Hi Friends,
We lost one of the good ones, my personal hero, Pete Seeger.

Pete stayed true to his principles when facing up to the tyranny of government injustice. He was a consistent voice for nonviolence, for the earth and the environment, for the working people, and he did it with the best possible vibes of anybody on the planet.

I was fortunate enough to meet Pete and hear his music when I went to what he called "the singin'est movement" happening anywhere, the School of America's at Fort Benning, the place where the U.S. Army has trained torturers and terrorists for the last several decades. Pete was very aware of our work at The Farm and asked how things were going. We were honored when he walked with our group as we left the vigil at the end of the day.

In the image to the right, with Pete is another of my personal heroes, my good friend Bernice Davidson.

Bernice is an artist who has had the extraordinary talent and expertise to use her art as a tool for uniting communities and to shine light on a variety of issues that call for more attention.

Bernice is a former member and resident of The Farm from back in the day. She returned to the area a number of years ago, purchased a home nearby, and found employment teaching art at a local college.

One of the ways Bernice has been able to display her art is through murals in public spaces. These murals speak to environmental themes, important, if not always pleasant times in our nation's history, and are also to honor people for their great, pure effort to make the world a better place.

One of her primary subjects has been the Trail of Tears, the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands in the southeast and their relocation to reservations in Oklahoma.

The life-sized image to the right featuring the handsome Native American family hangs on a wall in the town square of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, a town along the actual Trail. It hangs right across from a statue of Davy Crockett, who also happened to be one of the early founders of the town.

The painting draws your attention, and helps us to understand that both beauty and the tragedies of the past have lessons to teach us in the here and now.

Bernice and I are currently working together on The Heroes Project. The Heroes Project identifies people of merit and character who lived in or have relevance to Giles County, Tennessee and honors them with a public mural.

Bernice works with local sponsors, patrons of the arts, city and county officials, plus local businesses and clubs, to identify the heroes to be featured and locations for the murals.

Using her positive energy and charm, Bernice's is able to take her list beyond what might be regarded as the standard definition of hero. It includes people like Nancy Ward, a Native American peacemaker.

There's Matt and Henrietta Gardner, freed slaves who in the late 1800's started the first school for black children in Pulaski, Tennessee, at the time when the town was best known as the birthplace of the Klu Klux Klan.

In the photo to the right, Bernice is honoring the heroes of the Underground Railroad, men and women who truly risked their lives for the cause of freedom.

Our goal is to take this project state and eventually nation wide, empowering communities to recognize the heroes in their own communities.

It is also important that we remember and honor the heroes around us, people of vision, of heart, and to remember that ultimately, we can all be each other's heroes.

Stephen Gaskin

Hero of the Counter Culture

Stephen Gaskin in San Francisco - photo by Robert Altman

A BIG THANKS to everyone for your concern about Stephen, the founder of The Farm Community.

Stephen has been getting more frail over the last few years and recently spent some time in the hospital. He is back home now, is eating better and getting some of his strength back.

Stephen continues to need our healing prayers. 

A few months back Stephen and Ina May moved to a home close to The Farm that would be more comfortable and give them an easier time managing his care.

Cards, letters, and any stories you would like to share can be posted on our Friends of The Farm Facebook page or mailed to:

Stephen Gaskin
C/O The Farm Welcome Center
100 Farm Road_
Summertown, TN_38483

Excerpt from The Farm Then and Now: Straw, the Natural Choice

The principle insulation material used by natural builders is straw, which can be utilized in a variety of ways. Straw is a locally available, renewable resource. It eliminates the manufacturing costs and extensive technology necessary for other common insulation materials such as fiberglass and the increasingly popular sprayed foam.

The straw bale home on The Farm has a main structure and roof supported by locally harvested cedar posts and beams. In between the posts, bales were then stacked like building blocks, producing walls approximately 24 inches thick.

This gives the walls a total estimated R factor of 25 to 40, keeping the home warm in winter and cool in summer with minimal dependence on heating or cooling systems.

Another use of straw as a building material combines it with liquefied earth, or clay slip and there are several examples of its use in the community. R values for straw clay slip are modest, so walls are usually built 6 to 10 inches thick to compensate.

Compacted bales of straw are broken open and fluffed before immersing the loose straw in a tank of water and clay. The mixture is stirred in the slurry until each blade of straw is completely coated.

The wet, coated straw is stuffed or tamped into the forms with enough pressure to ensure that the wall is a solid, continuous mass. The forms are removed as soon as possible so drying can begin immediately.

The straw clay slip is then given time to cure or air dry until every bit of moisture has evaporated. Depending on the air temperature and humidity the curing period can last several weeks to a few months.

I am experimenting with a new layout better compatible with wide screen monitors and smart phones. How does it work for you? Do you read this on a laptop, desk top, tablet or SmartPhone? Let me hear from you!

Peace,

Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com