Alpha Farm is an intentional community of people who have chosen to live and work together to share a more harmonious way of living. At our home in rural western Oregon, we live the largely self-reliant style of a close-knit expanded family; we average 15 to 20 people, including singles, couples and families, and have ranged in age from infants to elderly.
Our purpose is to create a holistic community in harmony with each other and the earth, sharing along the way with the wider community and society. It would be easy, one might think, to become self-indulgent at Alpha; to enjoy life and forget the rest of the world. Yet the purpose of Alpha is not to escape the world, but to answer it – most simply by actively taking responsibility for the part of the world that we touch. It involves becoming more whole. And despite being in the country, our connectedness with society as a group is greater than it ever was for us as individuals. Alpha participates in many gatherings, conferences and conversations, small and large, at the farm and elsewhere. An enlarging network of friends and groups is, each in its own way, contributing to what we sense is an evolving consciousness. Many people are seeking to live more fruitfully and with increased integrity, and by their doing so, the patterns for a more integrated and harmonious era are unfolding.
Compared to that of mainstream America, life at Alpha is simple. We heat principally with wood, and do not have some of the amenities that are frequently taken for granted, such as broadcast television. But we live comfortably nonetheless, and on a fraction of the resources ordinarily required. Hard work is a way of life – even a way of expressing ourselves. The day begins early and ends late, but there is always time to pause and appreciate the people and land around.