The Farm, Summertown, Tennessee

By Ben Stallings |

The Farm is legendary as one of the hippie communes founded during the Back to the Land movement. It's no longer a commune, but it is one of the longest-lasting intentional communities in the country. We stayed a night in their Ecovillage Training Center, which was not otherwise in use at the time.

See an album of photos of our visit to the Farm.

Sandhill Farm, Rutledge, Missouri

By Ben Stallings |

Sandhill Farm is notable for being one of the longest lasting communes in the US, and for being one of the top producers of sorghum syrup in the Midwest. I stayed there for a few days in 2004 and helped with the sorghum harvest; then stopped by again in 2007 with a tour group from Fairfield.

See an album of photos of my visits to Sandhill Farm.

Surya Nagar Farm, Fairfield, Iowa

By Ben Stallings |

Lonnie Gamble bought Surya Nagar Farm (Sanskrit for "home of the sun") in an off-grid development outside Fairfield in about 1994. By the time I saw it in 2004, he and his wife Valerie had built two strawbale houses and a hoop house on the property; by the time he sold it around 2015, there was also a strawbale barn that he used as a shop, office, and classroom. Lonnie's style of year-round gardening in an unheated hoop house was heavily influenced by Eliot Coleman, and he and Valerie named their son Eliot. Lonnie was one of my biggest inspirations in learning and teaching permaculture.

Abundance Ecovillage, Fairfield, Iowa

By Ben Stallings |

Abundance Ecovillage is a housing development outside Fairfield, Iowa. When I first visited Fairfield in 2004, there was only one house completed at the ecovillage, and another under construction. Since then it has grown into a community of dozens of houses; some are strawbale, some cob or other green building materials, and others are made of conventional materials but built to be super-efficient. In 2010 when I got my permaculture design certification, part of the ecovillage's land had been transferred to the Sustainable Living Coalition (SLC) and part to private ownership.

Dreamtime Village, West Lima, Wisconsin

By Ben Stallings |

Dreamtime Village is an aspiring ecovillage in the unincorporated town of West Lima, WI. The former school and a number of surrounding buildings were purchased at auction by a community of artists from nearby Madison, and they proceeded to decorate the buildings without first evaluating them for structural integrity or safety. When asbestos was found in the school a few months later, they had to abandon the building, and when I visited in 2004 it was being reclaimed by nature, murals and school buses and all. I didn't take nearly enough photos.