How I heard about the Farm

Lived close to the Farm, all my life. It's been great to have such friendly neighbors!

Well what can I say? I was doing my "military service" in the civil life! In Sweden,where I live,I`d rejected to do �the Military Duty�,and had the good fortune to work in a library in a town `bout 80km from my hometown, Hudiksvall.On the train to my work,I met a person that gave me a little blue paperback pocketbook that Stephen once had edited(very far out)! That person,can`t remember his name,had visited The Farm in the early -70:s. After that I tryed to look/hear about "The Farm" everywhere.Liked Stephens idea of how to live a good life!

I was living in San Francisco when I first heard about Monday night class from a friend and started attending the sessions at the Family Dog on the Pacific Highway. Then I moved to Minneapolis to take a job as a city planner and part time running a yoga/tai chi studio. One day, just by happenstance, I saw a 2 inch article in the Minneapolis paper saying the Caravan was heading to Minneapolis for a gig on Halloween. This little article jumped out at me and stirred up my feelings for Stephen and the Monday Night class group. So I went out and bought a used schoolbus, "rv"ed it up, and asked some of my friends (Michael Flaherty, karen Sharkey and Barbie) if they wanted to come along. Off we went to join up with the Caravan in Kansas City . . . . . . but I'm getting way ahead, I'll save the rest for another yet to be named topic about folks experiences on the Farm.

I first heard of the Farm when I was pregnant with my first child. A friend gave me a copy of the book, 'Spiritual Midwifery". What an experience!! Someday, I hope to become a part of an intentional community.

Glad you checked in Linda, what kind of intentional community, what are your requirements?

My requirement would be to live with people who could love and respect me no matter how wacky I am. Music and dancing would be practiced. They would let me work in their garden (and maybe give me a little on the job training!)I am looking for a place where life is more important than accumulation of material possessions.

Just how wacky are you? Just kidding! These are the ideals many of us sought when we came to the Farm. Material possessions do seem to dominate modern day life, I know I get caught up in this and forget the truly important things in life. Hope some other folks will check in and let us know how they heard about the Farm. And I can think of a lot of topics that I'd like to add to this conference, but I'll restrain myself for now and hope that others will come along and start these up. Hope you keep checking back in with us Linda.

Hey, Linda! Would you believe, I am thinking of moving to The Farm, temporarily, still? I only live about 25 miles from The Farm, right now, and, well...I spend so much time there - I'm unemployed right now (and lovin' it!) and, I would just like to get the "feel" of living there and sharing ideas and experiences with the community. You know, you're never too old to try something new, especially when it's for a good cause. I, too,like Terry says, have to remind myself that materialism isn't better than the truly important things in life!

Wow, that's great Annette. What's the housing situation there now? Are there houses available for rent/sale?

Available housing is rather scarce, right now, Terry. I got quite lucky and found out about a new cabin that had just came up for rent, so, I put my name in for it! I have asked for "temporary residency", and, I meet with the Membership Committee on Tuesday night as an introduction for the few that haven't met me, yet. I am looking forward to the experience!

What about places for sale?

None that I know of, right now, Terry. Occasionally, say,average every 6 months, I'll hear of a place for sale. They come few and far between!

Isn't it amazing that now there's a housing shortage with, what, 300 folks and the Farm used to support about 1400 folks? Of course the density per household was sky high back then.

Right. Look how many folks were living in one house, back then. Alot of folks have lived in households where they were running over each other! These days, there are still , mostly young adults, living in households, together, but most established families or older single folks live in their own dwellings.

Of course, back then, the tenthouses (16x32 army tents) and schoolbusses took up a lot of the slack. I assume tenthouses are passe?

Definitely. There are still very few who live in the old buses (that have small buildings attached to them), but, most folks reside in houses/mobile homes. The only tents that I see, these days, are put up by campers! :)

Funny, I'm putting up a tenthouse out in the woods behind my house just for a hangout, but I'm modeling it after the old tenthouses we had at the Farm. We lived in one *in the winter*, *in Wisconsin* (and had one helluva wood stove to heat it).

Ah, but any dwelling suits the purpose if it provides peace and tranquility! Good for you! Having a private hangout where you can feel peaceful and relaxed is another method for keeping one's sanity intact, don't you think?

Absolutely, speaking of sanity, I just tried to get to the media conference and ended up here. Maybe I'm in the twilight zone tonight. Feels like it. We all need those safe havens where we can, at least temporarily, extricate ourselves from el rat race. The woods around here are nice.

The woods are a wonderful place to lose yourself. This morning, I watched a woodpecker and a squirrel battle it out while having my morning cup of java! Amazing how involved I became, and, how all worries just seem to slip away...

Agree about slipping off the woods. I did a bit of that today, myself. Right now the last daylight in the sky is battling with clouds and thunder sounds fill the air. Just like Tenneessee!

Made it to The Farm. by the way...I'm here!:)

Great. The adventure begins. It should be exciting to hear your comments.

Community dinners every Wednesday night, Terry...Mmmmmmm...I AM eating good at least ONCE a week!(grin) It is also a good opportunity for everyone to get together and enjoy each other's company and talk about ideas, problems, etc. Good food and Good company!

Any updates Annette, how has it gone now that you're settling in?

can't wait to hear Annette, i plan to live vicariously through you on this one!

Sorry, folks - I guess I wandered aimlessly off into the woods, for a while! :) Things are great! We had the big Unity Festival, this past weekend, and, despite getting rainsoaked all day on Saturday, it was a success! Music and shows, inside, all weekend at the Community Center, good veggie food, crafts booths under the big tent, bonfires, drummings, and lots of wet, smiling hippies....myself, included!

Great, I was wondering what happened to you Annette. What part of the Farm was this held? About how many folks attended? Are the Traugots still on the Farm?

Hi, I was a biker, riding my harley, drinking beer, and smoking the last pound of real acopulco gold I've ever had...it was like '76 and I found a copy of Hey Beatnick at a bookstore in St.Petersburg Florida...and I mentioned to my neighbor who was a hippy 'nam vette who worked at the local VA hospital...and he mentioned that he worked with a guy who used to live on The Farm... turned out to be Dane of Dane and Elizabeth... he was one of the guys who went to prison for the farm dope field...

Dane and I used to do T'ai Chi in San Francisco. He studied with Master Choy, who was not one of Stephens favorites!

Frank, I know Dane but lost touch after the slam. Would you happen to have a line on his (and/or Elizabeth) whereabouts these days?

Brandon! How are you doing?

The Troublemaker's Organization- http://www.troublemaker.org I first heard of the Farm in an advanced history class in high school some very very bright girl was doing a report on utopian societies, shes probably a psychologist somewhere shrinking someones head back down to size or a crackwhore, you know how things workout. The next time I was just out of reform school and wandering the streets of a well known party university, how I got from reform school to a large university in one fell swoop is still kind of a mystery to me however the old hippie gentleman id met the very first night told me all kinds of interesting things about the hippie "scene" and I do remember him speaking of the Farm. All thats been well over ten years ago, and as of late I know I signed the Farms guestbook. Thats where I heard of this page through an email sent from that page. Now why exactly I signed the Farms guestbook isnt something I can recall at the present time, Senator. The Troublemaker's Organization- http://www.troublemaker.org

You don't remember who that "old hippie gentleman" was, do you? So you're a troublemaker?