Communal Anniversaries and a New Bike

by Raven

It’s that time of the year. Acorn’s Land Day (the day that they got the land) was April 1st and East Wind’s Land Day was May 1st. Acorn turned thirty-one and East Wind just hit the big five oh.

Here’s the online invite to East Wind’s celebration:

This did very, very well, earning sixteen likes, six loves, five comments, and a large two hundred and forty-eight views.

Acorn just turned thirty-one, and while that isn’t quite as exciting as turning fifty, they have been posting about it a lot. Or maybe Commune Life has been posting about it a lot.

Surprisingly, it didn’t do that well on FB–just six likes and ninety views. Maybe it was because the pictures were kind of wierd (which isn’t surprising for Acorn) especially for an anniversary celebration.

Much later in the week, I put up another Acorn post. I realize that it didn’t actually mention the anniversary but it featured a lot of the current Acorners, so I made it into one. (And, of course, their caption had nothing to do with the picture.)

But this one (probably because of the people in the picture) did very well, with seven likes, two loves, a care, three comments (a back and forth between former East Winder Cara and me about the age of the folks–at Acorn, TO, and EW), and a lovely two hundred and forty views. Best of the week.

Finally, Twin Oaks wanted to thank all the folks that have been supporting them since the fire and show off the new bike that was bought to replace the one destroyed in the fire.

This did pretty well, with nine likes, six loves, and over a hundred and fifty views. I’m just glad that things are going so well there in the aftermath of the fire and that they have a happy child with a new bike.

Returning to Help, Curt Illustrated, East Wind’s 50th, and Beehive Art

by Raven

This post will overlap a couple of weeks of Facebook posts. The first of the weeks had only three posts suitable for reposting here. I often repost as many as five of the seven weekly Facebook posts since two are either posted here first (our Monday think pieces that are reposted to FB on Tuesday) or posted similtaneously (our Wednesday videos or photoessays). I also don’t repost stuff from Facebook that are actually reposts from earlier blog post here, or that gotten the original content from whoever posted it originally deleted or blocked for some reason.

The week of Facebook I was going to repost here had one of each exception, so I would have had only three posts–however, the following week was the week of the Twin Oaks fire when I dumped all the usual Facebook content and replaced it with a bunch of TO posts about the fire, and then reprinted them here that Friday. However, there was one post that week that happened before the fire, ironically from Twin Oaks, and I am reposting that here with the three posts from the previous week.

The first post was another Twin Oaks post (TO is a prolific poster) about a kid that grew up there, left, and now lives nearby and comes by sometimes just to help out.

This did extremely well on Facebook, with nine likes, five loves, one comment, one share, and two hundred and twenty-five views.

Curt was an older man who lived at Acorn and died suddenly of a heart attack a few years ago. He was a musician and an artist and left a lot of art behind. I don’t know who did this picture that Acorn posted.

This got two likes, two cares, one love, and a hundred and twenty-four views.

I think that turning fifty is pretty good for any community. Twin Oaks hit fifty a few years back. Now it’s East Wind’s turn.

This was an event post from East Wind, and event posts on Facebook generally don’t do well. This was no exception. It did get three loves (including one from East Wind Nut Butters!), two likes, and a care, but it only got seventy-one views.

Finally, Twin Oaks posted about an art event there that featured the Beehive Collective, an artist group from Maine known for their posters. The blurb here is a direct quote from the original Twin Oaks post (which I usually say, but somehow forgot this time).

The link is in a picture so you can’t click on it. Here’s a real link to the Beehive Collective. And here’s the pictures TO posted.

This did pretty well. It got six likes and a hundred and eighty-one views.

Breakfast Taco, Clean Cars, Mothers Against Meth, and a 50th

by Raven

Several of the posts I’m posting this week did very well on Facebook–and covered some unique subjects.

From East Wind, comes a post about a ‘breakfast taco’–and the ‘greenwashing’ of ‘farm to table’ and how East Winders are “living outside of the capitalist system”.

This post did okay on Facebook. It only got two likes but it got a bit over a hundred views.

At Twin Oaks, it was about keeping their cars clean. I snapped this photo when I visited there briefly in January. I thought it was interesting but I didn’t know the context.

The comments I got (which I show below in Facebook’s messed up order–read the middle, then the top) reveal what was behind this card.

This post did very, very well, especially considering that it was just one picture. It got nine likes, eight loves, three comments (the ones above), a share, and a whopping three hundred and forty-three views.

The folks at Serenity Solidarity seem to always be doing some pretty important and impressive (to me at least) stuff. Unfortunately, it doesn’t translate into a lot of views.

It didn’t do terribly, with three likes and three loves (and one of the loves was actually from Serenity Solidarity) but only ninety-three views. Still, this is some good work and I wish more people saw it.

Finally, East Wind turns fifty this year! They want to have a big bash, but…

Fortunately, this did very, very well, with eight likes, two cares, and a love, and a good two hundred and eighty-six views. I hope this translates into some cash for them.

This is only the beginning. Expect more about East Wind’s fiftieth as it gets closer.

Power Balls, New Year’s Eve, Exits, and a Question

by Raven

February may be over on the calendar, but I’m just getting started on our February Facebook posts.

And I’ll start with a little treat made with East Wind peanut butter.

This one did fine on Facebook, with six likes and a love (and the love was actually from East Wind Nut Butters–I guess they appreciated the publicity), and a hundred and twelve views.

Twin Oaks reposted Paxus’s post on their New Year party, so I re-reposted it.

Maybe because it was more than a month out of date, but this didn’t do as well, with only one like, and a little less than a hundred views.

When I was visiting Acorn in January, I noticed something I thought readers might find amusing. I think they did.

Well, I guess folks did find it amusing, because it got thirty-one likes and loves and three ‘haha’s, not to mention almost three hundred and ninety views.

It also got a comment which I think is worth printing here, because it gives the origin of the slide.

Nearly four hundred views is a lot, but if you really want a lot of views, I found that posting the occasional question on Facebook gets an enormous number of views, not to mention some pretty interesting comments. Here’s what I posted that early February Monday morning:

And, yes, I got responses:

This did incredibly well, but I was surprised that in spite of the fifteen comments and over five hundred and fifty views, it only got six likes and a ‘care’.

Forest, Peanuts, Hoop House, Lettuce, and Concert

by Raven

Once again, here is a catch up on our posts from last month on Facebook, most of which are re-posts from stuff on the various Facebook, Instagram, and website pages of the communes.

Twin Oaks posted about forest care.

This did pretty well on our Facebook feed, with ten Likes, two Loves, and a hundred and eighty views.

East Wind hadn’t been posting much on their Facebook feed so I went over to their business page and found this educational/sales piece on peanuts.

Here’s a link so you can read the original article.

This didn’t do great. It got three Likes, two Loves, but only eighty-five views.

They have a hoop house at Twin Oaks that keeps them supplied with winter produce.

This did okay, with five Likes, three Loves, and over a hundred and twenty views.

Then Glomus/East Brook Farm posted a lovely picture of Rachael by the lettuce.

This did pretty well on FB, with six Likes, four Loves, one Wow, and over a hundred and forty views.

Finally, Acorn posted this picture on their Instagram account with only a “happy new years” message on it. I am assuming it was a New Year’s concert pic.

This did okay, with four Likes, two Loves, and just over a hundred views.

Leaves of Twin Oaks #131

News of the Oaks by Valerie Movement Support by Ollie Coldvember by JaneState of the Commune by Valerie

News of the Oaks by Valerie

We’re continuing to have a rise in membership. With around 75 members there’s a lot going on.  Celebrations ● New member Ollie has been hosting “Gay Bar” parties, giving us all a chance to dance and show off our fabulous outfits ● We celebrated Steve’s 80th birthday—he is a huge Grateful Dead fan and we had our in-house Grateful Dead cover band play for the evening, and looked at photos of Steve’s long life ● We do not celebrate Thanksgiving here; instead we observe the National Day of Mourning with an afternoon of videos by and about Indigenous people, with discussion. We held our Gratitude Feast later in November and hosted many friends and ex-members for the dinner, which included the ever-popular “Ping-Pong Table of Desserts.”

Gratitude feast dessert table	Raen makes pesto	Day of Mourning poster

● We had our yearly “Art Walk”, in which members display various art they have been creating, and we have a walking tour through the community to admire peoples’ creations.  Farm Life New member Raen has been making good use of our greens by making pestos using our home-grown basil, spinach, cress and tat soi (an Asian green similar to bok choy), and we have been enjoying this nutritious and delicious treat ● We’ve also had 2 new baby calves born, adding to the herd we keep for dairy/meat purposes. ‍‍‍

Movement We have been offering a multitude of movement classes lately. We’re currently having regular Capoeira, Aikido, and Yoga, as well as a Ballet class for some of the kids here ● And in a different type of movement, we recently instituted a Racial Justice Orientation session as part of our Visitor Program, as a way of moving ourselves along the path of becoming an anti-racist community. ‍	One display for Art Walk 2023

‍ Movement Support: Political Activism by Ollie

New member Ollie has become manager of Movement Support which is one of the more unusual areas through which Twin Oakers can get labor credits. While most labor areas are for activities that benefit the community directly (garden, the Seed Racks business, etc.) Movement Support is designed to give labor credits and money to members who do work outside the community to support causes we believe in. Historically this has included many things ranging from protests and direct action to collecting acorns for the Virginia Department of Forestry Nursery to support future tree planting and much more.  Recently, after a period with no manager of the area and not much being done, new member Ollie has become manager and several people have started doing more activities being funded by Movement Support. ‍

Food Not Bombs in Louisa

Locally, several Twin Oakers and folks from other communities in Louisa county have started a Louisa chapter of Food Not Bombs. This national organization is an all-volunteer movement that recovers food that would otherwise be discarded, and shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities in 65 countries in protest to war, poverty, and destruction of the environment, and we have, for about two months, been distributing food for free in downtown Louisa every Sunday from 1-2pm. When Ollie mentioned this to long-term member Steve he mentioned that Oakers used to bring food to the Richmond Food not Bombs for several years decades ago.

A little further afield, in the past several months, Movement Support has provided labor credits and travel costs for Twin Oakers to travel to Washington, DC to attend protests in support of a cease-fire in Gaza. Just last week we filled up our 15 person van with Oakers attending the January 13th protest. Further afield still, Oakers traveled recently to be part of the movement against the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia.  Ollie is very excited to be the new manager of this cool area and is really looking forward to helping Oakers out of our little bubble to engage with the world beyond the farm in meaningful ways and to keep fighting oppression everywhere. We’re always looking for new ways for Oakers to participate in movements off the farm, so if you’re organizing in the area and need some friendly communards to help, feel free to contact us!

Coldvember by Jane

‍A few months ago, I was reminiscing on my travels abroad, and remembered one particularly adventurous morning, when I jumped into Galway Bay in Ireland. Dubbed “Coldvember” by the university students there, masses of them jump into the churning ocean waters. I joined in one day, and seeing the pictures made me want to recapture some of that joy and bravery. I put up a note up saying I would be jumping into the pond every morning in November, save Sundays. Most people thought I was crazy, but sure enough, 3 other brave souls joined me that chilly first morning! Overtime, our numbers grew, and on November 8th we had a whopping 9 people in the pond that day. We have shrunk a bit since then, to a core group of 4 or 5.  The shock of entering the water is instant–some of us like to work our way in slowly, but I find the only way I’m getting in is by sprinting in screaming. I’ve been told we are audible from the courtyard, with one co thinking a chicken slaughter was underway! On the first few days we ran in and out, but recently we’ve stayed in as long as 6 minutes. After about 4 minutes I find my body starts to feel warm, and by the time I exit I’m actually quite comfortable. Getting dressed again is probably the hardest part- the teeth chattering and shaking hands makes it difficult to dry off quickly.

Author, Jane, on left, and other brave swimmers

So, what’s the purpose of this craziness? Cold plunges have been shown to improve heart rate and circulation, as well as provide some benefit for mental health. It also helps your body acclimate to the cold—I have found I can now walk around easily with a thin winter coat and gloves, whereas I used to struggle to keep myself warm with tons of layers. Other co’s have noted feeling more awake afterwards, and needing less coffee or other substances throughout the day.   As of writing this, we have three more plunges left. Part of me will miss it- the camaraderie of the group, the feeling of accomplishment every morning, and the clarity of mind that comes with it. Some of us are thinking of continuing the challenge and have dubbed it “Coldcember”. It’s turned into something of a Twin Oaks trend, with co’s who would never dare of jumping in following our progress. Regardless of whether we continue this challenge into December or not, it will certainly be remembered!  There are definitely some people who would not benefit from cold plunges- the very young or very old, and folks with heart conditions. Check with your doctor and do research before trying it out!‍

State of the Commune by Valerie

Twin Oaks is always a reflection of the mainstream to some extent. What is happening “out there” also happens here. Right now, in the world and in this country, many long-term entities that are somewhat cooperation-based are struggling (eg. US postal service, western democracy) and we are no different. Polarization is more of a cultural force than it has been, creating greater divisiveness and demonization / othering in this country, the wider world, and also at Twin Oaks. Mainstream culture itself is undergoing many changes. We are definitely experiencing the effects of those cultural impacts.  We’ve had a number of challenges in the community in the last several years, and we are continuing to feel the effects. When the covid pandemic hit, by coincidence we were at low-ish population, and we in ways became like a “medieval plague village” and had no visitors and limited contact with the outside world for some months. We are still recovering from that low population. Somewhat connected to that, as well as the above-mentioned cultural change reasons, our decison-making and organizational / administrative structures are not as robust as they have been (fewer experienced members to join administrative teams, our collective town trips happening less frequently, etc.) Each of our main community businesses are having their own particular challenges and that is affecting our financial situation. Our infrastructure is aging and we have found mold in many of our buildings. There is some tension around how we are moving forward dealing with that mold, partly related to difficulties in our various income areas and community businesses.  The dynamic between newer, younger members and longer-term, older members has always existed to some extent, but related to the afore-mentioned greater polarization overall, this has become more pronounced here in the last couple of years. A number of other long-term, established communities are reporting similar challenges and changes, and unfortunately, some of them have ceased to function as they have been, and these beacons and models of alternative culture have been lost.  The good news is we have a great group of current new members—there are a quite a few of them and they are bringing good energy and ideas to the community, so that is a strong support for us. We also have the steadiness and experience of our committed, long-term members. Our population is slowly rising again.   Also, one potential advantage of this time of less solid structure is that we would like to change some aspects of our culture to become more anti-racist and inclusive. That is easier to do when there is already some “give”, rather than an iron-clad adherence to “how it’s always been”. Our focus during this era of our history is to find ways to maintain and strengthen the parts of Twin Oaks that make us a unique alternative cultural reality, while making changes and responding to cultural changes, current challenges and the needs/wants of current members.  ¡La lucha continua!‍

Indigenous Walk, Baby Shower, Harvest Feast

by Raven

Finishing off the first weeks of January on Facebook.

The Serenity Solidarity folks advertised this event and said they would be there.

It sounds like a worthy cause but it didn’t do well on Facebook. It got two likes but only sixty-six views.

Meanwhile, Acorn was celebrating an impending birth.

With all those pictures and a baby coming, too, this post did well enough on Facebook. Honestly, I would have expected it to do better, but five likes, two loves, and a hundred and forty-four views is not bad.

Finally, although Twin Oaks celebrates the American Thanksgiving as a Day of Mourning, they also do celebrate a day for gratitude and the harvest.

With just one picture of a table full of sweets, this actually did better than Acorn’s baby shower, with sixteen likes and loves and a hundred and fifty-three views.

Day of Mourning, and Dogs, and Cats

by Raven

Here’s the beginning of our Facebook posts for 2024–many of which were old posts from the communes that hadn’t made it on to Commune Life before I stopped publishing at the beginning of December. While our ‘Welcoming the New Year’ post got a lot of views here and on Facebook, our FB statistics plummeted after that. Usually I show five from the cycle between the videos or photoessays I show here and on Facebook and the essay/thinkpiece that goes up here on Monday and on FB on Tuesdays. Because of how January started, that would leave one stray piece, or I could combine it with the five from the next week. Rather than either of those, I’m going to do half of the six this week and half next week (that is three each week) and then return to the five (or less) new things I put on Facebook each week the following week. Got that?

I’ll start with what I posted on FB January 2nd, which was something Twin Oaks posted in early December about what happened there in late November.

As I said, our statistics weren’t good. This post didn’t do well at all, with just two likes and fifty-six views.

Usually, animal pictures get a bunch of views. Not this week. Acorn post these pictures of their dogs play fighting.

This did a little better than the Twin Oaks post. It only got one like but it got 72 views. (I consider a hundred views my minimum decent exposure.)

Finally, Glomus/East Brook posted a picture of their very cute new farm cats.

While it didn’t make a hundred views, this post came pretty close, with five likes, a ‘care’, and ninety-seven views.

Fall Overhaul, Conference Site, Peas, and Games

by Raven

Having taken the month of December off, we are far behind on catching up with our posts on Facebook. These posts are from early November.

At Glomus Commune/East Brook Community Farm, they had a Fall Overhaul.

This post did fairly well on Facebook, with three likes and 186 views.

Twin Oaks posted a picture of some folks enjoying a summer event at their conference site.

This did very, very well (posts from Twin Oaks often do) with twelve likes (including some from Twin Oaks and the Foundation for Intentional Community) and three loves and 249 views.

SESE (Acorn’s business) pointed out the benefits of Austrian Winter Peas.

You can read the whole article here.

This post did okay. It got six likes and a love, but only got a bit over a hundred views.

And it isn’t all fun and games doing communal living, but there certainly is some. Here’s a post from Twin Oaks.

This post did pretty good, with seven likes and a love, and 149 views.

Welcoming the New Year

We are returning with more news from the communes, more information on building communities, and more ideas about what the world can learn from the communes. I’m hoping that this can be a better year for all of us.