the best of both worlds,” he said in a brief interview following a tour for Island farmers of the property owned by Island Grown Initiative.

Mr. Wilda moved to the Island full time two weeks ago with his wife and twin two-year old daughters to run Island Grown Farms.

Island Grown Initiative announced preliminary plans this week for a campus-style farm center at the former Thimble Farm Property, including a refurbished greenhouse, parcels of land for tenant farmers and a slaughterhouse facility. At the farm network’s annual farmers’ dinner on Monday night, executive director Sarah McKay laid out the organization’s initial plans for the historic agricultural property.