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TN HISTORY.qxp:TECA_0709_ 6/11/09 10:17 AM Page 8

HISTORY LESSON by Bill Carey, the History Guy

Lewis County The Farm made big news in the 1970s Story by Bill Carey • Photographs by Douglas Stevenson

n 1970, a group of around other attempts by people to I300 young people left San build a community based on Francisco in a caravan of different societal rules. But school buses and traveled there is one big difference across the country looking for a between The Farm and the place to call home. Because of other three places (which were their clothing, hair length and all very short-lived). Founded lifestyle, the “ caravan” in 1971, The Farm still exists, made big news. though under a different setup After a journey across than first established. Today its America, they settled in Lewis residents refer to it as an “inten- County in tional community,” and life on and started their community, The Farm is still different than which they referred to as “The anywhere else in Tennessee. Farm.” For the next few years, At one time, about 1,200 it was mentioned in books, people lived at The Farm. At newspapers and television The Farm School is the largest passive solar building in the state. that time, The Farm was still news shows as the “largest” and The roof is designed to block the higher elevation summer sun, run as a commune, which “best known” commune in while light from the lower elevation winter sun passes through means that all possessions and America. When Peter Jenkins’ the translucent panels to strike cinder block walls that conduct income were held by everyone bestselling 1977 book “A Walk heat into the cement slab floor, creating a large thermal mass. who lived there. The Farm had Across America” contained an The Farm School (K-12) serves both children who live inside the a communal dining room, a community and those from the surrounding area, including a motor pool, a laundromat and entire chapter about The Farm, large number of children who are home-schooled. even more Americans became even its own crude phone sys- knowledgeable about it. tem (known affectionately as “ Bell”). The people who At The Farm, everyone was welcome and given a place to lived there became adept at everything from how to fix a car to sleep and food to eat. But they were also given a job to do, and how to find and install a water tower. if they didn’t want to work, they were asked to move on. The But in 1983, The Farm was reorganized. Today the 1,750 work was hard — residents did everything from cook in the acres are still owned by the community (technically under a kitchen to till the fields to empty the sewage system. Most of trust), but the 170 people who live there have their own things, them worked from sunrise until dark, six days a week. The sev- including their own homes. People who live there either work at enth day of the week was reserved for “group meditation” under outside jobs or have employment with one of the many small the guidance of their spiritual leader, . businesses that operate there. In terms of Tennessee places, The Farm is in some ways com- The Farm also has its own school — a small, kindergarten- parable to Rugby, the Cumberland Homesteads or Ruskin — through-12th-grade private institution attended by children who live there and some who live nearby. In typical Farm fash- ion, it was built with an environmentally friendly design — with huge south-facing windows that maximize solar heat in the winter. The Farm School also reminds us that, over the years, hun- dreds of children have grown up at The Farm. During its days as a commune, The Farm unofficially “adopted” many children; in fact, The Farm had a general policy of accepting all babies, children and teenagers who were left at its doorstep, and some young ladies there adopted and raised numerous foster kids. So what’s there to see at The Farm? The first thing to point out is that this is not a national park or a museum. In some ways, coming to The Farm is like visiting any other small com- The Farm Yoga Studio operated by Deborah Devoursney, Farm community member since 1973, provides residents and people from the surrounding area an opportunity to stretch, relax and interact with each other.

8 The Tennessee Magazine TN HISTORY.qxp:TECA_0709_ 6/11/09 10:17 AM Page 9

HISTORY LESSON by Bill Carey, the Tennessee History Guy

munity — most of the time, people are just mind- ing their own business (unless you visit during a so-called Farm Experience Weekend.) Neverthe- less, The Farm does have a few things that other small communities don’t have. Since the entire place is private property, it has a gate and visitor’s center, where we were greeted by a friendly woman named Vickie Montagne. Once you are admitted to The Farm, you would perhaps enjoy a trip to the Farm Store, which sells some health food items you might be surprised to find at a place so remote. Beside the store, you’ll find a structure unlike any you’ve ever seen — a steel dome that towers over a small playground. In the early 1980s, people who worked at The Farm removed this steel from abandoned build- ings throughout the surrounding counties and welded this structure together. We were told that Community dinners, held as weekly fundraisers throughout the school year, give they never quite finished it, but it looks impres- residents a chance to network and develop deeper friendships. sive nonetheless. government buildings, passing on much of what they had Keep your eyes peeled while you move around The Farm, learned during their experiences at The Farm. Today, Plenty because there’s a lot more than you might realize, including International remains active in countries such as , such interesting enterpris- , Mexico and Liberia. And here in Tennessee, Plenty’s es as a radio station, a Kids To The Country program brings children from homeless dairy that produces soy shelters and refugee centers to the peaceful refuge of The Farm milk, a book-publishing where they have the opportunity to do things like swim, ride company and a midwifery horses and pick blueberries. operation (where women Also at The Farm you will find the Training Cen- come to deliver babies). In ter, where people come from all over the world to learn about fact, the advancement of alternative building meth- midwifery as an accepted ods and earth-friendly liv- practice is one of The ing. Speaking of things Farm’s contributions to you won’t find very often, Tennessee law; a few years at the Ecovillage Training The Farm is host to many different ago, a representative from Center is a house made of types of workshops and retreats The Farm successfully lob- straw! throughout the spring, summer bied the Tennessee Gener- Ironically, the one and fall. Visit its Web site, al Assembly to pass a bill thing that you really www.thefarmcommunity.com, to recognizing the practice of won’t find at The Farm see a full calendar listing of activi- midwifery. anymore is an active ties open to the public. The Farm also serves as farm. Although many headquarters for a few nonprofit organizations. The biggest of residents still keep veg- these is , an organization started by Farm etable gardens and tend Ramona Christopherson prepares residents in the 1970s when a devastating earthquake struck to a large blueberry rolls for a community dinner, one of Guatemala. More than 100 volunteers from The Farm went to patch, the large collec- many small fundraisers that help Guatemala and helped rebuild hundreds of homes, schools and tive farm on which peo- support the community school and other Farm-based nonprofits such as ple worked so hard in the Plenty International and Swan Con- 1970s is long gone. At servation Trust. Tennessee History for Kids The Farm, most of the buildings are in the woods. The wide-open fields are now a Bill Carey is a Nashville author soccer field and disk golf course, and the rest of it is a big and executive director of nature preserve. The Farm is flanked by about 1,500 acres set “Tennessee History for Kids,” an aside for hiking and nature-loving by yet another Farm related online Tennessee history textbook. nonprofit called the Swan Conservation Trust. For more great stories of To learn more about The Farm, go to www.thefarmcom- Tennessee history, go to munity.com. And to read some great first-person stories about life on The Farm in its commune days, buy a copy of “Voices www.tnhistoryforkids.org. from The Farm: Adventures in Communal Living,” edited by Rupert Pike.

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