Farm Friends: From the Late Sixties to the West Seventies and Beyond

Farm Friends is a memoir and a study of the generation of the 1960s. Beginning on a communal farm in 1969, it continues as a personal chronicle of the author and his extended family up to the present day. From the greenhouse in the spring to haying in the summer; from cold, wood-heated winters to abundant home-cooked dinners in the fall, back-to-the-land communards of the late '60s and early '70s made their way in a new and unfamiliar world. Later, relocated in cities and towns across the country, they used what they had learned to continue to explore and to influence life as they found it in the late 20th and early 21st century. What sort of individuals did the rebellious and anti-establishment youth become? How much of their idealism did they retain in the coming decades, as many of them were pulled into mainstream and urban life? Such issues are at the core of Farm Friends, The authoras narrative traces the earlier roots and later pursuits of some of the many participants, companions and friends attracted to this new way of life. Written in a clear and literate manner, Farm Friends is intended as readable history, stories interwoven into an ongoing narrative that suggests the fabric of an entire generation. From care of the cow and auto repair in rural New England, to Paris, London, and San Francisco, Farm Friends spans nearly fifty years in the life of the author and his friends, and sets before the reader materials for a reassessment of a complex generation.