Let's be weird in the woods together.

Bramble Collective

We are starting a family-friendly off-grid residential community and learning center focused on creativity, self sufficiency, and simpler living. Children are people and people are children. Let's coexist and share life with humans of all ages.

Welcome

Nature is healing

We share a deep connection to nature and a desire to live more sustainable lifestyles. Over the last decade each of us broke out of the cage of normal living by adapting alternative dwellings and living in intentional communities. Now we want to come together with a few more friends to create a shared homestead that nourishes our minds and bodies.

Learning Space

We intend to start a learning center that serves not only our residents, but also the local community. This learning center will be multipurpose. We would like to start a self-directed unschool for kids from our community, nearby intentional communities, and the wider world. We are artists, musicians, and creators at heart, and want to foster a culture around creative expression. In our classroom/workshop we plan on offering classes for all ages in subjects like homesteading, natural building, arts, crafts, and wellness.

A focus on self care, communication, and compassion

People are learning and growing as long as they live. We will strongly encourage self-care and mental health support for all residents. We will support our members engaging in activism to make the world a better place. We will keep open minds and adaptable systems so that the community breathes and changes as its residents change and grow.

An alternative to the never ending progress machine

The majority of our civilization is running on perpetual growth which is choking our planet in countless ways. Our intention is to live a more ecologically responsible lifestyle and to ultimately make more out of less. Our structures will be built from local, responsibly harvested and salvaged materials using alternative techniques. We will spend much of our time outside. We will also employ alternative methods of producing food by engaging in forest farming, silvopasture, and permaculture and regenerative agriculture practices. We hope to empower others to live simpler lives and build their own homes. As we build structures and develop alternative systems we will lead workshops to provide learning opportunities.

Louisa, VA

We found our land September 29, 2023, which we have decided to call Bramble Day. This 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.

Do you want to be a trail blazer with us? We have raw land with very little infrastructure, so if you want to come visit you would need your own portable dwelling or camping gear (weather permitting). We would love to meet 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.