I visited the Twin Oaks community yesterday afternoon. Aurora (who I met at the FIC board meeting in Boulder) hooked me up with Paxus who guided me on my tour. Pax greeted me and because the temp had dropped and rain was threatening, we first walked to an old wood building and I followed him up a flight of steps to a community closet. It reminded me of the resale stores where I buy my clothes....with a twist. It's a place where the 100 or so who live in the community can put any clothes they're willing to share with others in the community. Pax picked out a purple Columbia rain jacket. It's a job for someone in the community to wash and mend the clothes in the “community” closet and hang them neatly in the closet for others to choose what they might like to wear. If a member finds an item of clothing they want to keep, they're responsible for taking care of it.

Twin Oaks is known for their hammocks which they've been making since the beginning of the community—some 48 years. Pax showed me the area where they are made. Evidently they used to sell exclusively to Pier One (headquartered in Corpus Christi, TX....I was surprised to learn) but 10 years ago, Pier One decided to go for a more polished look. Later, they changed their mind and came back to the Twin Oaks community who decided not to partner with them because it was more lucrative without the middle man.

Twin Oaks (and their sister community “Acorn”) is also known for their heirloom seeds. This business is evidently doing exceedingly well. Keenan, who took over my tour when Pax had to run, explained that they needed some land to plant and grow cantelopes (for example) beyond the 500 acres they currently use for other purposes. Acorn got the soil ready, planted the seeds and watered and weeded the crop just so they could harvest the seeds later.  They offered to let their neighbors keep the crop produced if Acorn could keep the seeds.  It's a win for Acorn and their neighbors.   

As I drove on a road leading to Twin Oaks, I saw what looked to be an old abandoned saw mill next to a river with a waterfall. It was so interesting, I had to slow down to take a look. I kept going when I saw someone working there. Turns out it was Keenan who was doing some work there to refurbish the beautiful old bldg. It belongs to an 81 year old neighbor who is considering selling or gifting the property to Twin Oaks. Keenan has been helping to restore the inside of the bldg while the neighbor decides what he wants to do with it.

As I walked thru the bldgs on the tour, I was intrigued by the Twin Oaks income sharing philosophy and wanted to learn more. All the structures are shared by the community. Each member has a room to live in and they share common areas. Some of the residents left the doors open so I could see into their rooms. Nice sized, basic. The common areas I saw which included kitchen, living, etc though were dark and aesthetically felt discombobulated and a little dirty to me.  I wonder if they have a space for anal retentive neat nicks?

They offer a 3 week visitor orientation program where visitors can live and work in the community to get a better feel than I was able to get in a 3 hour tour. There's a waiting list until Sept to get into the orientation program. I'd like to get on the list and give it a try to see how I would like this exceptionally unique community.  They offer a "communities" conference every Labor Day.  Perhaps I can attend the conference and then try out the visitors orientation.

Thank you Pax and Keenan for a wonderful, last minute tour of the very famous Twin Oaks community in Louisa, Virginia.  I'm going to see if I can get a tour of their neighboring communities while I'm in the area.