Mud Farm 1970

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After George Mullins graduated from Florida State University in June 1968 he and Madelyn Averitte moved to Staten Island, New York. In the fall of 1969 George was admitted to graduate school at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He and Madelyn drove to Oregon, traveling by way of Ontario, Canada. George attended school while Madelyn looked, without success, for a job. They lived in an apartment for several months and then, in November, answered a newspaper advertisement from a farm commune. A woman had rented a 100-acre farm near Brownsville and was looking for people to share the rent. The farm featured a herd of Welsh mountain ponies, a large pasture, a creek and a ranch house and a cottage. George and Madelyn rented the cottage.

The woman who had placed the ad intended to start a communal enterprise. The ad read, “Farm Commune, No Drugs”. The advertisement attracted a young man named Richard and a pair of “reformed” heroin addicts in addition to George and Madelyn. The farm also attracted many visitors and crashers. The group began to make and sale bread, tie-dye clothing and soap through a cooperative store in Eugene and at a nearby Renaissance Fair. Everyone on the farm except the heroin addicts worked well together. Because it rained every day the farm was soon named the “Mud Farm”. George explained that, “It was originally called the Organic Mud Farm but nobody knew what “organic” meant.” According to Madelyn, the Mud Farm was “a going concern”.

In the spring of 1970 the Ragnarokr leather shop in Toronto wrote George and Madelyn about joining them in the rural community they hoped to found. The four principals from the Mud Farm also wanted to purchase property and they were all willing to make the move to Ontario. However Richard was underage and he assumed that he would need his father’s permission to immigrate to Canada. Since this was not forthcoming, he decided to remain in Oregon. Ultimately only George and Madelyn made the trip to Toronto. In August 1970 they left Oregon in August 1970 and moved into the Ragnarokr Leather Shop at 33 Baldwin Street in Toronto.

Use this link to return to the narrative, The Back-to-the-land Movement, February 1970-September 1970

See also

Letters to Mud Farm

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