| Seven states, six days, and one interesting commune My little visit to Virginia's Twin Oaks I eventually met Keenan, who was hosting my stay at Twin Oaks. He is soft-spoken, about 40 and has been at TO for 18 years. He is in a relationship with Kristen (people at TO generally move in and out of relationships without getting married). They have a child, five-year-old Rowan, and Kristen also has a child from her previous relationship, eight-year-old Arlo. His dad, Ted, still lives in the community and sees his son all the time. The relationship between Keenan and Ted is �amicable,� according to Keenan, though there is a little tension. Keenan and I talked as we ate dinner � vegetarian pizza � at one of the picnic tables outside of the dining building, known as ZK, which also has tables inside that are used for eating or meeting. He went over basics about �the farm,� as the members sometimes refer to Twin Oaks, and then took me on a brief tour, telling me the names of buildings � most of which are named after other communes � and pointing out bathrooms. I was staying in the building known as Ta Chai (or something like that�there are no names on the buildings). It is located next to three other buildings that ring the area known as the courtyard. This is the original part of the property. Purchased in 1967 by the eight founders, TO then consisted of one farmhouse and just over 100 acres. Today there are more than 400 acres and at least a dozen buildings. The community�s most important activity is making hammocks for commercial sale. One person told me that Twin Oaks Hammocks are the second best-selling hammocks in America. My building housed the hammock production offices, but there were other buildings that stored the cloth and the wood needed to make them. Hanging throughout the farm are hammocks and rope chairs that TO produces. Some members work on making hammocks, others work on some of the other cottage industries that TO runs: making tofu, book indexing, selling some books about the communities movement. Then there are the non-money making jobs that have to be done: cooking, cleaning, maintenance, gardening, dishwashing, hosting groups, childcare, sewage treatment, washing clothes, making cheese and butter, phone answering, etc. Members get to choose what job they want to do and can switch as often as they like. The only general guideline is that members must meet the labor quota each week. The labor quota is set once a year and was 43 hours while I was there. Twin Oaks emphasizes that such common household work � cooking, cleaning, childcare � is included in that total, so that a 43 hour work week is not as long as it might seem. My job, while at TO, was to assist Keenan in the construction of a yurt � a tent-like structure with a frame. The structure was donated and we were attempting to get it set up in time for the community�s annual women�s gathering, which was scheduled for Aug. 24-26. For three days in a row I met Keenan at the yurt site � maybe a mile walk from my building � at 10 a.m. and we worked until noon. Then we walked back to ZK for lunch. After eating there was time to hang out, lie down, check email. Generally, we went back to work around three and finished at six, in time for dinner. Then there was more free time. Goodness knows, I am not one for manual labor, and Keenan made clear that as a guest I was under no obligation to do any work, however, I wanted to get out there and use my hands. I think such work is good for a person, as expressed in the Indigo Girls song �A Hammer and a Nail.� After each day I was sweat-soaked and sore all over, but we made progress, nailing down the wood floor, staining and varnishing it, adding stairs and securing a tarp to cover it. A number of other people also turned out to help during that time. After working so hard (well�for me) I couldn�t wait for the meals, which were very healthy and delicious. The meals are mostly vegetarian, with meat and vegan options. If vegetarian food was always prepared this well, I�d never eat meat. For the whole time I was at TO I stuck to the vegetarian food, and always went up for seconds. In rural areas, the darkness clamps down as soon as the sun sets. Surrounded by a wall of cricket sounds, I would go outside to look up and see a vast array of stars that I had never seen before � even when camping in Maine. This was a majestical canvas spread out in all directions and littered by an innumerable array of glowing points. I was in awe. |