Twin Oaks is an income-sharing community of 100 people living on 485 acres of farm and forestland in Virginia. Founded in 1967, our lifestyle reflects our values of egalitarianism, feminism and sustainability. We welcome scheduled visitors throughout the year. We are economically self-sufficient. Members work in our community businesses–making hammocks and chairs, indexing books, and making tofu. These businesses provide about one-third of our work; the rest goes into the tasks needed to support a rural village of 100 people–organic gardening, milking cows, equipment and building maintenance, office work, and more. Our work schedules of 42 hours each week are very flexible. In return for member’s labor, the community provides all basic needs, including housing, food, clothing, etc. Twin Oaks has an intricate community culture. Our everyday lives include many recreational activities–social and support groups, performances, music, games, dance, and art. Our culture values tolerance of diversity and sustainable living. We share our vehicles, we build our own buildings, and we share houses of 10-20 people. We do not have a group religion; our beliefs are diverse. We do not have a central leader; we govern ourselves by a form of democracy with responsibility shared among various managers and teams.
Some of us work actively for peace and justice, ecology, and feminism. Each summer we host a Women’s Gathering, a Queer Gathering and a Communities Conference; see our website for details. We offer a three-hour tour on many Saturday afternoons; please call during business hours or email to reserve a place. We welcome people to visit just for our Visitor Program, either for just the three weeks, or as a prerequisite to membership. Information about visiting is available on our website or by mail.
Membership & Visitors
- Current members: 95
- Open to new members
- Open to visitors
The first step to becoming a member is to participate in one of our Three-Week Visitor Periods. Information about how to apply can be found on our website twinoaks.org
During the visitor period, people participate in the work and social life of the community and attend "Oreos" (orientations about different aspects of life here). People who are interested in moving here will go through our membership process during those three weeks.
I am doing the three week Visitor Period at Twin Oaks right now, and I am totally seduced! If I was not so called to keep touring communities to connect them to GEN and each other, I would consider staying here long term! They have really figured out the economic aspect of sustainability: anyone who arrives here doesn’t need to have money, they just join and start working, and will have their needs taken care of. This really solves the problem of income inequity! When you live here, you do not need money any more: food, medical care, housing, trips to the library… everything is included! This is what I was dreaming of for a community, and I’m finding a place who has lived like this for more than 50 years! They also have solid policies, based on their long experience, which makes most member feel 100% confident that no matter what happens in the community, it will not fail. The policies are changeable and evolve with time, following the policy to change policies! They have an organic farm, including chickens and cows, and most of the food we eat is organic and produced on site. It feels so good to go get your soy milk at the Tofu Hut in the morning, knowing that the soy comes from a nearby farm and that the milk was made by your friends, and that you can get it in a Mason jar and produce no waste!! 100% of the beef and dairy are produced on site. They also trade the tofu waste products for local pork, who have eaten those same waste products! And then, they are set in a beautiful forested rural area of Virginia. Going to the computer in the evening, you cross the field and have a great view of the stars. To go do wood working for the Hammock chairs, you enjoy a 10 minutes walk in the oak forest. When you are gardening, you do it in company of the white-throated sparrows, cardinals and eastern bluebirds! And when you finish work a little bit earlier then the communal dinner time, you can sit in a hammock chair hidden at the back of the barn and watch sunset. All this, complemented with existential discussions with other visitors and members, or by children laughter in the background. I could go on forever about the beauties of this community, but here is one last wonderful thing: Twin oaks has helped many communities come to life in the area, most of which are connected through the Federation for Egalitarian Communities, so communards can go work at other communities under a system of labour credit exchange, allowing them to enlarge their social network and get in the outside world sometimes! If you’re curious about the economic aspect of sustainability, come visit it yourself! 🙂