The Farm is just a few hours from where I live. The country's oldest and largest hippie commune is located about an hour south of Nashville, Tennessee. The Farm had its beginning in San Fransisco in the late sixties when an English professor began holding weekly spirituality classes whose topics centered around the importance of community. When asked to go on a nationwide speaking tour, this professor invited all the college students from his spirituality classes to join him. The students bought old school buses and took him up on the offer. During their tour of the country, they decided they did not want to return to the life they were leading before the tour. They began to search for a place to form a commune and Summertown, Tennessee fit the bill perfectly.
In 1971 The Farm was established and it is still around today. Back in its heyday The Farm was home to over 1500 residents. Today there are about 300 living there and the rules have changed a lot. In the beginning anyone who chose to live on The Farm gave all their possessions to The Farm and everyone shared equally. Each person was given food and plenty of land to build on. Today, residents pay a monthly fee to live on The Farm, many of them hold jobs outside The Farm and they keep their earnings. The Farm remains a mostly vegetarian community with a deep concern for the environment. Emphasis is placed on living economically and responsibly, conserving energy and promoting green technology. The Farm has it own publishing company and soy dairy, but doesn't do a lot of farming anymore. It costs less to buy organically grown food than it does to produce it on site.
Students at The Farm School play a major role in determining how the classes are conducted, what subjects they will study, who will teach, when class will meet and what field trips will be offered.
Things have changed a lot since the first days of The Farm, but it still offers an alternative to the way the rest of us live our lives.
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Song 224: No matter What
Artist: Badfinger
Album: No Dice
Year: 1970
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No matter what you are
I will always be with you
Doesn't matter what you do girl, oh girl with you
No matter what you do
I will always be around
Won't you tell me what you found girl, oh girl won't you
Knock down the old brick wall, and be a part of it all
Nothing to say, nothing to see, nothing to do
If you would give me all, as I would give it to you
Nothing would be, nothing would be, nothing would be
No matter where you go
There will always be a place
Can't you see in my face girl, oh girl don't you
Knock down the old brick wall, and be a part of it all
Nothing to say, nothing to see, nothing to do
If you would give me all, as I would give it to you
Nothing would be, nothing would be, nothing would be
No matter what you are
I will always be with you
Doesn't matter what you do girl, oh girl want you
Oh girl, you girl, want you
Oh girl, you girl, want you
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