Теннесси штатындағы қауымдық қоғам

Intentional community in Tennessee, USA

movement." Its members have founded a number of nonprofit organizations, including Plenty International, a relief and development organization, and Swan Conservation Trust, who established the Big Swan Headwaters Preserve. The Farm has approximately 200 members and residents.

The Farm was established after Stephen Gaskin and friends led a caravan of 60 buses, vans, and trucks from San Francisco on a four month speaking tour across the US. Along the way, they became a community, lacking only in land to put down roots. After returning to California, the decision was made to buy land together. Combining all their resources would finance purchase of only about fifty acres in California. Another month on the road brought the group back to Tennessee, where they checked out various places that might be suitable to settle. They decided on property in Lewis County, about seventy miles south of Nashville. After buying 1,064 acres (4.1 km2) for $70 per acre, the group began building its community in the woods alongside the network of crude logging roads that followed its ridgelines. Shortly thereafter, an adjoining 750 acres (3.0 km2) were purchased for $100 per acre. From its founding in the 1970s, Farm members took vows of poverty and owned no personal possessions other than clothing and tools, though this restriction loosened as time passed. During that time, Farm members did not use artificial birth control, alcohol, tobacco, or animal products. Many of the early buildings on the Farm were unconventional, ranging from converted school buses to modified 16 x 32 army tents. Over time, larger homes were constructed, each providing shelter for multiple families and single people, often with up to 40 people under one roof. Visitors were also housed in a two story tent made by sewing two army tents together. In the early days, Gaskin was considered to be the "abbot of the monastery" and made many of the governmental decisions for the group. His role was eventually taken over by a "council of elders" and then a "board of directors" consisting of some of the most respected and influential members of the Farm community.

The Farm's outreach, combined with notoriety through popular media articles, led to a population boom that eventually peaked at around 1600 members living on the main property. Additionally, some satellite farm affinity communities which were located in the U. S. and other countries consolidated by moving to the Tennessee community. Signs started to appear between 1975 and 1979 that the Tennessee community's weak infrastructure and low income was insufficiently developed to support such a continuously large influx of new members, most of whom did not contribute substantially. The Foundation went increasingly into debt. Members chose to turn over all money to the collective. Some donated inherited wealth or investment income, but most of it went for the group's Third World projects, or for immediate needs such as food and clothing, rather than planned improvements to the property. Occasionally Gaskin would request a large sum to fund his traveling expenses, which included touring around the world. Cottage industries including sorghum molasses, a publishing company and natural food did not generate sufficient income.

In 1983, due to financial difficulties and also a challenge to Stephen Gaskin's leadership and direction, The Farm changed its residential community agreement and began requiring members to support themselves with their own income rather than to donate all income to The Foundation central corporation. It was created in 1974 by artist Caroling Geary. In May 2010 repairs were completed on the Wholeo Dome, but is currently in storage due to issues with the lead in stained glass artwork. The Farm maintains contact with some of its 4000 plus former members through email lists, social media forums, an annual reunion each summer, and through the work of its nonprofit organizations. Seriousness and commitment were required in marriage. With the exception of the Rhythm Method, in the early years birth control was frowned upon, and abortions were prohibited in the community. As an alternative to abortion, the Farm publicly offered to deliver any baby for free and then to find a loving family to raise the child. If the birth mother ever wanted the child she could have it back, and ultimately most kept their babies. Childbearing was natural, and births were attended by midwives. Premarital sex was greatly discouraged, and most couples on the Farm were married.

The Farm has its own electrical crew, composting crew, farming crew, communications, construction & demolition crew, clinic, firewood crew, alternative energy crew, motor pool, laundromat, tofu plant, bakery, school and ambulance service. It established The Book Publishing Company, which has published the works of the Gaskins and other Farm members. The Farm's midwifery school and Ina May Gaskin's germinal book Spiritual Midwifery are well known throughout the world for their emphasis on maternal and newborn compassion, safety and high success rates for natural home birth. They also run a "soy dairy", which developed and later marketed a soymilk ice "cream" called "Ice Bean", and a vegetable store in the town of Summertown.

They maintained The Farm Band, a rock group in the early 'jam band' style, which toured the country performing for free at parks, schools, churches, and other accessible venues. Albums from the 1970s include The Farm Band on Mantra Records, and Up in Your Thing, High On the Rim of the Nashville Basin and Communion on Farm Tapes & Records. There were also a number of 45 releases. All Farm Band recordings were self produced and distributed. During the 2000s (decade), Akarma Records in Italy distributed bootleg copies of these albums. In addition to the rock music recordings, Stephen Gaskin released a spoken word album titled the Great Western Tour in 1974, which was produced and distributed in the same way as their other LPs.

Another music project of The Farm was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (also known as "NRC"), a New wave music band. They released a 7 inch EP, We Are the NRC, and an album, Reactor, in 1980, and a second 7 inch EP, Sally's All Alone (After the End), in 1982.

Some of the early titles produced by the Book Publishing Company illustrated the early interests of the Farm community; volumes included The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook (ed. Louise Hagler, 1975), Volume One: Sunday Morning Services on the Farm by Stephen Gaskin, this season's people by Stephen Gaskin, Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin, A Cooperative Method of Natural Birth by Margaret Nofziger, The Big Dummy's Guide to C. B. Radio by Albert Houston and the Radio Crew, and Shutdown: Nuclear Power on Trial, by John Gofman and Ernest Sternglass. Book Publishing Company publishes under the imprints Healthy Living, GroundSwell Books, Native Voices, 7th Generation, and Books Alive.

There was no infrastructure grid on The Farm's land when it was first settled by the nascent community. Originally relying on antique kerosene lanterns and manual message runners, The Farm grew rapidly to adopt appropriate technology for electricity, communications, medical, mass media, education, and entertainment. Some of the early residents of The Farm brought their skills as engineers and technicians with them; they took on a multi year development to build The Farm's novel network of communications and electrical supply. Initially, a single landline or party line shared with several of their Tennessee neighbors was available for outside telephone calls, with a waiting list for any calls. Spurred mainly by the need for prompt childbirth assistance and emergency medical response, a field phone style party line system was installed by The Farm's telephone crew in 1971. Telephone lines were expanded to widely cover even the most remote areas over the following year. Instead of common telephone bell ringers, the first telephones used Morse Code beeps to signal a call. Basic community CATV cables were later run to some areas along the telephone line paths. The Farm installed its own water system and water towers. Some individuals initially resisted running electricity and power lines beyond the administration office and publishing center, with the hope of establishing off grid decentralized utilities instead. The electrical supply 120/240 VAC mains system evolved from supplying only a few industrial buildings near the main Farm Road in 1971 to the point by the 1980s where most areas were covered by 12 Volt automotive battery trickle charge systems. At the network's peak in 1978, The Farm Net included over 40 ham radio operators on associated and affinity communities, as well as many HF SSB mobile and battery operated portable HF radio stations. From its main base station, The Farm Net expanded to cover HF SSB communication links to stations in North America, Africa, and Europe using a field of tall radio towers on The Farm's ridgetop. Ham radio operators from The Farm volunteered with the Plenty International disaster relief operations for the 1976 Guatemala earthquake, with the Greenpeace anti whaling campaigns, and many humanitarian response efforts worldwide. Ham radio was invaluable for voice communications consultations between doctors and field medical teams, and it included the use of HF slow scan TV for the relatively new concept of telemedicine. The ham radio was also used for technical discussions about alternative sources of energy, a popular topic among the back to the land movement, especially during the time of the 1970s energy crisis. The Farm's ham radio operators also used CB radios, as the cost of CB transceivers had dropped impressively during the mid 1970s. which became a non fiction bestseller. The popularity and sales of The Big Dummy's Guide To CB Radio fueled the launch of the Book Publishing Company's new printing presses, and provided much needed income for The Farm at a crucial time in its growth. The Ecovillage Training Center, which offers conferences and seminars on organic gardening, permaculture, strawbale construction, and sustainable technologies. Plenty International, an international aid and development NGO that helps indigenous populations, at risk children, and the environment. More Than Warmth, a project in which children create quilts to be sent abroad in countries dealing with conflict.

The Farm School Solar and Satellite Campuses are K 12 programs that offer alternative education options for home based learners (over 1200 students) and at a schoolhouse (approximately 25 students) on The Farm.

The Farm was featured in Peter Jenkins' travel book A Walk Across America. The Farm is the subject of the documentary American Commune directed by Rena Mundo Croshere and her sister Nadine Mundo, both of whom were children at The Farm from the mid 1970s until The Changeover in the early 1980s.