Voluntary Peasants/Life Inside the Ultimate American Commune: THE FARM, Part 3: Manifesting a Shared Vision: 1972-'76

By Melvyn Stiriss

Soon To Be a TV Series
True, far-out 60s stories—cool adventures, good vibes, humor. The psychedelic sixties come alive in this multi-level history/memoir, of a journalist who dropped out to live the times and seek enlightenment.

This is an inside look into The Farm, an amazing 1,500-member hippie commune in the backwoods of Tennessee. Enter what may seem another world—an audacious attempt to create a better way of living—an Earth-friendly, people-friendly, pacifist, eclectic, agrarian, vegan, spiritual community, cannabis church and home-birthing center and a lifestyle the world can afford.

“Imagine all the people living life in peace.”—John Lennon
That was us. We had it going.

Let your head soar free and take a trip—an extraordinary journey from Greenwich Village beatniks in the ‘50s through the psychedelic ‘60s and ‘70s—heady, revolutionary times—times rich in lessons that can possibly help us now.

In the sixties, Melvyn was a UPI wire service reporter and editor. These are far-out adventures coming of age, going with the flow—riding a powerful wave of energy that raised consciousness and shattered conventional paradigms around the world.

After attending Woodstock, Melvyn followed the energy to San Francisco, sampled the spiritual smorgasbord of swamis, yogis, gurus and chose to follow hippie “self-realized spiritual teacher” Stephen Gaskin on a round-the-country, hippie bus caravan. Hop on a fun hippie bus and journey to Tennessee to begin a new life.

The psychedelic sixties come alive in this multi-level history/memoir. Hop aboard a hippie bus caravan around the country—100 multi-colored, refitted buses with 300 settlers on their way to Tennessee to live collectively, build a town and live a fun, peaceful, meaningful lifestyle, simple, close to nature. For twelve years the community grew from 300 to 1,500 as Melvyn learned new trades working as a farmer, carpenter and mason. He built houses, ran the community kitchen and bakery, was a flour miller, telephone repairman, apprentice auto mechanic, gatekeeper, editor of the town newspaper, and a DJ on the community FM-radio station.

Voluntary Peasants conveys sixties energy, vibes, mindscape and philosophy. Beyond sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll—true tales of a remarkable experiment in collective living as thousands of high-minded people join forces, pool resources and attempt to create a gracious, meaningful, sustainable lifestyle.

After a devastating 1976 earthquake in Guatemala, Melvyn worked with The Farm’s hippie Peace Corps, Plenty International and Guatemalan Mayans building schools, clinics and houses in remote mountain villages and a clinic for Mother Teresa in Guatemala City. For this and other humanitarian projects, The Farm was awarded the “alternative Nobel Prize” the Swedish Right Livelihood Award.

Voluntary Peasants takes an up-close look at Counter Culture Hall of Fame hippie guru Stephen Gaskin—dubbed by High Times: “the Gandhi of the counter culture” and examines the author’s remarkable student-teacher relationship, Most Influential Women Hall of Fame midwife Ina May Gaskin and author of Spiritual Midwifery, the whole guru trip and the insidious workings of the phenomenon known as “groupthink.”
Voluntary Peasants is available as a 422-page paperback with 40 photos only at www.voluntarypeasants.com. Voluntary Peasants will soon be available as an audiobook.
Includes the author’s backstory: Enlightenment/What’s It Good For
Voluntary Peasants is also available as an Audiobook at Amazon’s Audible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Melvyn Stiriss
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005124069

Melvyn Stiriss

Storyteller, humorist, artist, musician, naturalist, back porch philosopher—Melvyn Stiriss was born in New York City in 1942, raised in Edgewater, New Jersey and attended the University of Richmond. Melvyn worked as a newspaper reporter in New Jersey and as a reporter, editor, and announcer for United Press International wire service in New York and Chicago.Melvyn worked a stint as a Madison Avenue publicist, a “Mad Man,” went to Woodstock, “dropped out” and followed “the powerful mysterious energy of the time”—over the edge, out of the box and into the heart of the cultural revolution—San Francisco,” where the young seeker found a weed-smoking “psychedelic Zen guru,” Stephen Gaskin. Melvyn joined Gaskin’s cannabis peace and truth church and became a founder and long-term resident member of Gaskin’s collective community in Summertown, Tennessee—The Farm.Living at The Farm, Melvyn worked as a farmer, carpenter, mason, vegan chef, miller, head baker, gatekeeper, newspaper editor and worked thirteen months in Guatemala doing volunteer earthquake reconstruction work with a team from the community and Mayans, building rural schools, clinics, houses and a health center for Mother Teresa.After leaving the community in 1984, Melvyn moved to Austin, Texas where he worked as a carpenter, co-director of Casa Marianela refuge, taught vegan cooking and worked in a dozen movies in various capacities—carpenter, set dresser, prop maker, locations, craft service and as an extra. Melvyn now lives in upstate New York, writes, hikes, plays keyboard and speaks around the country.

Book preview

Voluntary Peasants

Life Inside the Ultimate Sixties Commune

Part 4—Hippie Peace Corps Goes to Guatemala, 1976—`77

By

Melvyn Stiriss

A journalist who followed the sixties searching for enlightenment

Copyright © 2018

New Beat Books

Warwick, New York

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 ¡Terremoto! Earthquake!

Chapter 2 First Contact—Cloud People of Chimachoy

Chapter 3 Good Karma Work

Chapter 4 Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Chapter 5 San Andrés Itzapa Base

Chapter 6 Adiós a Guatemala

Note: This is Part 4 of a five-part series.

Previously, the community has grown to 750, built a town and created a humanitarian non-profit NGO to help out in the world.

chapter 1

¡Terremoto! Earthquake!

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.—Albert Einstein

FEBRUARY 4, 1976—IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT—a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake rocked the Central American country of Guatemala—destroying thousands of homes, tearing up infrastructure, burying major roads, taking 23,000 lives and leaving thousands injured and homeless.

Farm ham radio operators picked up distress calls from Guatemala and informed Stephen. Stephen decided this was a perfect opportunity for Plenty to swing into action, do some good and become Plenty International, the Hippie Peace Corps.

Plenty Director Paisley Pete and his wife Priscilla, a nurse, flew to Guatemala, bringing a donated EKG machine and other medical supplies, and getting a firsthand look at the situation.

When they returned, Peter spoke at services and presented the heart-wrenching plight of poor people, many Mayans, living in makeshift tin and plastic shelters, desperately struggling for basic survival. He recommended the community send carpenters to build houses before the rainy season.

Next day I was doing gate, got to thinking and decided to volunteer to go to Guatemala. I called Peter, reminded him I was a carpenter, told him I knew some Spanish, and I volunteered to go. Peter said he had a full crew, and I thought,

Not my karma. I guess my motives were not pure enough. Maybe I was more interested in getting out of here than helping people. So I dropped the idea and went about my business.

At the end of my shift I headed home on foot because the Gate van was in the Motor Pool for repairs. It was a rainy day, and I was sloshing along our muddy main road in poncho and galoshes, when Stephen came along in his car. He stopped, rolled down his window and asked,

You going to Guatemala?

No Stephen. I volunteered, but Peter said he has a full crew.

"That was before I talked to him. Peter’s in that truck behind me. Go talk to Peter." Stephen shot me a knowing look and drove off.

I hailed Peter. He stopped, rolled down his window and confirmed it was true—I was going to Guatemala! In a week! Holy smoke! Guatemala. From that moment on, the action and my consciousness picked up big time. Rising to the occasion, I found myself fully engaged, making every moment count.

I spent that week getting ready and soaking up, with renewed appreciation, all the taken-for-granted Farm people, Farm ways, food and the comfort and security of our numbers and mutual love and support.

Guatemala did not require a passport, but international travel does present the need for some ID, and I had zip! Peter gave me a Plenty photo ID, and I went to the Motor Vehicle Department to get my driver’s license, where I was surprised to run into Ina May, also there for her license. She seemed glad to see me and perhaps felt safer having a Farm man around. In this setting, we shared a level playing field. We would both take the same test. We exchanged brief pleasantries, and Ina May wished me luck in Guatemala. I got my license, and so did she.

I began a Spanish vocabulary list:

I’m vegetarian. I don’t eat meat, fish, eggs or chicken.

Soy vegetariano. No como carne, pescados, huevos ni pollo.

I eat beans, rice and vegetables. = Yo como frijoles, arroz y vegetales.

Is there lard in the beans? = Hay manteca en los frijoles?