On Tuesday, October 21, 2014 students from Dr. Janice Clark’s Environmental Health course (HLTH 362) took a field trip to the Stillwater Farm and Possibility Alliance near LaPlata, MO. Dr. Alicia Wodika and Dr. Jennifer Hurst also accompanied the group and drove two of the vans to the farm.
The purpose of the trip was for the students to learn about the electricity-free and petroleum-free lifestyle of Ethan and Sarah Hughes, as well as to perform some service work while at the farm. The Hughes and their two daughters grow their own food and live well below the poverty line at less than $3,000 per year. They host over 1,500 visitors and volunteers per year at their farm.
The Hughes were inspired by their time at l’Arche community in France, a Gandian project based on the gift economy and radical sim
plicity. There are five guiding principles of the Possibility Alliance: radical simplicity to reduce their ecological footprint; serving people’s needs without an agenda; social and political activism; inner work; and gratitude and celebration.
While at the farm, Ethan Hughes gave the students and faculty a tour and explained his philosophy and practices. On the tour, the students got to see solar ovens, an outdoor kitchen, rocket stoves, organic gardens, solar food dryers, rain catchment systems, and straw-bale homes with an insulation value of R-40.
The students assisted with several projects as part of their service and in thanks for the tour. They cut and sawed wood for heat for the winter, gathered sticks and small branches to fuel the rocket stoves to cook food, planted garlic, and sorted apples. It was a beautiful day for a field trip and the students enjoyed the opportunity to be outdoors on a sunny fall day in the mid-70s.