About
Stewarding the historic Kesey Farm and hosting future-minded creative projects.
The Kesey Farm Project stewards the historic home and personal archives of author and artist Ken Kesey — preserving its cultural and material legacy while using it as a catalyst for future experimentation.
Rooted in Kesey’s spirit of boundless curiosity and radical collaboration, we treat the space and its archives not as artifacts, but as test sites for continued creative inquiry, innovation, and collective dreaming.
Through collaborative projects, residencies, writing workshops, public events, and restoration projects, we build on Kesey’s enduring vision of art as an important communal act and necessary tool for social progress.
The Kesey Farm Project is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
History
For decades Kesey Farm was not only the home of Ken and his family, but served as headquarters and ground zero for his work as writer, artist, playwright, impresario, prankster, and activist. It was also a lively, productive hub and test site for an extensive network of creators and thinkers.
Today, under the stewardship of the Kesey Farm Project, the Farm stands as a space where preservation and innovation coexist. It remains committed to maintaining the physical and creative ecology of the site, supporting artists, writers, and creative thinkers, and sustaining the radical curiosity that first animated it more than half a century ago.
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1967
In 1967, the farm in Pleasant Hill, Oregon (Kalapuya Ilihi) was purchased by Ken Kesey and family. Set on 64 acres of pastureland, framed by mountains and sky, the Farm became the nexus of Kesey’s artistic life following his return to Oregon from California. The Farm quickly became a sort of proto-commune, a lively and productive hub and creative test site for an extensive network of friends, family, and visionaries.
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![1970s]()
1970s
From the 1970s through the 1980s, the Farm was a site of prolific production and gathering. Kesey edited and printed his self-published literary magazine Spit in the Ocean (1974–1981) in the barn’s “Spit Room,” assembling contributions from Robert Stone, John Perry Barlow, and other cultural figures alongside local and unknown voices. During the same period, events like the Bend in the River Conference and the Poetic Hoo Haws drew together poets, musicians, and thinkers—Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and Timothy Leary among them—merging civic conversation with the avant-garde.
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![1980s]()
1980s
The 1980s brought both loss and persistence. In 1984, Kesey’s son, Jed Kesey, a member of the University of Oregon wrestling team, was killed when the team van slid off an icy road on the way to a meet in southern Washington. After this, Kesey put out a book of semi-autobiographical essays called Demon Box (1986). He also released Caverns (1989), an experimental novel co-written with the students in his creative writing class at the University of Oregon.
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![1990s]()
1990s
The 1990s saw bursts of renewed activity. Ken wrote and released two more novels, Last Go Round and Sailor Song, and two children's novels, Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear and The Sea Lion. The Farm hosted The Field Trip (1992), a one-day music festival in its swamp, regular bus painting parties, and rehearsals for Twister: A Ritual Reality (1994), Kesey’s theatrical reimagining of The Wizard of Oz.
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![2000s]()
2000s
In 2001, Ken passed. His wife, Faye, continued to maintain the Farm until she married writer and friend, Larry McMurtry, and moved to Texas in 2011, a decade later.
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![2016 – Present]()
2016 – Present
Kesey’s granddaughter Kate Smith returned to the Farm in 2016. With the help of friends and family, she began organizing and cataloging the Farm’s archives and reactivating its creative pulse. The first summer residency launched the following year, gathering eight artists from across the country to live and work collectively on the land. Subsequent residencies, writing workshops, and events have continued this momentum, transforming the property into both a working archive and an evolving site for experimentation. In 2020, the Kesey Farm Project received official non-profit status.
Current Projects
The Kesey Farm Project maintains and activates Ken Kesey’s historic home, working farm, and archives through a series of interconnected initiatives in art, ecology, and preservation.
Each project builds on Kesey’s enduring belief in experimentation, stewardship, and imagination—honoring both the creative and ecological legacy of this land.
Those values remain central to our mission today: to preserve the Farm’s history while cultivating a regenerative future that continues to support diverse and thriving plant, animal, and human life.
“I’d like for our kids to have it at least as good as we had it... and it’s sliding fast.”
— Ken Kesey
Living Archive
Wetland Habitat Restoration
Regenerative Farming
Historic Site Restoration
Solar Initiative
Programming
News
Press, publications, and other places the Kesey Farm Project is showing up in the world!
Grateful Ducks Collection shot on the Kesey Farm
Fall 2025
The Farm became the backdrop for the Grateful Ducks Collection—a collaboration between Nike, Class Trip, the Grateful Dead, and the University of Oregon, shot on-site at the Kesey Farm. The Duck, UO Marching Band, Cheerleaders, and players Dante and Dakorien Moore pay us a visit.
→ Read more on Nike.com & UOregon.edu
Mo Ritter — “Vibes of the Periphery”
Fall 2025
Writer and artist Mo Ritter reflects on the Farm’s atmosphere and creative ecology in an essay for the Ford Family Foundation, exploring the Kesey Farm as a living, layered landscape of art, memory, and possibility.
→ Read the full essay (PDF) pp. 23-38
Emergency Horse – Interview and Feature
Fall 2025
Legendary local magazine Emergency Horse interviews us and David Weddles speaks about the 2nd annual sci-fi writer’s workshop at the Farm.
→ Read the feature via Emergency Horse Magazine online
Support
Donate
The Kesey Farm Project stewards Ken Kesey’s historic home and personal archives—preserving a vital site of American literary and cultural history while fostering new creative work. Your support helps ensure that this space and its legacy remain alive and accessible for generations to come.
Become a friend of the Farm, make a tax-deductible donation today!…
Venue Rentals & Creative Retreats
The Kesey Farm is available for select creative retreats, workshops, and small-scale events that align with our mission of artistic inquiry and collaboration. Surrounded by open fields, historic structures, and decades of creative history, the Farm offers a unique setting for thoughtful gatherings.
For more information about rental rates and availability, please contact us.
Volunteer
From archive digitization and event support to land restoration and creative programming, volunteers are essential to the Farm’s ongoing work.
If you’re interested in helping preserve the site’s history while contributing to its next chapter, please contact us or sign up for our newsletter for future opportunities.
Supporters
We are immensely grateful for everyone who has supported our work thus far, and for those who continue to help shape and inform our mission.
We couldn’t do this without you!
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Chambers Family Foundation, Furthur Foundation, Maybelle Clark MacDonald Fund, The Conrad Clark Fund of Oregon Community Foundation, Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District, Online Ceramics, Rob and Debbie Laney, Gordon Adams, Kate Ali, Vicki and David Amorose, Keri and Michael Aronson, Isaac Babbs, Robert Barsotti, Susan Butkovich, Cathy Cassady, John Cassady, Patricia Chamberlain-Waechter, Conrad Clark, Lonnie Coulter, Barbara Cowan, Michael Crooke, Sutton Cunningham, Janet Davis, John Davis, Len Dell'Amico, Leslie Elfenbein, Hillel Ephros, Lorna Frey, Miranda Friedman, Carolyn Garcia, Cecelia Hagen, Juanita Harris, Jill Hartz, John Hull, Lee Imonen, Jennifer Jewett, Jason Johnson, Janine Kanzler, Chuck and Sue Kesey, Kit and Ginger Kesey, Sunshine Kesey, Clyde and Kim Kimball, Lynda Lanker, Karen Laird, Richard Larson, George Law, Annette Leong, John Leopold, Nancy Levine, Roseanna Lourdeaux, Rose Mackey, David Lugliani, Christina and Charlie McClain, Faye Kesey McMurtry, Larry McMurtry, Erica Miller, Jean Miller, Warner Munro, Thomas Nathanson, Mark and Mary K Newson, John O’Connor, Carolyn Ostrander, Robert Preuss, Lee Quarnstrom, Mo Ritter, Henry A Rosenfeld, Katie Singer, Irby and Elaine Smith, Jay and Shannon Smith, Philip Speranza, Liora Sponko, Ron and Sarah Sprague, Paul Stamets, David Stanford, Staci and Michael Stearns, Ravenne Swaner, Bill and Sheryl Thompson, Ellen Tykeson, Gus Van Sant, Victoria Villier, Kathryn Wagner, Maggie Wagner, Margaret Weatherly, David Weddle, Francis Wheeler, Andrew Wiggins, Bill and Karen Wildish, Chris Williams, Audrey Wollen, Kristopher Wood
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Blue Valley Bistro, Bring Recycling, Charitable Partnership Fund, Dizzy Magazine, Doak Creek Native Plant Nursery, Elizabeth Chambers Cellar, Fat Cat Farm, Fungi Perfecti, Host Defense, Hilltop Plank Town, Hunter Noack - In A Landscape, Kesey Enterprises, Ram Jack West, Rexius, Rocky Maselli – Marche Restaurant, Maidenhair Landscapes, Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council, Lucky Star Candle, Ninkasi Brewing, Online Ceramics, Pleasant Hill Pottery, Silvan Ridge Winery, Speranza Architecture + Urban Design, Spielman Bagels & Coffee, Springfield Creamery - Nancy's Yogurt, Toby's Family Foods, Trillium Gardens, Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District, Bill and Karen Wildish, Adam Wendt, William Rose / The Wine Lab, Walama Restoration Project, Working Lands
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Kate Ali, Vicki Amorose, Carly Anderson, Lexy Aydelotte, Ken and Eileen Babbs, Liz Babbs, Payton Barronian, Olivia Bates, Taylor Bolley, Stephen Brooks, Matt Brown, Susan Butkovich, Kathleen Caprario, Abby Carroll, Rachel Chambers, Jon Davie, McKenzie Davie, Whitney Davie, Callie Dean, Julie Duce, Hans Eichinger, Jake Ephros, Kayla Ephros, Jeff Forester, Miranda Friedman, Ellis Ganley, Carolyn Garcia, Jeff Geiger, Joe Geil, Lydia Glenn-Murray, Justin Gordon, Sami Grace, Brynn Grossman, Nic Gusset, Grant Hall, Freddy Hahne, Jonathan Harms, Pieter Hilton, Tamathy Howard, Jyn Henzel, Lee Imonen, Kelly Infield, Maren Jensen, Jennifer Jewett, Jesse Jones, Genie and Erik Kazmar, Caleb & Sally Kesey, Kit and Ginger Kesey, Sunshine Kesey, Zane and Stephanie Kesey, Clyde and Kim Kimball, Steve Korin, Alex Kujawski, Lewis Laney, Rob Laney, Howard Libes, Milah Libin, Brady Lightle, Arvid Logan, Rianne Manning, Dino Matt, Sara Mazze, Christina and Charlie McClain, Erica Miller, Paul Modell, Rex Moody, Ron Moore, Michael Nankin, Perwana Nazif, Paul and Suzanne Nordquist, Spencer Petersen, Liz Phang, Matthew Poplawski, Jess Pottker, Clue Quilala, Indigo Rael, Mo Ritter, Jen Shear, Nora Slade, Dave Slothower, Irby and Elaine Smith, Jay and Shannon Smith, Jordan Smith, Justin Smith, Kate Smith, Vinnie Smith, Nick Soracco, Philip Speranza, David Stanford, Paul Stametz, Kelli Mikkelsen Stark, Randall Stender, Ravenne Swaner, Dylan Thadani, Bradley Thompson, Blake Thompson, Cami White Thompson, Sheryl and Bill Thompson, Adam Wendt, Jessie Rose Vala, Eamon Wagner, Izi Weber, Lidia Yuknavitch, Adam Zeek
Kalapuya Ilihi
The Farm is located on Kalapuya Ilihi—the ancestral homelands of the Kalapuya peoples, who were dispossessed of their ancestral homelands by the U.S. government through treaties between 1851 and 1855, and many of whom are now citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. We honor their ongoing relationship with this land and commit to responsible stewardship.
