My Name Was Mushroom

Author Wendy Baker shares her experiences as a young teen lured into a commune, her valiant emergence back into society and her path to becoming a Malibu business executive.

✎ written by Barbara Burke

lon Brando. Woody Allen gave a nod to the restaurant in his classic, “Annie Hall,” wherein he sarcastically orders mashed yeast and alfalfa sprouts.

Wendy’s alcoholic single mother had four young daughters and she was distracted, exhausted, and overworked, leaving home life for Wendy and her sisters challenging and intolerable. Wendy describes her family environment as a mixture of abuse and neglect. “She wasn’t a hands-on mother,” Wendy said. “Mine was a childhood without guidance.”

Ultimately, when she was only 14 years old, she escaped from her biological family and joined The Source Family, inveigled by the group’s seemingly boundless love and freedom and enamored with the music played by family members. One of Wendys biological sisters, Marci, joined the commune and, like all of its members, became inculcated by its groupthink mentality, which included meditations, yoga, vegetarianism, and rituals.

In the Source Family, Wendy was named Mushroom. Her sister was named Blessing. Immersed in the cult’s communal living and intrigued by Yahowah’s teachings, Wendy and others in the commune kept to themselves, calling outsiders Pisceans from The Maya. The group relocated several times, ultimately leaving California and settling in Lahaina, Maui. There, 16-year-old Wendy gave birth to a daughter by another commune member, Starman. An elder woman in the commune named their child Stardust.

Ultimately, the Source Family relocated again to the Big Island where they lived through a large earthquake and were more impecunious than ever and very close to starvation. Slowly, the commune began to unravel, and Baker had the sense that Yahowah was becoming disenchanted with his responsibilities within the group.

Shortly thereafter, Yahowah died from injuries sustained in a tragic hang-gliding accident in Oahu in 1975 – he had never hang-glided before, yet he jumped off a 400-meter cliff. Soon, the Source Family disintegrated, leaving 18-year-old Wendy with a toddler, no high school education, and facing the challenge of navigating their future.

Slowly, she did so. She earned her GED and attended community college. She began a career. Ultimately, she married Yahowah’s son, Bart Baker, when they were both 21 years old.

Sitting in her Malibu office where she and her husband sell insurance and investments, the strikingly beautiful, successful professional is years and worlds away from her life in a commune.

“It was so emotional writing my book,” She said. “I didn’t talk about my Source Family experiences for fifty years – my own children didn’t even know my full story until they read my book.”

Would she follow the same life path and repeat her commune experience? “I would repeat the experience because it saved me. I think we all are subconsciously drawn to take our paths,” she said. “I think I was saved from my home circumstances, and I figured out life on my own.”

Wendy notes that she missed many quintessential coming-of-age experiences and having an intact, functional nuclear family.

“I spent my entire high school years in a spiritual commune that was heavily disciplined and focused on healthy eating,” she said. “I didn’t go to a prom, get my license when I was 16, or party a lot - I missed all that.”

Realizing that she didn’t know how to effectively be a parent, Wendy attended a parenting class for two years, and she and her husband participated in couples counseling.

Wendy’s opinions about her commune experiences have evolved over time. “At first, I regretted joining The Source Family,” she said. “It took me a long time to get to the place I am today.”

Asked what she hopes readers will glean from her book, Wendy paused, reflected carefully, and responded, “I think the book sends a strong message that one can go through something horrific and still come out as a good person.”

Baker’s recently-published book has garnered critical acclaim and is a #1 bestseller on Amazon. The book is available on Audible, Kindle, Amazon, and at Barnes and Noble.

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