Acorn

I only visited Acorn for one evening, but it made a lasting impression on me.
Acorn has the kick to it which I found lacking in Twin Oaks. This smaller community was seeded from Twin Oaks (get it? Oaks, Acorn). It has less that thirty members and a much younger demographic. This group of friends was essentially having an eternal, unsupervised sleep over, kinda like every child's dream. They support themselves by growing plants and selling the seeds. Twin Oaks has an elaborate work hour system where you submit your request for work hours and are assigned shifts in different parts of the community to fill your 42 hours of work a week. The members of Acorn just work for 42 hours a week on the honor system, and what needs to get done gets done. At Twin Oaks the feeling in the air was more like the atmosphere at a work place, where Acorn was rocking the friends hanging out vibe.
While I was there I had an informative conversation with a girl named Dusty. She and a friend want to start a community is south west VA. This community would be a support place for radical queers, and a sort of hub of empowerment and support. I have also dreamed of creating a community some day. The community I envision would be a center for advocacy and a tool for enacting social and political change, particularly with regards to the environment. That would be main goal of my community, though it would also be a supportive place for queers. Dusty's community would be mainly for Queers, but she says she also would be interested in social advocacy on the side.
Before this trip I had envisioned an ultimate community that would be for everyone and anyone, but now it's obvious that there is no one size fits all. Every one has different priorities and ways of living. I don't think I could ever live with the formal feel that Twin Oaks has, and there are lots of people who would be driven crazy by the lack of structure at Acorn. That was an important revelation for me