Ella
I generally believe that meaning in life is facilitated by a collective culture, one which we cannot create ourselves if we haven’t grown up in one. Yet aside from this, meaning in my life generally comes from being a mother and nurturing plants, animals, mealworms, relationships, and community. In simpler words, meaning for me comes from being of service.
I am more process-oriented than goal-oriented. I do well with setting intentions for how to be, and not what to complete by when. I struggle with the idea of progress, both wanting it deeply and seeing it as the downfall of humanity. On the other hand, I’m fairly good with logistics, and often find myself in this role, not always to my liking. I make lists and lose them.
I’m in community to form and deepen relationships with others, to be a friend, to be inspired and enlivened by others’ passions. I’m in community to remember what it’s like to be fully human.
I am very comfortable with carpentry and tools, and love learning to work with new materials, including different varieties of wood, poplar bark, kudzu, straw, clay, bamboo, and beeswax. I’m learning how to work with metal, installing electrical, and fixing plumbing. I am currently enjoying learning to grow food through working with Commonwealth Seed Growers, connecting with the land and the life process of plants, and enjoying the physical labor of it. This year is my first year growing crops for seed on my own for Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I enjoy reading and writing poetry and stories, playing piano, and walking in the woods. I’m attracted to and struggle with the stoicism of Zen Buddhism, but practice anyway. I am exploring how to integrate Jewish practices and values into my family, community, and life. I question my role in politics and activism. At Cambia, I’m inspired by the ever-changing challenges of living together, and feel at home in the stability these challenges provide.
I generally believe that meaning in life is facilitated by a collective culture, one which we cannot create ourselves if we haven’t grown up in one. Yet aside from this, meaning in my life generally comes from being a mother and nurturing plants, animals, mealworms, relationships, and community. In simpler words, meaning for me comes from being of service.
I am more process-oriented than goal-oriented. I do well with setting intentions for how to be, and not what to complete by when. I struggle with the idea of progress, both wanting it deeply and seeing it as the downfall of humanity. On the other hand, I’m fairly good with logistics, and often find myself in this role, not always to my liking. I make lists and lose them.
I’m in community to form and deepen relationships with others, to be a friend, to be inspired and enlivened by others’ passions. I’m in community to remember what it’s like to be fully human.
I am very comfortable with carpentry and tools, and love learning to work with new materials, including different varieties of wood, poplar bark, kudzu, straw, clay, bamboo, and beeswax. I’m learning how to work with metal, installing electrical, and fixing plumbing. I am currently enjoying learning to grow food through working with Commonwealth Seed Growers, connecting with the land and the life process of plants, and enjoying the physical labor of it. This year is my first year growing crops for seed on my own for Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I enjoy reading and writing poetry and stories, playing piano, and walking in the woods. I’m attracted to and struggle with the stoicism of Zen Buddhism, but practice anyway. I am exploring how to integrate Jewish practices and values into my family, community, and life. I question my role in politics and activism. At Cambia, I’m inspired by the ever-changing challenges of living together, and feel at home in the stability these challenges provide.
Gil
Sometimes I wonder if a mere perceptual deficit of mine had led me to construct elaborate theories of what’s wrong with this world and how to fix it. like a man who needs glasses, but instead keeps trying to create find a place with greater clarity and focus. I’ve met lots of people who don’t doubt the world is full of injustice and misery and might end soon, but they feel about as upset by it as I do when I hear about how the red sox might not be in the NFL this year or something complicated like that. and why don’t I? obviously the red sox are featured in the news more than the desertification in northern india. and obviously there are a lot of deep emotions wrapped up in it.
Well I have a better question than that: if I’m so concerned about misery why am I not interested in supporting research on brain stimulation or genetic enhancement that could free humans of their condition? that’s a really good question. I have an answer for it but the answer is rarely as good as the question so I’m not going to answer it yet.
ok, I was going to write about myself. I think I have a perceptual deficit and I can’t perceive meaning and significance out of mere conformity. which believe it or not, has made me interested in collectivism rather than individualism. I’ve always felt a strange degree of identification with the one dude in “Life of Brian” who refused to yell with everyone: “we are all different!” instead said “I’m not” and got shushed by the crowd.
Oh no, I’m being told I’m not doing a good job writing about myself. so I’ll try again:
I like to cook, I don’t like to build things, I’m really bad at it, but I’ve always done a lot of construction because I like planning structures and have a lot of ideas so I’m compelled to put my poor skills into work.
let’s see what else do I not like to do: reading. I’m sooooo bad at reading and writing, but I do quite a bit of it, someday google would do a sufficiently good job reading everything to me and writing what I say.
I’m avoiding the question! I have a passionate aesthetic vision for community. which is very different than what is modernly adored or at least done in modern houses, but somehow is not very different in essence from what’s in the romantic-nostalgic-realist oil painting that hang inside these sheet-rock monsters. is the contrast part of the aesthetic? don’t know. so I spend a lot of time envisioning creating cuteness in the landscape. I have in the past been awarded very honorary compliments from a big-shot architect who came to see my work. the architect happened to be my mom, but I’m sure she was at least partly honest.
yes, right, I’m here at cambia to build an awesome playground in the forest! it will take a couple of years but I’m excited. also to create seasonal solar-thermal water storage experiment that would be fun to play in.
I’m also working on starting a research institute to study intentional communities, why they succeed and why they fail. mostly why they fail I suppose… there’s much more data about that
Sometimes I wonder if a mere perceptual deficit of mine had led me to construct elaborate theories of what’s wrong with this world and how to fix it. like a man who needs glasses, but instead keeps trying to create find a place with greater clarity and focus. I’ve met lots of people who don’t doubt the world is full of injustice and misery and might end soon, but they feel about as upset by it as I do when I hear about how the red sox might not be in the NFL this year or something complicated like that. and why don’t I? obviously the red sox are featured in the news more than the desertification in northern india. and obviously there are a lot of deep emotions wrapped up in it.
Well I have a better question than that: if I’m so concerned about misery why am I not interested in supporting research on brain stimulation or genetic enhancement that could free humans of their condition? that’s a really good question. I have an answer for it but the answer is rarely as good as the question so I’m not going to answer it yet.
ok, I was going to write about myself. I think I have a perceptual deficit and I can’t perceive meaning and significance out of mere conformity. which believe it or not, has made me interested in collectivism rather than individualism. I’ve always felt a strange degree of identification with the one dude in “Life of Brian” who refused to yell with everyone: “we are all different!” instead said “I’m not” and got shushed by the crowd.
Oh no, I’m being told I’m not doing a good job writing about myself. so I’ll try again:
I like to cook, I don’t like to build things, I’m really bad at it, but I’ve always done a lot of construction because I like planning structures and have a lot of ideas so I’m compelled to put my poor skills into work.
let’s see what else do I not like to do: reading. I’m sooooo bad at reading and writing, but I do quite a bit of it, someday google would do a sufficiently good job reading everything to me and writing what I say.
I’m avoiding the question! I have a passionate aesthetic vision for community. which is very different than what is modernly adored or at least done in modern houses, but somehow is not very different in essence from what’s in the romantic-nostalgic-realist oil painting that hang inside these sheet-rock monsters. is the contrast part of the aesthetic? don’t know. so I spend a lot of time envisioning creating cuteness in the landscape. I have in the past been awarded very honorary compliments from a big-shot architect who came to see my work. the architect happened to be my mom, but I’m sure she was at least partly honest.
yes, right, I’m here at cambia to build an awesome playground in the forest! it will take a couple of years but I’m excited. also to create seasonal solar-thermal water storage experiment that would be fun to play in.
I’m also working on starting a research institute to study intentional communities, why they succeed and why they fail. mostly why they fail I suppose… there’s much more data about that
Yaara
Yaara was born August 22, 2021. She's happy crawling where she wants to go, climbing on whatever surfaces she can, playing piano, dancing and singing. She loves being outside, watching the light come through the leaves of the trees, has exquisite musical taste, and loves all water. Her extra 21st chromosome is a challenge and a blessing, she teaches us just as much as we teach her!
Yaara was born August 22, 2021. She's happy crawling where she wants to go, climbing on whatever surfaces she can, playing piano, dancing and singing. She loves being outside, watching the light come through the leaves of the trees, has exquisite musical taste, and loves all water. Her extra 21st chromosome is a challenge and a blessing, she teaches us just as much as we teach her!
Avni
has lived at Cambia for almost his whole life. He knows all the best mossy rocks in the forest and can identify more plants than most of us. His unorthodox lego creations impress visitors; his emotional literacy impresses everyone. He likes numbers and history and magic. He enjoys computer programming, taking electronics apart and putting them back together, spreadsheets, and backing up our files. He likes handling seed orders for Commonwealth Seed Growers, and chasing ducks. He's almost 11.
has lived at Cambia for almost his whole life. He knows all the best mossy rocks in the forest and can identify more plants than most of us. His unorthodox lego creations impress visitors; his emotional literacy impresses everyone. He likes numbers and history and magic. He enjoys computer programming, taking electronics apart and putting them back together, spreadsheets, and backing up our files. He likes handling seed orders for Commonwealth Seed Growers, and chasing ducks. He's almost 11.
Turtle and Schmutz!
A brother/sister pair of cats who climb trees, stalk mice (or leaves), and know how to ask for food. Both have many elaborate names, and they know some of them. Shtuckatarikitakikkitalovetacovetakindius!
A brother/sister pair of cats who climb trees, stalk mice (or leaves), and know how to ask for food. Both have many elaborate names, and they know some of them. Shtuckatarikitakikkitalovetacovetakindius!
Friends of Cambia!
Macaco (Saman)
Macaco is an expressive arts facilitator helping people experience warrior arts culture. He is a Contremestre in the Afro-Brazilian art of Capoeira. He is one of the lead members of Grupo Liberdade de Capoeira and received his Capoeira artist name Macaco (monkey).
Saman was raised in Jamaica, Queens and studied Environmental Sciences at UC Berkeley. He learned Capoeira in Newark, NJ. Macaco spent 12 years teaching art residencies in NYC area schools. His students cross diverse socioeconomic groups including children with special needs, autism and in behavioral health communities. Macaco travels to Bahia, Brazil to visit with elders in the arts. These sabbaticals provide in-depth experiences of the cultural context of the arts that are the foundation of his teaching.
Macaco is currently an arts educator and art circle celebrant in the intentional communities of central Virginia. His home is at Cambia Community, where he focuses on facilitating workshops, collaborating with Rustling Roots, and building a local small scale education program for the wider community of central Virginia.
Macaco is an expressive arts facilitator helping people experience warrior arts culture. He is a Contremestre in the Afro-Brazilian art of Capoeira. He is one of the lead members of Grupo Liberdade de Capoeira and received his Capoeira artist name Macaco (monkey).
Saman was raised in Jamaica, Queens and studied Environmental Sciences at UC Berkeley. He learned Capoeira in Newark, NJ. Macaco spent 12 years teaching art residencies in NYC area schools. His students cross diverse socioeconomic groups including children with special needs, autism and in behavioral health communities. Macaco travels to Bahia, Brazil to visit with elders in the arts. These sabbaticals provide in-depth experiences of the cultural context of the arts that are the foundation of his teaching.
Macaco is currently an arts educator and art circle celebrant in the intentional communities of central Virginia. His home is at Cambia Community, where he focuses on facilitating workshops, collaborating with Rustling Roots, and building a local small scale education program for the wider community of central Virginia.
Edmund
Edmund Frost has lived in the Louisa County communes since 2007. He managed an organic seed growing business for the eight years he was at Twin Oaks, and has been able to continue farming on the same land since, as a member of Mimosa Community, Cambia, and then back to Twin Oaks.
Edmund is still connected to Cambia through the next door farm, we collaborate on seed growing, farm education, and he is often a part of the events and programs at Cambia.
Edmund first got interested in seed work through activism focused on challenging GMO crops and corporate control of seeds and agriculture. He had already worked at organic produce farms for several years at that point, and seed growing was a natural integration of these two passions. In 2014 he helped start a small seed company called Common Wealth Seed Growers that focuses on regional research and plant breeding, with a small group of growers producing all the seeds. He is especially focused on breeding and research work with winter squash and cucumbers.
Edmund grew up in Washington DC and feels connected to the land in both DC and Louisa. Louisa's proximity to DC was part of what brought him here. Edmund spent a few years traveling the country in the late 90s, enjoying sleeping outside, getting to know different places, and being off and on tour with the Grateful Dead. He loves the Appalachian Trail and the Great Lakes. Favorite authors are Starhawk, David Abram and Jerry Mander. He is a witch in the Reclaiming tradition, though wants to be more active at it. He is a libertarian socialist (anarchist) and especially appreciated being a part of the anti-corporate-globalization movement of the 2000s. He loves playing ultimate frisbee which he does at Twin Oaks weekly!
Edmund Frost has lived in the Louisa County communes since 2007. He managed an organic seed growing business for the eight years he was at Twin Oaks, and has been able to continue farming on the same land since, as a member of Mimosa Community, Cambia, and then back to Twin Oaks.
Edmund is still connected to Cambia through the next door farm, we collaborate on seed growing, farm education, and he is often a part of the events and programs at Cambia.
Edmund first got interested in seed work through activism focused on challenging GMO crops and corporate control of seeds and agriculture. He had already worked at organic produce farms for several years at that point, and seed growing was a natural integration of these two passions. In 2014 he helped start a small seed company called Common Wealth Seed Growers that focuses on regional research and plant breeding, with a small group of growers producing all the seeds. He is especially focused on breeding and research work with winter squash and cucumbers.
Edmund grew up in Washington DC and feels connected to the land in both DC and Louisa. Louisa's proximity to DC was part of what brought him here. Edmund spent a few years traveling the country in the late 90s, enjoying sleeping outside, getting to know different places, and being off and on tour with the Grateful Dead. He loves the Appalachian Trail and the Great Lakes. Favorite authors are Starhawk, David Abram and Jerry Mander. He is a witch in the Reclaiming tradition, though wants to be more active at it. He is a libertarian socialist (anarchist) and especially appreciated being a part of the anti-corporate-globalization movement of the 2000s. He loves playing ultimate frisbee which he does at Twin Oaks weekly!
Zoe
I am a life long nomad who has traveled the country searching for an intentional community like Cambia. Though intentional community life is new to me, I feel like I have always had the yearning to exist as I do now. I love Marxist theory, and it is this that has brought me to community life. Living in an income sharing community is a way for me practice my political ideals. The focus on emotional intimacy and connection is what drew me to Cambia specifically. I thought that it was absurd that a successful adult should only be seen living by oneself or a singular romantic partner. I missed being a kid and living with my parents, siblings, and friends. In the past, I have made a living as a paralegal in a variety of kinds of law. While I do the occasional paralegal work now, I am picking up new skills in farming, construction, food preservation and cooking. Recently, I have been aiding Ella in managing some of the logistical side of Cambia but I am happy to lend a hand wherever I am able. Right now, I am preoccupied with bee research in anticipation of starting an apiary here at Cambia. I plan on capturing a wild swarm from right here on the property. As escapist as it may be, I love consuming fictional media. Multi season TV shows and long book series are my favorite. I also enjoy drawing and painting. My art is popping up around Cambia, and I feel a bit like a kid whose art is getting hung on the fridge.
I am a life long nomad who has traveled the country searching for an intentional community like Cambia. Though intentional community life is new to me, I feel like I have always had the yearning to exist as I do now. I love Marxist theory, and it is this that has brought me to community life. Living in an income sharing community is a way for me practice my political ideals. The focus on emotional intimacy and connection is what drew me to Cambia specifically. I thought that it was absurd that a successful adult should only be seen living by oneself or a singular romantic partner. I missed being a kid and living with my parents, siblings, and friends. In the past, I have made a living as a paralegal in a variety of kinds of law. While I do the occasional paralegal work now, I am picking up new skills in farming, construction, food preservation and cooking. Recently, I have been aiding Ella in managing some of the logistical side of Cambia but I am happy to lend a hand wherever I am able. Right now, I am preoccupied with bee research in anticipation of starting an apiary here at Cambia. I plan on capturing a wild swarm from right here on the property. As escapist as it may be, I love consuming fictional media. Multi season TV shows and long book series are my favorite. I also enjoy drawing and painting. My art is popping up around Cambia, and I feel a bit like a kid whose art is getting hung on the fridge.
Hi! I have always been an oddball. I'm fascinated by people, but I never quite got what they were doing. Since I was young, I felt as though I had been sent here as an alien anthropologist to do field work on Earth. I'd live among the humans to learn their ways for now, but one day I'd take my findings
back to my alien planet!
After a failed stint at college, I lived for years with my best friend in Pittsburgh running a bed & breakfast. We often had 8-10 people living with us in the house, eating, drinking, and being merry together. It was a fabulous life! I loved every minute of it until the pandemic shut us down. We quickly shifted gears, and I felt it was a great time for me to explore rural agricultural living, something I had long envisioned for myself.
After some time working on farms, I stumbled on the communities in Louisa, specifically Cambia, and I'm so glad I did. I find communal living to be second nature. The rhythms of this life are echoed in the life I had created in the city, except this is more fulfilling. The level of connection and intimacy possible between people out here is much greater than what's offered by conventional society as a whole. I've also come to realize how harmony with the rhythms of the natural world soothe my mind in ways the city never could.
As someone with ADHD, I've also found that I feel fairly focused when I'm working alongside others, and I am noticeably more motivated when I'm doing something for others vs. just for myself. While almost nothing seemed to help my issues with sustained attention in society, it's hardly a problem out here at all. It's made me think a lot about how we tend to pin the blame and responsibility on the individual rather than on the structure of the community that cradles them.
This has led me to take a strong needs-based approach to life. Inspired by Epicurus, I'm interested in the ways that community can account for each of its members' needs in ways that strengthens both the individual and the collective equally. I neither advocate for the sacrificing of the individual to the group nor the group to the individual. I believe both can augment the other's success. I hope to explore and experiment with this idea further here at Cambia, a place I've personally found more contentment, support and happiness than anywhere else on earth.
Finally, as a community-minded Epicurean, I'm distraught by the hierarchical oppression of workers that I perceive as fueling
global capitalism, and I have been for a very long time. I aspire to be as disconnected from that chain of exploitation as I possibly can be, and I think those ambitions are more easily met within the context of community. I'm happy to be among people who share my values here at Cambia.
As for my other interests, I love style and aesthetics, history, discussing ideas, and facilitating culture (and cuddles). I consider myself genderqueer, but I don't have a preference for specific pronouns.
If you're thinking of visiting our community, I'm sure I'll be excited to connect with you. People make life worthwhile! See you soon!
back to my alien planet!
After a failed stint at college, I lived for years with my best friend in Pittsburgh running a bed & breakfast. We often had 8-10 people living with us in the house, eating, drinking, and being merry together. It was a fabulous life! I loved every minute of it until the pandemic shut us down. We quickly shifted gears, and I felt it was a great time for me to explore rural agricultural living, something I had long envisioned for myself.
After some time working on farms, I stumbled on the communities in Louisa, specifically Cambia, and I'm so glad I did. I find communal living to be second nature. The rhythms of this life are echoed in the life I had created in the city, except this is more fulfilling. The level of connection and intimacy possible between people out here is much greater than what's offered by conventional society as a whole. I've also come to realize how harmony with the rhythms of the natural world soothe my mind in ways the city never could.
As someone with ADHD, I've also found that I feel fairly focused when I'm working alongside others, and I am noticeably more motivated when I'm doing something for others vs. just for myself. While almost nothing seemed to help my issues with sustained attention in society, it's hardly a problem out here at all. It's made me think a lot about how we tend to pin the blame and responsibility on the individual rather than on the structure of the community that cradles them.
This has led me to take a strong needs-based approach to life. Inspired by Epicurus, I'm interested in the ways that community can account for each of its members' needs in ways that strengthens both the individual and the collective equally. I neither advocate for the sacrificing of the individual to the group nor the group to the individual. I believe both can augment the other's success. I hope to explore and experiment with this idea further here at Cambia, a place I've personally found more contentment, support and happiness than anywhere else on earth.
Finally, as a community-minded Epicurean, I'm distraught by the hierarchical oppression of workers that I perceive as fueling
global capitalism, and I have been for a very long time. I aspire to be as disconnected from that chain of exploitation as I possibly can be, and I think those ambitions are more easily met within the context of community. I'm happy to be among people who share my values here at Cambia.
As for my other interests, I love style and aesthetics, history, discussing ideas, and facilitating culture (and cuddles). I consider myself genderqueer, but I don't have a preference for specific pronouns.
If you're thinking of visiting our community, I'm sure I'll be excited to connect with you. People make life worthwhile! See you soon!