1970s-era ‘back-to-the-landers’ now aging in place together
by Ruth Dusseault
(Pictured above: 82-year-olds Jane Lapiner (left) and David Simpson, formerly known as the Diggers. Ruth Dusseault)
This story was originally published by NorCal Public Radio on August 4, 2023.
In the early 1970s, tens of thousands of American youth left the cities in search of a new social order based on small, rural, egalitarian communities. Most of the back-to-the-land communes did not last, but in Humboldt County several thrived for decades. Today, those original communalists are now in their 70s and 80s.
Ruth Dusseault traveled to Humboldt County to talk with some of them about the challenges of aging in place.
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