The Farm Overview | Images

Stephen Gaskin
Stephen Gaskin, founder and past spiritual leader of “The Farm,” was born Feb. 16, 1935, in Denver, Colorado.  He was a regular fixture in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco during the 1960s.  In September 1971 Gaskin founded “The Farm.”  Even though Gaskin has given up his role as the spiritual leader of “The Farm,” he continues to be a political/ spiritual  speaker and author.  His books include Monday Night Class; Hey Beatnik!; Haight Ashbury Flashbacks; Volume 0ne: Sunday Morning Services on The Farm; The Hidden Holocaust; Amazing Dope Tales; Cannabis Spirituality; Mind at Play; This Season's People; The Caravan; Rendered Infamous; An Outlaw in My Heart; and Stephen Speaks to San Francisco.

Monday Night Class
The Monday Night Class was an open discussion of politics, drugs, and spirituality.  The success of the Monday Night Class far exceeded anyone’s expectations and drew crowds of up to 1500 people. 

Ina May Gaskin
Ina May Gaskin was born in 1940 in Marshalltown, Iowa.  She is a self-taught "lay" midwife, who taught English in Malaysia for the Peace Corps (1963-1965).  She has practiced midwifery for over thirty years.  Ina May is the founder of The Farm Midwifery Center and has written several books including: Spiritual Midwifery; Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth; and Babies, Breastfeeding and Bonding.

Plenty International
Plenty International was founded in 1974 by Stephen Gaskin.  Plenty is an international, non-profit, non-sectarian agency for offering the needy people of the world a helping hand up, not just a hand-out.  Plenty’s projects are designed to help people become self-reliant and productive.

Farm Organic Garden

Vegetarian Cookbook
The Book Publishing Company publishes several vegetarian/healthy living cookbooks to help residents not only live a vegetarian life but also enjoy it.  A number of the vegetarian cookbooks published by The Book Publishing Company were written by Dorothy R. Bates.  When she moved to Summertown, Tennessee, in the 1980s, she found The Book Publishing Company was facing loss in a world where curiosity in communal living was waning.  Dorothy began to revitalize The Book Publishing Company by writing new vegetarian cookbooks, revising old vegetarian cookbooks, encouraging visits from other vegetarian authors, and going on promotional tours.   She also helped establish The Book Publishing Company by footing the bills for printing certain titles and proofreading/copy-editing manuscripts.  Although Dorothy Bates died in 2003, all sixteen of her cookbooks remain in print.  Among some of Dorothy Bates’s most notable vegetarian cookbooks are The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook; Kids Can Cook; The George Bernard Shaw Vegetarian Cookbook; and The TVP Cookbook.