Farm Fresh, August 2023

• PeaceRoots Alliance
• Farmer Veteran Coalition
• More Than Warmth
• Market Day September 9
• Be our neighbor! Home and Land for sale
• Join me in on The Farm for Dances Sunday, August 27, and Saturday evening, September 2nd!
• October 12-15, 2023 Earth Folk Drum and Dance Clinic

 

PeaceRoots Alliance - From the PeaceRoots website:

 

In the early days of The Farm Community, Michael O’Gorman led us to the fields in the noble task of growing our own food, a leader who inspired others with his selfless dedication. On September 11, 2001, Michael’s daughter was outside the World Trade Center before its collapse.

 

Called from his heart to respond, Michael put out a call to the The Farm’s network of friends and family, resulting in several national meetings, an international teleconference, and the ultimate founding of PeaceRoots Alliance in February, 2002. Our collective thanks to Michael for his continued inspiration and vision.

 

The meeting where we agreed to launch PeaceRoots Alliance.

 

We join together in thought, prayer, and intention for the purpose of experiencing, understanding, and facilitating peace.

 

On September 11, 2001, war came home to our country, dangerously close to some of our children. A few months after this tragic event, members and former members of The Farm, an intentional community created in 1971 as an alternative to our country’s pursuit of war, came together to form PeaceRoots Alliance. PeaceRoots is a network of people from around the world who are responding with an affirmation of our pacifist beliefs through direct action.

 

We acknowledge our connections to each other.

We acknowledge our connections to all human beings everywhere.

We acknowledge our connection to all life force everywhere.

We are all one.

 

May we come to know peace in each of our hearts and minds.

 

May we find and create peace in our relationships with each other.

 

May we share that peace with our friends, our families, our neighbors, and our communities.

 

And may the roots of peace grow strong and deep and network throughout every land on our beloved planet, until all human beings live together in harmony, cooperation, justice, and respect for each other.

 

So be it.

One of our first efforts resulted in 200 billboards around the country, reclaiming the American flag in the name of peace.

 

 

The work of PeaceRoots inspired a number of projects, including some that have evolved to become their own, independent nonprofits.

 

 

Judy Meeker, Founder of More Than Warmth

 

More Than Warmth

 

More than Warmth is an educational project in which students create cloth squares with images of peace and friendship. These are turned into quilts that are sent to children around the world. The project fosters understanding, knowledge and compassion among cultures through nonviolent, nonpolitical, and nonreligious means.

 

 

Permanent dye magic markers give children a familiar tool to communicate their feelings. Every quilt square is accompanied by a letter explaining its meaning.

 

The seeds of peace are planted in children at an early age, creating waves of compassion. More than 10,000 students have participated since More Than Warmth began, with over 1,000 quilts sent to virtually every corner of the planet.

 

https://morethanwarmth.org/

 

During the days of protest leading up to the Iraq war, Judy was featured on the cover of Time Magazine https://morethanwarmth.org/learning-with-the-help-of-quilts/

 

 

Farms Not Arms and the Farmer Veteran Coalition 

 

Another example of planting a seed and watching it grow and bear fruit. 

 

 

Farms Not Arms

Having dedicated his life to farming and agriculture, Michael sought a way to bring farmers into the peace movement, coming up with the catchy name for a new project, Farms Not Arms. We began reaching out to like-minded farmers around the country.

 

 

It seemed logical to me that we should go to FarmAid, the annual fundraising concert started by John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson.

 

I contacted FarmAid representatives and set up a meeting. We arrived at the concert with a couple hundred T-shirts to give away and it was our first opportunity to meet face to face with many of the other farmers who shared our values and concerns.

 

FarmAid said that they appreciated our efforts and message, but let us know that their organization had to remain more politically neutral. The idea was put forth that if we could get some veterans involved, it might open some doors.

Birth of Farmer Veteran Coalition - First Meeting in Santa Cruz.
Nadia McCaffrey Gsm, Donna Jacobs, Richard Speel, Robin Rose, Linda Speel, Ramon Leal, Mark Lipman, Mary Tillman Gsm, Michael O'Gorman  Photo by: Brandon Lerda

 

The next year we returned to FarmAid and held a press conference, which included an Iraq war veteran serving in the Peace Corps doing agricultural work in Africa. 

 

Our speakers also included Gold Star mothers, women who had all lost their sons in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

 

The idea of opening up our nation’s farms – and all the beauty and peace and opportunity that they provide – to those returning from war, captivated those in attendance. The Farmer Veteran Coalition was born.

 

The next year, Farmer Veteran Coalition members were on stage with Willie Nelson.

 

FVC is now its own independent 501c3 with a Board of Directors made up of key agricultural leaders, and staffed primarily by veterans. 

 

With a nationwide network of more than 30,000 veterans—and growing—FVC is helping America’s men and women serve our country a second time, by feeding it.

 

Joining FVC is completely free and is open to both veterans and non-veterans.

https://farmvetco.org/

 

• Sunday August 27 and Saturday September 2 for Dances on The Farm
• September 12-25 The Turkey Dance Caravan and Leader Training
• November 22 - December 10 The Vietnam Dance Caravan