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| The Farm (Tennessee) | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Farm |
| Settlement type | Intentional community |
| Established title | Founded |
| Established date | 1971 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Tennessee |
| County | Franklin County |
The Farm (Tennessee)
The Farm is an intentional community founded in 1971 in Tennessee as a cooperative commune. It developed into a notable site for alternative agriculture, renewable energy, community living, and holistic health care practices, attracting attention from figures in environmentalism, new age, and social movements.
The Farm was established by a group of followers of Stephen Gaskin who migrated from San Francisco to rural Tennessee in the early 1970s, influenced by the broader currents of the back-to-the-land movement, communal living experiments, and countercultural reactions to the Vietnam War, Woodstock era, and the Summer of Love. Early development intersected with legal and social issues encountered by communes such as Twin Oaks Community, Drop City, and Kibbutz examples from Israel. The community drew visits and study from scholars associated with University of Tennessee, activists from Greenpeace, and journalists from outlets like The New York Times and Rolling Stone who chronicled communes and intentional communities during the 1970s and 1980s. Over decades The Farm adapted governance influenced by models from Robert’s Rules of Order, Quaker consensus practices, and frameworks used by Seventh-day Adventist health institutions and Buddhist sanghas. The Farm's evolution paralleled policy debates in the United States Congress about land use, tax law precedents, and cooperative organization statutes.
The Farm occupies acreage near Summertown, Tennessee in Franklin County, Tennessee within the physiographic province of the Nashville Basin adjacent to Cumberland Plateau landscapes. Its rural setting situates it within regional networks connecting Nashville, Franklin, Tennessee, and Fayetteville, Tennessee, and within driving distance of Chattanooga and Memphis transportation corridors. The land includes forested tracts, pasture, and riparian zones linked to tributaries of the Duck River watershed, and lies in a climatic zone characterized in agricultural guides from United States Department of Agriculture extension services and studies at Tennessee State University.
Buildings on the property reflect vernacular adaptations influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired organic architecture, Adobe remodeling practices, and practical structures akin to those studied in Rural Housing Service guides. Facilities include communal kitchens, a missional clinic modeled after holistic health centers analogous to Ecovillage infrastructures, libraries containing works by John Steinbeck, Aldous Huxley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and manuals from Mother Earth News. Structural developments were informed by patterns observed in Habitat for Humanity projects and energy retrofits promulgated by programs at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Agricultural operations at The Farm have encompassed small-scale diversified farming, permaculture designs inspired by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, seed-saving aligned with Seed Savers Exchange practices, and livestock husbandry influenced by standards from American Pastured Poultry Producers Association and Rodale Institute research. Cropping systems include heirloom vegetables comparable to varieties promoted by Slow Food and orchards using grafting techniques derived from teachings at United States Department of Agriculture stations and Cornell University Cooperative Extension. Energy systems incorporate solar power arrays, biodigesters reminiscent of projects documented by Practical Action, and wood-fired heating systems discussed in publications by The Mother Earth News and The Whole Earth Catalog. The Farm has engaged in barter networks and cooperative marketing analogous to Community Supported Agriculture partnerships and regional farmers' markets associations.
Educational offerings have ranged from hands-on workshops in sustainable techniques influenced by curricula at Greenpeace training sessions, seminars on midwifery and nursing reflecting models from DONA International and Planned Parenthood training, to courses in conflict resolution drawing on methods developed by Marshall Rosenberg and Quaker practice. The community has hosted conferences that attracted participants from Sustainable Living councils, representatives of United Nations programs on appropriate technology, and scholars from Vanderbilt University and Middle Tennessee State University. Publications and outreach have overlapped with networks such as The Fellowship for Intentional Community and the Global Ecovillage Network.
Founding figures included followers of Stephen Gaskin who had associations with cultural figures in San Francisco and networks that intersected with personalities chronicled in Rolling Stone and The Village Voice. The Farm hosted prominent visitors from environmental and spiritual movements, including advocates linked to Jane Goodall Institute initiatives, speakers associated with Ram Dass-style spirituality, and researchers from Johns Hopkins University who studied community health outcomes. Events at The Farm attracted media coverage alongside other intentional communities like Kibbutz movements and were referenced in documentaries and books about communal living in the late 20th century.
Conservation efforts at The Farm have emphasized watershed stewardship informed by techniques promoted by Ducks Unlimited and riparian restoration methods used in projects by The Nature Conservancy and Sierra Club campaigns. Soil conservation and organic certification practices drew on standards from Organic Consumers Association, Rodale Institute, and USDA National Organic Program frameworks. Renewable energy adoption referenced research by National Renewable Energy Laboratory and funding models similar to initiatives by Environmental Protection Agency demonstration projects. The Farm’s sustainability work aligns with larger networks of permaculture practitioners, ecovillage sustainability indicators, and conservation collaborations with regional offices of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Category:Intentional communities in the United States Category:Communes Category:Tennessee