The Farm

[Lolawashere]

In Tennessee, there's a place called "The Farm." It's a hippie commune that was started by Stephen Gaskin. It all started as a Monday night class, where they discussed metphysics, white witchcraft, experiments in unified field theory.


http://www.thefarm.org/


Now they offer and teach permaculture, midwifery, they grow mushrooms and soy products - they have a mail order catalog for raw foodists and vegetarians and a book publishing company.
cool, huh?

[Starchild]

There are quite a few of these places, Lisa. A lot of em fall apart because the people who go there are the kind who can't share accommodation with one person, much less hundreds.

This one has stood the test of time. Interesting thing is the people in the nearest village hate em. The taxi driver who dropped me off gave me her card and said she would drive away slowly because lots of peeps walked in and wanted to walk right out again.

I loved it, but I had my doubts about moving in.

http://www.findhorn.org/index.php?tz=-600

[Lolawashere]

that looks really nice Leah. I see they offer week long experiences. Is that what you did?

[Starchild]

Yep.

The thing about communities that last is they end up with a labyrinth of rules. I wish I'd got there in the early days when the original founders were alive and living in a caravan. They really had Faith, and everything they did was based on Eileen Caddy's guidance 'from God'.

The community is huge these days and they seem to be constantly looking for ways of generating an income. Experience Week costs a packet, and then you've got someone telling you what to do pretty much all the time. Great if you don't like thinking for yourself.

But Findhorn is still a magical place, well worth the visit. I like to think I brought some of the magic away with me.