 A funeral service at The Farm Cemetary. Dear friends,
People often ask me what has made it possible for The Farm to survive all these years. And one of my primary answers is... conflict resolution, Below, are some tools to guide you in this essential skill for lasting relationships, a more cohesive workplace, and navigating life.
Throughout my life, plant medicines have been some of my most valuable teachers. Consequently, I have been delighted to discover the podcast Plants of the Gods, which details their influence on culture and religion over the centuries.
You could say I have been a seeker of genuine direct spiritual experience. There are many ways to align with this energy, from meditation to fasting and vision quests. This is why I have been drawn to the Dances of Universal Peace.
The Sufi teacher Hazrat Inyat Khan explains it this way, "...the beauty of music is that it is both the source of creation and the means of absorbing it... it is only music which has beauty, power, charm and at the same time can raise the soul beyond form.”
Coming together in circle, voices in unison, reliable and real, uplifting of body, heart and soul. I invite you to find out for yourself during our Dance weekend, November 1-3.
Peace,
Douglas  Lettuce in our garden. This picture is from July 19, 2024.
My wife Deborah does succession plantings of lettuce, beginning this year in February after we returned from our travels. She plants new seeds about every 6 weeks, sometimes starting them indoors in a "six-cell tray insert," and at other times direct seeding in the ground, depending on weather conditions. During the warmer months, she starts the plants indoors where it is cooler, which helps with germination. As it gets later in the summer, you will want to protect the small plants in the garden from insects by covering them with netting and keeping them well watered. We have had lettuce throughout July and August despite daytime temperatures of 95 degrees!
Working It Out From the very early days of the community, members of The Farm actively practiced speaking the truth, what we called "working it out." It was part of our spiritual path to talk about each other‘s character flaws, ego trips, and personality shortcomings. These "sort outs," could sometimes last for hours to get the "subconscious" from the "astral plane" out into the open.
Sometimes this was necessary for people to get along where they worked. Living in a household of 20 to 40 people could make this a high priority. Nothing can funk up the vibes like unresolved issues simmering below the surface.
But it wasn’t just about getting along with other people. It was also a part of marriage counseling, although we didn’t call it that. It was simply that your housemates were usually the ones who were present and listening if you weren’t speaking nice to your partner, if you were being a “male chauvinist pig,” and needed to be a lot nicer. Bear in mind this was the early 70s and the culture as a whole was becoming increasingly aware of how men had been exercising their dominance over women, especially in relationships. I can testify to needing this a few times myself.
One of the commitments of our spiritual path was to change and grow as a person. I learned when your friends told you that you needed to change, the best thing you could do was listen and believe them. They could see things about yourself that you could not, and they had your best interest at heart. They cared about you.
 NVC
Many decades later, we learned of a man who had developed this into a real program, helping to solve conflicts between people, between neighborhoods and police, and even helping to resolve conflict among people in countries fighting amongst themselves.
Nonviolent Communication, also known as NVC, is a technique developed by Marshal Rosenberg. NVC has become a widely embraced and highly valued tool that can teach us how to reframe our language so that we set aside judgment and guilt trips, anger and accusations, assumptions, and biased opinions. It stresses the importance of deep listening.
A number of people here at The Farm have studied these methods to become trained mediators, serving in this role not just in the community, but in such places as local county courtrooms. One of our members founded a Victim/Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) in Nashville and helped get a state law passed saying victims and offenders should be offered voluntary face to face mediation with trained, certified mediators for free. That law provided funding for nonprofit mediation centers in the state and our member directed a program that mediated thousands of settlements in Middle TN counties and these were valuable resolutions of injustice for the participants. Hundreds of volunteers signed up for training programs to become certified mediators to be of service in this much-needed form of Restorative Justice. This member and others now participate in an active Community Conflict Resolution Team on The Farm
You can buy Marshall’s books and workbooks, but to start, you can listen to his podcast and find numerous videos on YouTube. Marshall began developing this work in the 1960s and some of the videos and his techniques might seem a little dated. But I guarantee you the foundation is sound.
Periodically, members of our community will turn to the study of NVC as a group practice and there’s such a group happening right now. We’ve also developed to the point where people are offering a similar approach to working things out from the Buddhist tradition, or from their time working in HR for a big corporation.
 Essential for Intentional Communities
It was interesting to note that one of the recent episodes of the Inside Community Podcast by the Fellowship of Intentional Communities (ic.org), called Preventing and Mending the Fissures, focuses on resolving conflict. This podcast is now in its second season and can be an interesting listen for those living in or seeking life in community.
 Plants of the Gods
The Plants of the Gods podcast is a fascinating exploration of the many different ways these plants have influenced humans through the centuries. From ayahuasca to chocolate, this series is hosted by ethnobotanist Dr, Mark Plotkin, a Harvard and Yale-trained scientist and a founder of the Amazon Conservation Team. You can access the podcast through his website, or your favorite source for podcasts.
 Touch the edges of mystery! Dances of Universal Peace, Nov 1-3, 2024
Our goal is to seed an annual gathering with the vision to connect, collaborate, empower, and build our network of peace for the benefit of all beings. Click here to learn more and to register.
 My Calendar
Thank you for your time and attention!
 My books:
Out to Change the World and The Farm Then and Now
Out to Change the World! $12 plus shipping
The Farm Then and Now $19.95 plus shipping
Watch my TEDx Talk: Out to Change the World - Living the Hippie Dream
A big thanks to everyone who has become a patron of Farm Fresh! When you become a subscriber, your contribution helps spread the word about community-based alternatives and the spiritual path.
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Douglas Stevenson
Douglas@villagemedia.com www.douglasstevenson.com Village Media www.villagemedia.com |
