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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 2003)
CULTURE ▼ I heard OWL Farm call my name It (lait Batik Loca W o m e n ’s l a n d b e c k o n s f r o m Sept. 12 - by s o u th e rn O re go n K a t h y B elge Oct. S, 2003 3430 SC Belmont Si. 503-239-5919 Box Office 503-224-8499 Tickets west www.tripro.org V H S a n d DVD R e n ta l* a n d S a le * ArthoMAC * Foreign * Cult * CI omìca * Cay & Lc*hian * The Latest Chart BiutcrA see Dr. Bareback. He lil inserting Q -i into penisei men who prac unsafe s hout 35 miles south east o f Rose- burg lies a i little slice of heav- i en. And a baby named Maradaya. O n Sept. 1 3 you ! can meet Mara daya along with her two moms and | a number o f other women during a Garden Party with Oregon Womens Lind Trust. Back in the 1970s those kx>k- ing for a simpler way o f life ushered C ory and Maradaya invite you to Oregon W om en’s Land Trust for a in the “ back to the Sept. 13 Garden Party land” movement, percent o f their income to go toward creating and people from all over the country moved to the space, and committees formed to figure out rural areas and created communal living. legal aspects, to raise money and to search for Women Knight land and established com property. munities, and southern Oregon in particular In 1976 the tmst Knight 147 acres o f land became a lesbian communal mecca for women near Day’s Creek and called it O W L Farm. A ll wanting to get away from the mainstream, you had to do was show up at the dtx>r and you combat the patriarchy and heal the wounds were welcome to live there. W om en built from years o f oppression. structures, planted gardens, held workshops, Many women were drawn to southern made decisions by consensus and lived and Oregon because the land was cheap and build loved on the land. ing axles didn’t exist until 1974. They ptxiled money and knight parcels o f land, which they i Aodagain, 45, has been involved with dubbed with names like Cabbage Lane, Step- O W L for 20 years and lived there for 10. pingwixxls, Womanshare, Fly Away Home and She says those early years were exciting, Rootworks. empowering and difficult. “T h e vision was the They built small homes, tended gardens, minute we removed the males, everything ran water lines and tried to create a community would be hunky-dory between us,” she explains. o f ideals that included cooperation, caring for Rut utopia wasn’t that simple. “ W e didn’t the earth and challenging oppressive behaviors. have the skills to live in community,” she says. Southern Oregon became known around the People came with drug addictions, untreat world for its vibrant lesbian land community. ed mental illness and other issues like recover Lairing a weekend workshop at Womanshare ing from rape or incest. “O W L Farm had been in 1975, a group o f 20 lesbians talked aKmt the a cauldron where the issues that we dealt with power difference between women who could on a daily level were up in our face, and we and could not afford to buy land. From there had to really Kxik at those things," N i Acxla- came a new vision: create a community open to gain explains. all women, regardless of income. Yet there was also an excitement about Oregon W om en’s Land Trust was k>m, a living in a new way— namely creating a matri nonprofit organization established to present archal village. W om en learned and shared educational programs and to give women skills with each other. In O W L archival papers, access to their own land. W om en pledged 10 JL. ,,.U Z . Know Someone With a Drug or Alcohol Problem? Free, confidential, statewide telephone assistance and crisis intervention for alcohol and drug problems Call the HelpLine ^OREGON I Il'Ak’ I NI US HIP www orpartnerslup orç SAY NO TO BAREBACK. S e r v ic in g H O ld and N e w Macs Because its about more than HIV. wYYYY.cascadeaids.org | Cascade ^ — - S in c e 1989 S00-923-HELP \ V | Moonlight M ac ÉÊ gL % X 1 1 IV |M L R ep a irs • T ro u b lesh o o tin g • U p g ra d e s C o n su ltin g S e rv ic e s • N etw o rk Setu p N e w and Interm ed iate U s e r T ra in in g (503) 236-3345 • nip@nioonniac.coni www.moonmac.com PHOTOS BY MARTY DAVIS Theater! Theatre!
