TRUSSVILLE -- A group of 22 Christian hippies left Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Trussville this morning to start a 45-mile walk along U.S. 11 to The Nomad's Land farm in Attalla by Sunday night.

"It's all about Jesus," said Bill Farris, who wore a tie-dyed T-shirt as he walked along the highway near Paine Primary School in Trussville.

Shallyn Hanson, who lives at The Nomad's Land with her husband, Josh, six months a year, said they travel across country in a bus the rest of the year. "We live in a bus," she said. "We give out free food. It's like a soup kitchen in the woods."

As Shallyn carried her walking stick, Josh was driving The Nomad's Land bus, a former schoolbus with a Volkswagen bus riveted to the top. The welded-on VW bus created a loft inside the bigger bus, and children rode in the top with their feet dangling down. A woman sat on a bench inside breast-feeding her baby.

The Nomad's Land is a 40-acre farm at 441 Kimbril Circle in Attalla that welcomes travelers, who often attend concerts around the country, following rock bands including The Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic and Phish.

"We're nomadic," Shallyn said. "My brother was a hitchhiker. We love people who don't fit in normal society."

Some people might call them Jesus Freaks, part of the Jesus movement that sprung out of Christian hippie culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

"A lot of our spiritual moms and pops come out of that movement," Shallyn said.

Farris, who lives in a normal house in Birmingham now, said he came out of that hippie culture. "I picked apples for seven years, hitchhiking," he said. "I had a dog named Buddha."

Farris said he runs a cleaning business and works as Funny Face, a children's clown who doesn't wear makeup. "I wear brightly colored clothes but no makeup," he said. "That scares children."

The Nomad's Land is a Christian ministry, he said.

"It's about finding Jesus in the middle of drugs, alcohol and traveling," Shallyn said.

Avery Johnson, 19, who is from Galveston, Texas, but spends most of her time traveling the country, said she heard about the fundraising walk for The Nomad's Land and decided to take part.

She walked along the highway picking wildflowers and tucked one behind her ear. She admits she's a flower child.

"I'm a hippie; what can I say?" she said.

"Walking 45 miles, you get to know people, you hear a lot of stories about the hardships people have gone through, how God got them through it," she said.

Josh Hanson said The Nomad's Land is a former horse farm with a 4,000-square-foot barn. "We're turning it into a half people barn," he said. Plans call for building a dormitory to house up to 40 people. The third annual Nomad's walk has helped raise donations, they said.

Typically anywhere from two to 20 families live at the farm, staying in buses and then hitting the road to travel. "There's a lot more buses," Josh said, standing beside The Nomad's Land bus. "They're all nomads."

Walking more than 10 miles a day, the nomads plan to be at the farm in Attalla by Sunday at 6 p.m. for a potluck dinner. The public is invited, they said.