Yep, Fairfield. Living in accord with natural law, a place where village design, energy, shelter, water, gardening, farming, waste recycling, and landscaping are done in a way that is in tune with natural law. In tune with natural law means, at a minimum, that the systems we use to obtain the services listed above do not destroy or damage the larger systems of the earth that maintain a hospitable environment for life on our planet. Wherever possible, these services are provided in a way that not only sustains but enhances the ability of the earth to clean our air and water, maintain the balance of gases in the atmosphere, and in general provide a beautiful and safe place to live.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Dick Mays <dickmays@...> wrote: > > Smithsonian Magazine > The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2013 > > Web page for the main article: > http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/The-20-Best-Small-Towns-to-Visit-in-2013-196855051.htmlSmithsonian.com > > Web page for #7 Fairfield article: > http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/The-20-Best-Small-Towns-to-Visit-in-2013-196855051.html?c=y&page=8&navigation=next#IMAGES > > TRAVEL > The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2013 > From the blues to the big top, we've picked the most intriguing small towns > to enjoy arts and smarts > By Susan Spano > Smithsonian magazine, April 2013 > «« Previous | 8 of 22 | Next »» > > (© Charles Ledford) > 7. Fairfield, IA > > Fairfield sits in an undulating landscape with farmhouses, silos, barns and > plenty of sky. A railroad track runs through town and there's a gazebo on the > square. You have to stick around to learn about things you'd never find in > Grant Wood's American Gothic, like the preference for east-facing front > doors. That's the orientation prescribed by Transcendental Meditation > movement founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose followers went looking for a > place to start a university and landed in the cornfields of southeast Iowa. > > The Maharishi University of Management now offers B.A.'s in 13 fields, among > them Vedic science and sustainable living. With students riding bikes and > plugged into iPods, it looks like any other college campus, except for twin > gold-domed buildings where practitioners gather to meditate twice a day. > > Fairfield could stand as a case study from The Rise of the Creative Class, > Richard Florida's book on the link between educated populations and economic > development. Fairfield got the one when the college opened its golden domes, > drawing accomplished people who saw its sweetness; it got the other when they > started dreaming up ways to stay. "Everyone who arrived had to reinvent > themselves to survive," said mayor (and meditator) Ed Malloy. > > The economy started perking in the 1980s with e-commerce and dot-coms, > earning Fairfield the name "Silicorn Valley," then launched start-ups devoted > to everything from genetic crop-testing to investment counseling. Organic > farmer Francis Thicke keeps the radio in his barn tuned to Vedic music; his > Jerseys must like it because everyone in town says that Radiance Dairy milk > is the best thing in a bottle. > > But there's more than mellow. The new Maasdam Barns Museum, with buildings > from a farm that raised mighty Percheron horses, displays agricultural > machines made by the local Louden Company. A walking tour passes the > rock-solid, Richardson Romanesque courthouse, a Streamline Moderne bank, > Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired residences and myriad examples of Vedic > architecture. > > Artists and performers find they can afford to live in Fairfield. ICON, which > specializes in regional contemporary art, joins galleries and shops in > hosting a monthly art walk, featuring the work of some 300 local artists. > > The striking new Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts welcomes > acts from chamber groups to Elvis impersonators. The soon-to-open Orpheum > Theater will offer something that is dying out in big citiesan art movie > house. > > Solar panels help banish electricity bills at Abundance Eco Village, an > off-the-grid community on the edge of town. But it's less about altruism than > well-being in Fairfield. Take, for instance, the quiet zones, recently > instituted at railroad crossings to silence incessant train whistles; newly > planted fruit trees in city parks; and Fairfield's all-volunteer, > solar-powered radio station, producing 75 homegrown programs a year. > "Fairfield," says station manager James Moore, a poet, musician, tennis > teacher and meditator, "is one of the deepest small ponds you'll find > anywhere." >
