We are a family-friendly, off-grid collective focused on creativity, self sufficiency, and simpler living. Children are people and people are children. We are all learning and growing in a vibrant, integrated world. We work together, we play together.
We live on a piece of Monacan land – 44 acres of woods and wetlands. Most of the place is mature hardwoods, with some pine groves, some younger forest and two spring-fed creeks. Our spot is about 45 minutes to Richmond, Charlottesville, and Fredericksburg, and about two hours to DC, the mountains, and the ocean. There are several established small communities in the area, creating an unusual social scene for such a rural area.
We moved onto raw land in 2023 and have developed some infrastructure including onsite water, common kitchen, solar power, and clearings for growing food. Things are very rustic. We work toward meeting collective and individual lifestyle needs, but also value simplicity and plan to keep things pretty rustic.
How do we do things here? We value personal autonomy and mutual support. We are scrappy and adaptable, noticing and following vigor instead of plodding forward. We communicate with each other. We support each other. We expect to meet each other where we are – we each have vulnerabilities, capacity swings, needs, and feelings. We embrace our neurodivergences and the diversity of our mental illness. We are artists, musicians, and makers who foster a culture around creative expression.
We share a deep connection to nature and a commitment to live more sustainable lifestyles. The members of collective broke out of the cage of normal living by adapting alternative dwellings, living off-grid, and/or living in intentional communities. Now we are coming together to create a collective homestead that nourishes our minds and bodies.
The majority of our civilization is running on perpetual growth and choking our planet in countless ways. Our intention is to live a more ecologically responsible lifestyle and to ultimately make more out of less. We plant trees, grow vegetables, and raise chickens and ducks. We mill our own lumber and build our own common structures. We live in tiny houses and question consumption.
Since people are learning and growing as long as they live, we encourage self-care and engage in mental health support from within our collective as well as from outside sources. We will keep open minds and adaptable systems so that the community breathes and changes as its residents change and grow. We share an understanding that in the pursuit of increased sustainability and the back-to-the-land dream there are trade offs between money, time, and quality. We will compromise and flex to get where we are going. We are all adventuresome people who like to travel. We welcome friends come visit.
We would love to connect with people who share our interests as well as people with different and complementary skill sets. If you want to connect, please reach out via the contact form.
Let’s be weird in the woods together.
If you are interested in joining our collective, send us an email. Depending on your location we can meet in person or set up video calls to get to know each other. We want to create a stable and lasting community, so there will be a “dating” period in which we see how we get along and if our values are compatible.
We do not have open housing units for incoming folks. To land here you should have your own portable dwelling and be comfortable roughing it for a while.
Our typical membership process consists of
There will be check-ins throughout the membership process.
We expect prospective members to engage in community projects, socialize, build trust, communicate nonviolently, navigate conflict proactively, bring their own dwelling and comfort, and solve logistical problems both both collectively and independently. We are seeking curious, connected, flexible, and kind collaborators. We need diversity of perspectives and talents to take on this project. We need folks who are open minded.
Please reach out if you are interested in a visit. We plan all visits in advance. If you wish to stay the night here you can bring your own small mobile dwelling, stay in our tiny guesthouse, pitch a tent (we have plenty), or potentially we can find a host for you at a nearby community or group house if you would prefer indoor lodging.
The whole membership decides collectively.
Generally seek agreement, but have backup methods when consensus isn’t reached.
Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.
As a general governance philosophy, we prefer to leave more decisions up to individuals rather than running everything through group process. If it only concerns you and your personal space, go for it. If your proposal will affect others and be difficult to undo, we use collective decision making. When in doubt, check in about it.
In our process, we share our thoughts, seek a gut check, and get consent from everyone in a process that is “consensish” without full blown consensus process. We often use 5 finger consensus check-ins, discuss and ask questions, and modify proposals in order to reach consent. We think things through together.
There are 3 circles of decision-making, related to the commitment and length of stay of different individuals.
The Bramble Collective consists of all individuals that stay here and work on projects. Folks have autonomy over themselves and are involved in decision making appropriate for their length of stay and the projects they are a part of. If it’s going to last longer than you are, it’s going to involve more process.
We have a legal entity, Bramble LLC, consisting of the group of folks who share values and are committed to this project longer term. Long term decisions are held by this group. Collective homestead business lives in this LLC. As such, decisions related to shared income and expenses are held by this group. Though everyone will discuss a proposal, the folks that are going to live with the ramifications of a decision have the primary say in that decision.
The ownership of the land is held by one individual. Decisions that affect the value of the land will be discussed with others, but are ultimately up to this individual. In the next year we seek to divide off part of the land to be held collectively.
Members contribute a percentage of income to community funds.
Join fee: $0
Regular fees: $0
Labor: Yes (10 hrs/week)
We are still working out our community economics but we entered into this project with a strong energy of “we are all in this together.” We have an LLC and are working to set it up as a collective homestead. In the meantime the members of Bramble are self employed and/or low income.
Our current members engage in varied income sources including building, education, art, skilled craft, and food production. As a group we also seek to empower others to start their own enterprises within our nest. If you join you can bring an existing business with you, a dream, a skill set, or a willingness to participate in what other folks have going on. Collective homestead income pursuits will run under the Bramble LLC umbrella.
It is important that folks feel safe investing time and participation here and not walk away empty handed if and when they return to the wider world. If you bring or develop a business while here and then you depart, you can take it with you. When Bramble gets to a point of earning more than we spend we will make annual or semi annual group decisions about allocation of funds: in a given year some portion of income will be invested in infrastructure and some portion will be divided equally amongst members.
Common House, Garden(s), Vehicle Share, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Outdoor Kitchen, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas
Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.
Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace
A residential project: people live here as their primary home.
An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).
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