Episode description
In this weeks show our guest is Phil Schweitzer a founding member of The Farm Community, he traveled to San Francisco from the east coast in 1967 after hearing news about the burgeoning “hippie” movement congregating there. A weekly class he attended, conducted by a former San Francisco State college instructor, evolved into a caravan tour made up of school buses and vans, housing as many as 200 people, which circled the country beginning in the fall of 1970, finally arriving in Tennessee to set up an intentional community in early 1971. Phil was instrumental in locating property close to the land that has been home to the “Farm” community since their arrival. He founded a rock band that toured extensively in the US and Europe in the ’70s, as well as an audio recording studio that still exists today. Phil’s business partner, Douglas Stevenson, had built a video company beginning in the mid-1980’s, and their partnership formed in 1993 became a small multi-media organization called Village Media Services. Phil continues to be a managing partner in the company, and runs an audio production studio from his home on the Farm, also providing video recording and editing services to the local community. He has been an active member of the Farm for most of the last 45 years.When researching intentional communities The Farm comes to the forefront, especially as an example of how people with similar values can come together and built a sustainable environment for their families. When people think about The Farm they might not realize that it is now a coop and no longer a commune. Although most intentional communities have an emphasis on green energy and alternative building techniques such as permaculture, The Farm has limited number of eco-buildings. Although it is difficult to sustain some of The Farm original values such as veganism and community outreach, this coop has managed to preserve ecological land and is still attracting young idealists. This community lives up to their roots of embracing a new age philosophy, which emphasizes self-awareness, collective decision-making and the pursuit of a better world. According to Phil the hopeful aspect of living in community is that people grow old together and learn to accept and respect each other. The democratic aspect of The Farm is one of its strongest points. Although at times it has lacked cultural and ethnic diversity, The Farm is comprised of people with ecclectic backgrounds and professions. Phil admitted to the reality that it is mostly affluent white Americans who make a great number of environmental groups and intentional communities. In contrast organizations who seek social justice and political action are often made out members of different minority communities who are often from a lower economic status. The Farm’s thrives thanks to its many non-profit organizations such as Plenty International and the Swan Conservation Fund. We learned from our interview that for any community to survive it must continue to grow, develop and expand. Part of the vision of it’s founder was to support the elderly members in their last years of life. One of their ways to create community is through their many events that bring people from the outside, helping recruit newMystic-Skeptic Radio produces programs such as Uncensored & Raiders of the Unknown. Some of the ongoing series are: Jesus The Israelite, Anti-Semitism Rising & Paul's Legacy (all available on our YouTube channels). In the past 8 years we have featured academics (Amy Jill Levine) , presidential candidates( Howie Hawkins), Commentators (Jay Michaelson) , Advocates (Vanessa Guillen), Scholars(John Dominic Crossan) and Holistic Healers (Rosemary Gladstar). We have taken deep dives on the topics of human trafficking, ancient civilizations, demonology and the occult, social movements, controversial topics and many of the current affairs affecting our society. Join us as as we explore the mystic-skeptic mind space…