![]() Oregon’s Family of Mystic Arts Commune was featured on the Jcover of LIFE magazine.Ĭommunes are just one part of the larger hippie movement whose influence in Oregon culture and history is evident today. Photo by Joni KabanaĪccording to a booklet outlining Alpha’s history, optimistic young Quakers from Pennsylvania founded the commune in 1972 because they “saw the Northwest as being generally open-minded and tolerant,” not to mention “the climate was mild, educational facilities were good, the ocean was nearby, and the land seemed not particularly prone to earthquakes.” Two of those founders still live along Alpha Creek, in the “new house,” where members gather for meetings and make decisions about how to continue living as a group of equals seeking “to change the world, not by proselytizing or politicizing, but rather by allowing a fullness of spirit and openness of heart to be dominant in us.”Īlpha Farm was founded just three years after Oregon’s Family of Mystic Arts Commune was featured on the Jcover of LIFE magazine, that introduced a new wave of communalists with radical lifestyles. Photo by Joni Kabana A photo wall at the Alpha Bit store. One resident characterized the place as a “community boot camp.” Caroline and Jim Estes, residents of Alpha Farm since 1972. Most have come to this commune within the past three years seeking alternative lifestyles. They tend to a large garden and orchard, care for children and chickens, prepare evening meals for one another, keep the farmhouse clean, haul firewood, fill woodstoves and work shifts on a mail-delivery route or at their café and shop, Alpha Bit, in nearby Mapleton. ![]() Deep within the Coast Range fourteen miles east of Florence, Oregon, a dozen or so members and residents of Alpha Farm have their days scheduled on a hand-drawn chart hung on a kitchen wall.
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