ST. JOHN'S, N.L. 4th in a series

In the late 1960s, hippies hanging out in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco were becoming disillusioned with drug addiction and other dark elements creeping into their newfound counterculture.

It sounds like a clich, but a lot of them really did pack up and move to farms and form communes. Some survived, some didnt, but one that thrived and remains active today is simply called The Farm, in Lewis County, Tenn.

The Farm was founded in 1971 by Stephen Gaskin, a disciple of the nature-based teachings of Suzuki Roshi. He and about 300 other followers travelled the country in school buses preaching their message, and finally decided to buy more than 1,000 acres of land in Tennessee to put down roots literally and figuratively. They started a charity called Plenty, and rekindled the practice of midwifery and are credited with spurring the modern home-birth movement,

Peggy Pope can tell you about it.

About 35 years ago, she went there to have her first child. She stayed for a few months, then moved to a similar farm in Ontario.

They were able to stay united because they understood their principles and they kind of knew what they were doing, she says of the people she met.

The Farm started out as a strict vegan community no food based on animals or animal products but relaxed those rules in the 1980s.

Pope was one of a handful of people who brought her love of the natural food phenomenon to St. Johns around that time.

Her ex-husband, Lance Barney, was an American draft dodger and business partner of Mary Janes Specialty Foods. The unique store started operating in the 1970s on Pilots Hill, then moved to Duckworth Street in 1985. It closed for good 12 years later.

The Mary Janes torch was relit shortly afterwards by a former employee and shareholder, Nancy Maher, who started an outlet called Food for Thought a few years later across the street from the old store.

She was forced to move about six years ago when that block burned down, but re-establsihed the store at the corner of Colonial and Gower streets.

Business is good, she says. During the first two weeks of the pandemic shutdown, the place was hopping,

It was so busy here, it was insane.

People were stocking up on sacks of beans, flour and rice, as well as yeast, which she says she never did run short of.

Maher says a renewed interest in veganism brings a lot of younger people to her store, as well as the old guard.

For them, she said, being vegan can be a bit expensive.

The young ones, theyre still young enough that their parents are still buying them food, she said with a laugh.

A lot of them dont know how to cook so they end up buying prepackaged items, she said.

If you go into the freezer, its expensive, she said. If you learn how to cook and get the raw ingredients, its not expensive.

To help anyone who might not be sure what theyre doing, Maher has a sort of bible tucked underneath the counter. Its the "New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook," which is put out by the Tennessee farm. It doesnt have many pictures, but its full of useful information.

I pick up the book every day and show it to someone, she says. If they say, Whats nutritional yeast? I take out the book. Whats tofu? Take out the book. Whats tempeh? Take out the book.

Her own copy burned in the Duckworth Street fire, so shes borrowing Popes for now. Pope just lives around the corner.

Between them, Pope and Maher know pretty well all of the old-guard vegans, including many members of the local entertainment industry.

Pope admits being a vegan in the 1970s was experimental. Few grocery stores stalked appropriate products and not everyone knew how to balance their diet. She did a masters degree in nutrition and avoided some of the pratfalls.

She isnt vegan anymore, but she can cook a mean vegan meal.

And shes happy to see plant-based diets taking on new life.

Theres more of an awareness of where our food comes from. Theres been a big resurgence in gardening.

Peter Jackson is a Local Initiative Reporter covering health for The Telegram.

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Veganism has come full circle since the hippie movement of the 1960s - SaltWire Network