by Oscar Plazola

The farm was founded 20 years ago by a group of sheep, lambs and rams, who were fed up with the possibilities in town. They no longer wanted to live among pigs, dogs, chickens, cows, donkeys and oxen. They realized that it would be a difficult job to educate together so many diverse species with such different interests and that there would be no guarantee of success. But what nobody expected was what would happen years later, one warm August morning, that would test the strength of the farm community.

But let's start at the beginning. This group of sheep was given the task of finding a place to found their own farm. They did not take long to find it. From that start, a long journey began. At first there was a lot of work to do to prepare the place for the needs of the community. With the love and effort of all, in a short time the farm had become a beautiful space. It was not easy to reach agreements. Many sheep came from distant places where they spoke other languages; others had different ideas or beliefs; some ate things that others could not look at; there were even those who came from big cities with another rhythm, another way of living. But all had the same goal, to live in peace and harmony, to learn about the process of living and, of course, to play. An old man in the community used to say, "Love has many forms, many paths, but the same goal."

One day a group of large goats came to the farm, they wanted to be part of the sheep community. The kids were also in the group. They all said "ba," but it was a very short "ba," they did not lengthen the "a" as all the sheep on the farm did. They said, "ba," not "baaaaa." However, no one noticed that detail and they were welcomed into the farm and into the heart of the community. Some years passed and the goats were gaining everyone's trust, but they still did not do the long baaaaa. Although on the farm they were considered part of everything, they continued to organize their own smaller meetings where they spoke with short baas, making it difficult for others to understand. However, the sheep thought that the problem was only an inability to vocalize; nothing more that.

The goats had learned not only how the farm worked, but how the community thought and felt. "How clever," the reader will think, but I suggest you continue reading.

After the time of the Purple Flowers Festival, it was traditional in the community that everyone took a vacation, left the farm for a couple of months, to visit the family in New Zealand family or travel to other places. So the goats knew that they would have plenty of time to carry out the plan they had hatched weeks ago, the ultimate goal of which was to take over the farm and destroy the community. Why? The reader will ask himself. Ah, because they were eager for power. They wanted to keep the farm for themselves, to create a new society where they were the "big goats," those who dictated the laws and applied the rules. They wanted to keep extra wool for themselves. [editor's note: "lana" in Mexico means "wool" but also "money."] The had in mind to convinced the newcomers that the old members were bad, ruiners, boors and ugly. They spoke with some of the new members and met with the Great Ox, who was the governor in charge of the property on which was the farm. The community had never been a problem. They were peaceful subjects. But the governor lived far away. He was also far away philosophically in that he did not understand how the sheep thought, or why they lived the way they did.

The goats knew the activities of the vultures. They told the Big Ox about the benefits of the land surrounding the farm and the benefits that he could get by selling it to the vultures. (And they expected their commission when he did.) "How clever," the reader may exclaim, perhaps out loud. Yes, they were clever. The vultures did not have to negotiate much.

Thus, on a hot August morning, while the community was vacationing, with the support of some of the new members, the governor and the vultures, the big goats entered the farm and everything over. Well, not everything, just the furniture and the land. Ah! The material and the tools. Oh, also some cooking stuff, okay, everything! Where there were no doors they put chains, where there were windows they put padlocks and they hired some wolves to watch the perimeter in case someone thought to enter from behind.

When the community returned everyone was very surprised. The goats, to whom a few years before they had opened the doors of the farm and their hearts, had taken over. They took over the space, and also had detailed a series of conditions for the subjects who wanted to belong to what they called, a "new collective." What the goats did not know, (because they never understood it, that's why they could not make long baaaas) was that since the farm was founded, not only had it grown in space and in number of members, it had also grown in the spirit of the community. In spite of specific ideological differences, members had created a common philosophy because they had the same goal. What the goats did not know is that freedom is carried in spirit and in thought. They did not understand that it is not possible to put chains or locks on spirit and thought. What the big goats did not know, is that the farm is not a place; it is a flock.

The sheep community had to go through very difficult times. The farm had the strength and the solidarity of its members tested. They knew that they should continue, that is was necessary to join together to find a solution. After only three weeks (they were a very difficult three weeks, with many tears and anxieties) they had already found a beautiful place to continue the search for a society in which the values that generate love and peace prevail. There, to this day, they learn from living and continue to teach their lambs that a better world is possible.

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