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84-623: The Farm is an intentional community in Lewis County, Tennessee , near the community of Summertown , Tennessee , based on principles of nonviolence and respect for the Earth. It was founded in 1971 by Stephen Gaskin and 300 spiritual seekers from Haight-Ashbury and San Francisco. The Farm was the setting for "the rebirth of midwifery in the United States" and the creation of "the modern home-birth movement." Its members have founded

168-476: 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

252-515: A Communist Church before becoming a Unitarian minister. The Simon Community in London is an example of social cooperation, made to ease homelessness within London. It provides food and religion and is staffed by homeless people and volunteers. Mildly nomadic, they run street "cafés" which distribute food to their known members and to the general public. The Bruderhof has three locations in

336-480: A central place of business, such as a marketplace or a larger town, to be assembled and sold. In other cases travelling agents or traders would tour the villages, supplying the raw materials and collecting the finished goods. The raw materials were often provided by the merchant , who received the finished product, hence the synonymous term "putting-out system". The advantages of this system were that workers involved could work at their own speed, and children working in

420-462: A combination of democratic and hierarchical structure, and 16 percent do not specify. The central characteristics of communes, or core principles that define communes, have been expressed in various forms over the years. The Suffolk-born radical John Goodwyn Barmby (1820-1881), subsequently a Unitarian minister, invented the term " communitarian " in 1840. At the start of the 1970s, The New Communes author Ron E. Roberts classified communes as

504-434: 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

588-624: A disproportionately higher number of children or less-skilled residents could not significantly contribute to the community's economic needs. Gaskin, who was often traveling, may not have been aware of the seriousness of these deprivations, or believed they would improve if members persevered. 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. This decollectivization

672-540: 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

756-441: 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. The party line, affectionately known as Beatnik Bell , was eventually enabled in 1974 to route calls via a manual operator interconnect link patch to

840-589: A home in the area to serve as a headquarters for housing relief volunteers and construction crews helping to rebuild homes. Melvyn Stiriss, a Plenty volunteer carpenter describes a year of earthquake reconstruction, working with Mayans, in Hippie Peace Corps Goes to Guatemala , part 4 of Voluntary Peasants published by New Beat Books, Warwick, NY 2015 Some of the early titles produced by the Book Publishing Company illustrated

924-531: 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. Furthering the Farm's growing pains was a baby boom resulting from the large number of young adults of childbearing age combined with an enthusiastic family philosophy being put into practice. Ina May Gaskin and other resident midwives advertised their services in

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1008-568: A lesser degree, more influential in Russian society. Various patterns of Russian behavior — toloka (толока), pomochi (помочи), artel (артель) — are also based on communal ("мирские") traditions. In the years immediately following the revolutions of 1917 Tolstoyan communities proliferated in Russia, but later they were eventually wiped out or stripped of their independence as collectivisation and ideological purges got under way in

1092-432: A natural response to the isolation and fragmentation of modern housing, offering a return to the social bonds and collaborative spirit found in traditional village life. The multitude of intentional communities includes collective households, cohousing communities, coliving , ecovillages , monasteries , survivalist retreats , kibbutzim , Hutterites , ashrams , and housing cooperatives . Ashrams are likely

1176-430: A number of nonprofit organizations , including Plenty International , a relief and development organization, and Swan Conservation Trust, who established the 1,358 acres (550 ha) 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

1260-443: A period of rapid urbanization between 1890 and 1930. About 100 intentional communities were started but data is unreliable. They often pursued nudism , vegetarian and organic agriculture, as well as various religious and political ideologies like anabaptism , theosophy , anarchism , socialism and eugenics . Historically, German emigrants were also influential in the creation of intentional communities in other countries, like

1344-465: 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

1428-461: A sense of right livelihood and a commitment to the betterment of the world. Stephen Gaskin believed that marriage was a sacred act and that, "For a community to exist in harmony and balance, both kinds of energy had to be nurtured, and most importantly shared." Seriousness and commitment were required in marriage. With the exception of the Rhythm Method, in the early years birth control

1512-495: A subclass of a larger category of utopias . He listed three main characteristics: Twenty-five years later, Dr. Bill Metcalf, in his edited book Shared Visions, Shared Lives , defined communes as having the following core principles: Sharing everyday life and facilities, a commune is an idealized form of family , being a new sort of "primary group" (generally with fewer than 20 people, although there are examples of much larger communes). Commune members have emotional bonds to

1596-471: A time and 29 new members joined. However, in 1833 the experiment collapsed due to the gambling debts of John Vandeleur. The members of the commune met for the last time on 23 November 1833 and placed on record a declaration of "the contentment, peace and happiness they had experienced for two years under the arrangements introduced by Mr. Vandeleur and Mr. Craig and which through no fault of the Association

1680-546: A welcome center at the entrance gate where all traffic passed through and was logged in. In the original manifestation of The Farm, all members were believers in the holiness of life, and believed in the reality of a spiritual dimension and in living out universal brotherhood. The Farm community ate what might today be called a vegan diet. In the introduction of 1978 edition of The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook it states, "We are completely vegetarian. We eat no meat, fish, poultry, eggs, or any kind of animal dairy products. Our diet

1764-639: A worldwide daily operations schedule on 21332 kHz and 21442 kHz Upper Sideband and CW Morse Code in the 15-meter band , and a regional daily morning schedule on 7245 kHz Lower Sideband in the 40-meter ham band . 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

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1848-589: Is communal meals . Egalitarian values can be combined with other values. Benjamin Zablocki categorized communities this way: Members of Christian intentional communities want to emulate the practices of the earliest believers. Using the biblical book of Acts (and, often, the Sermon on the Mount ) as a model, members of these communities strive to demonstrate their faith in a corporate context, and to live out

1932-507: Is approximately 200; residents are mostly baby boomers (about 70%), many of whom have lived on The Farm for most of its existence. Those interested in becoming residents are encouraged to visit during the bi-annual Farm Experience Weekend, which provides a glimpse into how the community operates and functions. In 2004, the Wholeo Dome (a geodesic dome fourteen feet in diameter and seven feet tall, covered with curved stained glass panels)

2016-471: Is based on the soybean, which we eat in many different forms, along with other legumes, grains, fruits and vegetables. We grow our own food and recommend it whenever possible." The book is described as the " family cookbook " of the 1,100 residents living on 1,750 acres in southern Middle Tennessee . The rationale for the diet is stated thus: "We are vegetarians because one-third of the world is starving and at least half goes to bed hungry every night. If everyone

2100-562: Is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote work . It was used in the English and American textile industries, in shoemaking , lock -making trades, and making parts for small firearms from the Industrial Revolution until the mid-19th century. After the invention of the sewing machine in 1846, the system lingered on for the making of ready-made men's clothing. The domestic system

2184-572: Is home to many organizations, including: 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

2268-665: The Bruderhof in the United States of America and Kibbutzim in Israel. In the 1960s, there was a resurgence of communities calling themselves communes, starting with the Kommune 1 in Berlin , without knowledge of or influence by previous movements. A large number of contemporary intentional communities define themselves as communes, and there is a network of political communes called "Kommuja" with about 40 member groups (May 2023). In

2352-555: The Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC), reported that 54 percent of the communities choosing to list themselves were rural, 28 percent were urban, 10 percent had both rural and urban sites, and 8 percent did not specify. The most common form of governance in intentional communities is democratic (64 percent), with decisions made by some form of consensus decision-making or voting. A hierarchical or authoritarian structure governs 9 percent of communities, 11 percent are

2436-538: The Industrial Revolution . Business operators would travel around the world, buying raw materials, delivering them to people who would work on them, and then collecting the finished goods to sell, or typically to ship to another market. One of the factors which allowed the Industrial Revolution to take place in Western Europe was the presence of these business people who had the ability to expand

2520-627: The Jefferson Award -winning South Bronx Ambulance Project in New York City . Plenty maintains an office in Belize , Central America , which initiated a school lunch program based on organic gardens planted next to each school to help provide more fresh vegetables for the children's diets. A midwifery program helped train over 60 Mayan women from villages throughout the region in prenatal care and safe delivery techniques. Plenty

2604-471: 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 formed a non-profit corporation called The Foundation to provide a common financial structure for the community and members contributed their incomes to it. A security crew constantly maintained

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2688-509: The "workshop system" rather than the "factory system" was the rule. All of the processes were carried out under different cottage roofs. It was replaced by inside contracting and the factory system . The domestic system was a popular system of cloth production in Europe . It was also used in various other industries, including the manufacture of wrought iron ironware such as pins, pots, and pans for ironmongers . It existed as early as

2772-415: The 15th century, but was most prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries. It served as a way for employers and workers to bypass the guild system, which was thought to be cumbersome and inflexible, and to access a rural labor force. Having the workers work in their homes was convenient for both parties. Workers were remote worker , manufacturing individual articles from raw materials , then bringing them to

2856-613: The 1890s. There is a long history of utopian communities in America that led to the rise in the communes of the hippie movement—the " back-to-the-land " ventures of the 1960s and 1970s. One commune that played a large role in the hippie movement was Kaliflower , a utopian living cooperative that existed in San Francisco between 1967 and 1973 built on values of free love and anti-capitalism . Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times wrote that "after decades of contraction,

2940-551: The Afrikaans language and the Afrikaner culture. By 2022, the population was 2,500. The town was experiencing rapid growth and the population had climbed by 55% from 2018. They favour a model of strict Afrikaner self-sufficiency and have their own currency, bank, local government and only employ Afrikaners. A 19th century advocate and practitioner of communal living was the utopian socialist John Goodwyn Barmby , who founded

3024-555: The American commune movement has been expanding since the mid-1990s, spurred by the growth of settlements that seek to marry the utopian-minded commune of the 1960s with the American predilection for privacy and capital appreciation". The Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) is one of the main sources for listings of and more information about communes in the United States. Although many American communes are short-lived, some have been in operation for over 50 years. The Bruderhof

3108-620: 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 emphasize maternal and newborn compassion, safety and natural home birth. They also run

3192-607: The German commune book, Das KommuneBuch , communes are defined by Elisabeth Voß as communities which: Kibbutzim in Israel , (sing., kibbutz) are examples of officially organized communes, the first of which were based on agriculture. Other Israeli communities are Kvutza , Yishuv Kehilati , Moshavim and Kfar No'ar . Today, there are dozens of urban communes growing in the cities of Israel, often called urban kibbutzim . The urban kibbutzim are smaller and more anarchist . Most of

3276-711: The Nobel prize, also based in Sweden. Plenty donated an ambulance in the early 1980s to the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation in upstate New York . Two Farmies – one a paramedic and one an EMT – taught a licensed Emergency Medical Technician course to 22 reservation residents, helping them set up their first Mohawk-run EMT service, the "Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Ambulance Unit". Plenty has set up medical clinics in Lesotho and Mexico and created

3360-624: 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

3444-640: 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

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3528-766: The UK. In Glandwr , near Crymych , Pembrokeshire , a co-op called Lammas Ecovillage focuses on planning and sustainable development . Granted planning permission by the Welsh Government in 2009, it has since created 9 holdings and is a central communal hub for its community. In Scotland , the Findhorn Foundation founded by Peter and Eileen Caddy and Dorothy Maclean in 1962 is prominent for its educational centre and experimental architectural community project based at The Park, in Moray , Scotland, near

3612-696: The US. Along the way, they became a community, lacking only 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 km) for $ 70 per acre,

3696-690: 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. Most homes phased out the use of kerosene lamps by 1975, as they converted to 12 Volt lighting and RV appliances or re-purposed automotive lighting fixtures. Off-grid low voltage 12 Volt DC systems were also sometimes powered by swapping vehicle batteries. After

3780-475: The commune. It was set up with a population of 22 adult single men, 7 married women and their 7 husbands, 5 single women, 4 orphan boys and 5 children under the age of 9 years. No money was employed, only credit notes which could be used in the commune shop. All occupants were committed to a life with no alcohol, tobacco, snuff or gambling. All were required to work for 12 hours a day during the summer and from dawn to dusk in winter. The social experiment prospered for

3864-407: The earliest intentional communities, founded around 1500 BCE. Buddhist monasteries appeared around 500 BCE. Pythagoras founded an intellectual vegetarian commune in about 525 BCE in southern Italy. Hundreds of modern intentional communities were formed across Europe, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand out of the intellectual foment of utopianism . Intentional communities exhibit

3948-404: 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

4032-400: 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

4116-469: 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,

4200-402: The economic change in 1983, all homes were connected to the standard electrical grid. The first use of wireless communications on The Farm was in 1971, when a ham radio HF SSB system was set up. Ham radio was used for health and welfare regional communications between mobile ham operators who were on the road with The Farm Band. The Farm Net, as the ham radio network was known, evolved into

4284-421: The education, employment, and daily lives of adults and children with developmental disabilities , mental health problems or other special needs . Many cultures naturally practice communal or tribal living, and would not designate their way of life as a planned "commune" per se, though their living situation may have many characteristics of a commune. In Australia , many intentional communities started with

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4368-416: The experience would be therapeutic. These proved to be a huge drain on the patience and energy of the residents. Lack of electricity and insufficient capacity of sewage infrastructure resources led to some giardia outbreaks and malcontent. Gaskin discouraged expressions of discontent and doubt, so that it was impossible to question the established order or propose improvements. As the Farm's population peaked,

4452-523: 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 km) 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

4536-603: The hippie movement and those searching for social alternatives to the nuclear family. One of the oldest continuously running communities is called " Moora Moora Co-operative Community" with about 47 members (Oct 2021). Located at the top of Mount Toolebewong , 65 km east of Melbourne, Victoria at an altitude of 600–800 m, this community has been entirely off the electricity grid since its inception in 1974. Founding members still resident include Peter and Sandra Cock. The first wave of utopian communities in Germany began during

4620-581: The late 1920s. Colonies, such as the Life and Labor Commune , relocated to Siberia to avoid being liquidated. Several Tolstoyan leaders, including Yakov Dragunovsky (1886-1937), were put on trial and then sent to the Gulag prison camps. In 1991, Afrikaners in South Africa founded the controversial Afrikaner-only town of Orania , with the goal of creating a stronghold for the Afrikaner minority group,

4704-726: The mid-1970s until The Changeover in the early 1980s. Intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork . Members typically unite around shared values, beliefs, or a common vision, which may be political , religious , spiritual , or simply focused on the practical benefits of cooperation and mutual support. While some groups emphasise shared ideologies , others are centred on enhancing social connections , sharing resources, and creating meaningful relationships. Although intentional communities are sometimes described as alternative lifestyles or social experiments , some see them as

4788-513: The national underground press, which led to numerous couples and their infants moving in without contributing. A small number of infants were adopted by Farm members after the midwives offered to accept, deliver, and keep a woman's baby as an alternative to abortion . Most mothers kept their babies after the children were born or came back for them not long after. Gaskin insisted that anyone who wished to partake of Farm life should be allowed to try, even those who were seriously mentally ill, believing

4872-492: The outside line. Later, a 500 line Kellogg-ITT Relaymatic rotary dial phone system was installed in PBX configuration, with multiple outside trunk lines gated through a plug-style manual switchboard operator. 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

4956-426: The population settled back down to fewer than 200 adults and children. Those who continued living in the community were buoyed by its freedom and peaceful atmosphere, and the safety and security it provided for their children. The $ 400,000 plus debt was paid off after several years and the community became debt-free. An entrepreneurial spirit took hold, and numerous small businesses were established to provide support for

5040-552: The putting-out work, this being especially important in winter. The development of this trend is often considered to be a form of proto-industrialization , and remained prominent until the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. At that point, it underwent name and geographical changes. However, bar some technological advancements, the putting-out system has not changed in essential practice. Contemporary examples can be found in China, India, and South America, and are not limited to

5124-554: The residents. Many members went back to school to get degrees in the medical field, and many now work at clinics and hospitals throughout Middle Tennessee . In the 1990s, with the community back on solid ground, The Farm returned to its original purpose of initiating social change through outreach and example. The Ecovillage Training Center was established as an educational facility in new technologies such as solar energy , bio fuels , and construction techniques based on locally available, eco-friendly materials. The Farm's population

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5208-615: The system were better treated than they would have been in the factory system, although the homes might be polluted by the toxins from the raw materials. As the woman of a family usually worked at home, someone was often there to look after any children. The domestic system is often cited as one of the causes of the rise of the nuclear family in Europe, as the workers' earnings made them less dependent on their extended family. This often led to more prosperity among workers, with more furniture, and better food and clothing than they had had before. It

5292-525: The teachings of the New Testament , practicing compassion and hospitality. Communities such as the Simple Way , the Bruderhof and Rutba House would fall into this category. Despite strict membership criteria, these communities are open to visitors and not reclusive to the extent of some other intentional communities. A survey in the 1995 edition of the " Communities Directory ", published by

5376-609: The textiles industry. Historian David A. Hounshell writes: In 1854, the British obtained their military small arms through a system of contracting with private manufacturers located principally in the Birmingham and London areas ... Although significant variation occurred, almost all of the contractors manufactured parts or fitted them through a highly decentralized, putting-out process using small workshops and highly skilled labor. In small arms making as in lock production,

5460-518: The urban communes in Israel emphasize social change, education, and local involvement in the cities where they live. Some of the urban communes have members who are graduates of zionist - socialist youth movements, like HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed , HaMahanot HaOlim and Hashomer Hatsair . In 1831 John Vandeleur (a landlord) established a commune on his Ralahine Estate at Newmarket-on-Fergus , County Clare . Vandeleur asked Edward Thomas Craig, an English socialist, to formulate rules and regulations for

5544-534: 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. CB radios were widely adopted by The Farm for mobile general purpose local communications during this time, while CB radio

5628-1076: The utopian ambition to create a better, more sustainable world for living. Nevertheless, the term utopian community as a synonym for an intentional community might be considered to be of pejorative nature and many intentional communities do not consider themselves to be utopian. Also the alternative term commune is considered to be non-neutral or even linked to leftist politics or hippies . Additional terms referring to an intentional community can be alternative lifestyle , intentional society , cooperative community , withdrawn community , enacted community , socialist colony , communistic society , collective settlement , communal society , commune , mutualistic community , communitarian experiment , experimental community , utopian experiment , practical utopia , and utopian society . The purposes of intentional communities vary and may be political, spiritual , economic, or environmental. In addition to spiritual communities, secular communities also exist. One common practice, particularly in spiritual communities,

5712-718: The village of Findhorn . The Findhorn Ecovillage community at The Park, Findhorn, a village in Moray, Scotland, and at Cluny Hill in Forres , now houses more than 400 people. Historic agricultural examples include the Diggers settlement on St George's Hill , Surrey during the English Civil War and the Clousden Hill Free Communist and Co-operative Colony near Newcastle upon Tyne during

5796-535: The whole group rather than to any sub-group, and the commune is experienced with emotions that go beyond just social collectivity . With the simple definition of a commune as an intentional community with 100% income sharing, the online directory of the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) lists 222 communes worldwide (28 January 2019). Some of these are religious institutions such as abbeys and monasteries . Others are based in anthroposophic philosophy, including Camphill villages that provide support for

5880-479: Was a famous Swedish entrepreneur who continued a putting-out business at Holsljunga . He contracted up to 200 domestic workers, who came to his house to get the raw material and returned after a couple of weeks with textiles, which local pedlars from the city of Borås then bought and went out to sell, among other things, around Sweden and Norway. A cottage industry is an industry —primarily manufacturing —which includes many producers, working from their homes, and

5964-499: Was called the Changeover . Many people left disillusioned. The surrounding local rural area provided few possibilities for outside employment. The nearest large city, Nashville , was a 1.5-hour drive 75 miles (121 km) away. Those who could not adapt to the new dynamics of The Changeover found it difficult to remain. Those who had forged independent business opportunities or had reduced overhead could afford to stay. Eventually

6048-457: Was established in the US in 1954, Twin Oaks in 1967 and Koinonia Farm in 1942. Twin Oaks is a rare example of a non-religious commune surviving for longer than 30 years. Putting-out system#Cottage industry The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work, like a tailor. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system . In putting-out, work

6132-513: Was forced to give a £2 deposit. In a desperate attempt to feed her starving infants, Mrs. Biddell pawned the clothing she had made, thus accruing a debt that she could not repay. Biddell was sent to a workhouse, and her ultimate fate is unknown; however, her story motivated those who actively opposed the wretched conditions of England's working poor, who often spent seven days a week labouring under inhuman conditions, barely managing to survive and with no prospect of relief. Anders Jonsson (1816–1890)

6216-437: 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

6300-507: Was installed at The Farm. 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. Former members have gone on to become leaders in many different fields and endeavors, maintaining

6384-493: Was its four-year presence in the Guatemalan highlands after the earthquake of 1976 , helping to rebuild 1,200 houses and lay 27 kilometers (17 miles) of waterpipe. There, it established a micro- commune of volunteers and their families, living simply among Mayan populations and working under the approval of the military government . In 1980, Plenty was the recipient of the first Right Livelihood Award , an alternative to

6468-746: Was mostly centralized in Western Europe and did not take a strong hold in Eastern Europe . Thomas Hood 's poem " The Song of the Shirt " (1843) describes the wretched life of a woman in Lambeth labouring under such a system. It was written in honour of a woman who is known only as Mrs. Biddell, a Lambeth widow and seamstress who lived in a state of poverty. In what was, at that time, common practice, she sewed trousers and shirts in her home using materials given to her by her employer, for which she

6552-471: Was now at an end". In imperial Russia , the vast majority of Russian peasants held their land in communal ownership within a mir community, which acted as a village government and a cooperative. The very widespread and influential pre-Soviet Russian tradition of monastic communities of both sexes could also be considered a form of communal living. After the end of communism in Russia , monastic communities have again become more common, populous and, to

6636-588: Was often organized through the putting-out system. The biggest participants in this system were the merchant capitalist and the rural worker. The merchant would "put-out" basic materials to the cottage workers, who then prepared the materials in their own homes and returned the finished merchandise back to the merchant. The term originally referred to home workers who were engaged in a task such as sewing , lace-making , wall hangings, or household manufacturing. Some industries which are nowadays usually operated from large, centralized factories were cottage industries before

6720-415: Was one of the first relief organizations to enter New Orleans , getting past federal roadblocks to bring supplies to survivors just three days after Hurricane Katrina . Plenty helped establish a base camp for volunteers and channeled funding to Common Ground Collective , a local group assisting in cleanup, legal defense services, and the operation of free clinics. Plenty volunteers purchased and restored

6804-823: 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. In 1974, after helping local neighbors after a tornado, the Farm formed Plenty (later, Plenty International), its charitable works arm. It began by gathering and supplying food for local disaster victims and holding weekly "quilting bees" to make blankets for them. Plenty's most notable early project

6888-490: Was starting to become a nationwide craze. This eventually led to the writing of the book The Big Dummy's Guide to CB Radio , 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. Later, The Farm's medical and security communications utilized VHF FM handheld two-way radios . The Farm

6972-414: Was suited to pre-urban times because workers did not have to travel from home to work, which was quite unfeasible due to the state of roads and footpaths, and members of the household spent many hours in farm or household tasks. Early factory owners sometimes had to build dormitories to house workers, especially girls and women. Putting-out workers had some flexibility to balance farm and household chores with

7056-830: Was vegetarian, there would be enough food to go around, and no one would be hungry." Gaskin, who had served in the United States Marine Corps , got his start as a religious leader in San Francisco in the 1960s, coming to teach a blend of Eastern religions and Christianity. Due to his devotion to marijuana, he and three followers spent time in 1974 in the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville following convictions for growing marijuana on Farm land. The Farm's outreach, combined with notoriety through popular media articles, led to

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