Farms: the FREE FARM film
Productivity | Information | History | View | Quality
1592View
after the invasion of Cambodia in 1970 local folks took over some unused college land for a People's Farm to grow food and meet on weekends to weed, harvest, cook and eat, and party. the college and state police tried to stop it....
Comments
-
I'm not sure that this was the beginning of the end of Windham College. Many things went into the demise of the school. I arrived there the next year, 1971 and remember Red Clover Farm. Windham was what it was and the kids who started the farm were naive as all kids are at that age. But they had good hearts and intentions. Locals in Putney were scared and horrified at the changes that Windham brought to their village and while it was understandable from their point of view, they did get a bit too Easy Rider and I am sure I could name quite a few who trampled the farm at the end. What is the saddest thing is that over the decades so many of these kids who were involved in this "movement" returned to the places they came from and took up where their parents left off and forgot all the idealism of those years. I stayed in Putney for close to 40 yrs and worked in health care, taking care of many of the same locals- the men and their families who were so against the "invasion' of these flatlander hippies. I LOVED the video and it brought back many memories of a towna nd a time that shaped who I am today .
-
Wow, what eye opener that was! Such an embarrassment for the town, the college and the country. The kids rediscovered their farming roots but got it confused with the politics of the day. Despite the references to the Black Panthers I didn't see any black people in the video. What could have made Windham College great turned out to be the beginning of the end for the college. From festival to fiasco because neither side could communicate with the other. That's Windham College of Putney, Vermont.