grief oasis eco-village commune

STATUS AND PLAN
We are a forming community of couples and singles currently sharing an off-grid house on ~100 acres of land. We are preparing to host visitors for community healing grief rituals. We are also beginning to work with the land to provide for more of our needs (food, heat, energy). Over the next two years or so, we’re inviting people with a shared vision to join us in building this project with the goal of forming our group of founding members. We are gathering people with a shared vision and all contributing to the start-up costs. We are within 30 miles of a town of ~5,000 (with smaller towns within ~10 miles) to enable folks to have outside jobs if they wish. We have internet fast enough for remote work (video calls, etc.).
Once we have established the core group, we will collectively decide on our legal, membership, and community structures. Over the next ~5 years, we want to transition property ownership to a community owned legal entity (such as a land trust, LLC, etc.) in which all members share equity, or another structure that reflects and supports our social and economic values.
VISION
We are creating a community that is rooted in values of balance, harmony, and support of both the individual in their uniqueness and the collective as a being we value and nurture. We recognize that our culture has moved so painfully and dangerously far away from an ethic of reciprocal and consensual relationship: within ourselves, between each other, with the land, with the more than human world, and so on. We are building a foundation from which we can re-thread the knowing of our interconnection, so that we can carry out all our endeavors from that knowledge.
Grief ritual, and other community rituals, are practices we are incorporating to build this foundation.
Some teachers whose work are informing our budding practices: Francis Weller, Malidoma Somé of the Dagara Tribe, Thich Nhat Hahn, Pema Chodron.
EXPANDING FROM HOUSE TO VILLAGE
Part of our commitment is to lower financial barriers to joining, and keeping in the spirit of our other values, is co-creating low-cost living solutions. For the sites we are considering for this project, zoning already permits several additional dwelling types, such as detached accessory dwelling units (ADU), farm worker dormitories, etc. Accessory structures could offer a way to move common spaces (office, kitchen, dining room, etc.) out of the existing house to increase its dwelling capacity through minor renovation. Depending on how the community wants to build more dwellings over time, a variety of minor- and major-use permits are also available. We are also excited to create low-cost alternative/natural/off-grid/low-tech/experimental structures, as long as they are harmonious with the community, environment, and natural life. There are several flat pads for siting dwellings, and we’re open to you bringing you own (such as tiny house or similar) or happy to work with you if you want to come build one.
CO-CREATING WITH OTHERS
This living document aims to offer a framework for our vision, rather than any rigid structures or procedures. Throughout our development we have drawn inspiration from a range of community models within the broader communities movement, such as Breitenbush Hotsprings, Twin Oaks Community, Earthhaven Ecovillage, Shimmerback Ranch, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center and others. We’ll add details here as they become available, but please do reach out for more info if you are inspired by the vision or want to share your wisdom :)
OUR CURRENT PRIORITIES
Our initial focus for building the community is finding folks who are interested in the possibility of becoming founding members, and who want to collaborate on our priorities of: (+) establishing a grief & community healing ritual business, (+) establishing a permaculture food garden–see garden details below, and (+) odd jobs needed to renovate and improve the existing land and structures.
OUR VALUES
Connection over consumerism, Honesty, Ecology, Bartering, Right relation with nature, Relationality, Community and communal ownership, Equality, Sustainability, Practicality, Balance, Sovereignty, Dignity, Honoring individuality and creativity, Reverence and peace, Celebrating each other, Healing and transformation, Fun :), Learning and teaching, Love <3, Imagination, Trust and trustworthiness, Repair and reconciliation, Participation in local and global culture building, Purpose and satisfaction, Rest and restoration, Emotional freedom and freedom of expression, Sharing and togetherness, Science, Building, Creativity, Magic, Helping each other build tolerance for discomfort, Gender equity, Body positivity, Consent, Sexual sovereignty
OUR LIBRARY
Here are some sources of inspiration & wisdom for us:
Grief, Community Healing, Ritual: Malidoma Some (The Healing Wisdom of Africa), Francis Weller (The Wild Edge of Sorrow)
Other: Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass), Thich Nhat Hanh (True Love), Betty Martin (The Wheel of Consent), Wendell Berry, Jessica Fern (Polysecure), Hafiz, Everyday Utopia (Kristen Ghodsee)
OUR GARDEN:
The land has 0.5-1 acre of fenced garden including raised beds, hoop houses, ~150 sqft greenhouse, ~900 sqft indoor/outdoor workshop. Water is a mix of spring and well, multiple year-round ponds, and the garden has 6000 gal of tank storage. There are a few assorted young/mature fruit trees.
Before permanent membership in the community, we will invite aligned folks for a 6-month incubation period to ensure we’re a good fit for each other. We are all new; our earliest members moved here in February 2026. We draw inspiration from https://www.earthaven.org/rentals/. We have some limited capacity to offer a work-trade situation in the right circumstance. We are working toward expanding our capacity to provide work-trade positions as we generate income from our activities.