In an effort to explore some of the more challenging and difficult aspects of our community evolution, I have been thinking about elements that go beyond what Stephen or Ina May's influence might have been, and taking a deeper look at things that were the result of our times, of our naive youth, the hard lessons and how we adapted to them.
One of the most intriguing and interesting pieces of the Farm’s history is its relationship with microbiology. I am specifically talking about our experience with infectious diseases and parasites.
A popular book of the early 1970’s was Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons, about foraging for wild foods. One of the tastiest foods described was watercress, a nutritious green with a peppery taste. How thrilling it must have been to find it in abundance in one of the streams near where the group had landed in Tennessee! A huge salad was prepared for everyone.
Watercress growing in a local creek.
Unfortunately, the lesson was that water which appears pristine can also contain pathogens. It seems obvious now that all manner of feces are washed into streams, from that of wild and domesticated animals to humans. Many of the locals at that time used outhouses, as did we. Rainwater carries all those germs into the streams, including the very serious Hepatitis virus.
Not long after consuming the watercress salad, a large number of people started feeling sick and turning the pale yellow color associated with hep and a sick liver. Of course, there were some who went to the dinner and didn't get sick, so we don't know for sure the watercress was to blame. And once hep was present, it got passed on to people who were not at the dinner. The hard lesson learned was that all surface water is contaminated, knowledge we took with us when we served as volunteers with Plenty in Guatemala.
Any time hepatitis appears it is considered a public health emergency. To have such a large outbreak in a group who just happened to be camped above the natural spring that was the source of water for the town a few miles below made this a very serious situation indeed.
The town of Mount Pleasant was very concerned, and public health officials responded. The preventative treatment was a vaccination that used horse serum as a base ingredient. Suddenly, our vegan community was faced with the decision of whether or not to accept this treatment in what was a violation of one of our principle agreements.
To the health department’s relief, it was recognized that our community’s health and good neighbor relations took precedence, and people lined up to get the injection.
It was an important lesson in reality, that flower child assumptions about living off the land had to be accompanied by wise science.
End of Part 1
