Memphis Democrat Column Week of 8/31/09

Hello again from Ted at Dancing Rabbit after a short hiatus from writing the column. I took a two week trip to Argentina to accompany my dad to a conference on the study of mammals. It was a nice short trip for a season when it is hard to be away from all the work to be done at home. I enjoyed seeing all kinds of landscapes and mammals, including southern right whales at arm's reach while out on a boat. I was also glad for the time to spend with my dad, but at the same time extremely pleased to come home and be home here. That is a good feeling to have about one's home.

Knowing that Dancing Rabbit tends to have its own social and practical inertia, I didn't spend too much time trying to schedule my week, but tried rather to flow through it and accept whatever it brought. Monday morning that found me cleaning and cutting tomatoes for processing in Sunflower kitchen. Sara, Alyssa, Bear and I put up 40+ quarts of sauce and juice for the winter, along with the 25 or so from the previous day's canning session, all of which means lots more than we had last winter.

These last couple nights in the 40s have reminded me that Fall is not far off, but I'm still just getting used to having an abundance of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant around, so I'm hoping for a slow transition into fall, despite the general cool trend we've experienced this summer. Meanwhile I'm savoring every bite and glad for every dollop of vegetables fermented, dried, or canned for eating this winter.

Construction noise was a bit muted this past week, though progress continues on the various work sites. With our grassy road near the common house soon to start accepted light vehicle traffic, we've started preparing for the rash of heavy moving work upcoming. Bear and Nathan were both canvassing those with potential need for firewood, work, or material deliveries this week, to coordinate who needs what done and delivered where and with what level of priority, so that we can maximize what gets done with the number of trips we permit over the grassy road at first.

That in turn means Sara and I are preparing to put in the foundation for the addition to our house, and need to get a little more serious about it, with stakes and triangulation and last minute design alterations and so on. With the power system now out of our house, we've been able to stretch out our existence just a little, but the big push and upheaval will come next year when we'll actually build the addition on the foundation we set this fall. And perhaps after that I can start shifting my time a little more to gardening, orcharding and small livestock, and a little less building. Maybe... or maybe not. I won't be bored, that's for sure.

Sharon celebrated her birthday Tuesday with chocolate, which is a surefire way to attract the locals in the village. Sharon's chocolate is a more personal experience to consume, because she grows and processes it on a little land she owns in Ecuador. Amidst the growing emphasis on single origin cacao in gourmet chocolates, chocolate grown by one of our own is an unusual treat. Cheese, bread, fruit, and berries were all offered for dipping in some fondues (one sweetened, one not), and there was plenty for all to enjoy. Now if we could just do that every week...

On a triumphant note, Thomas led a crew of members, residents and visitors mid-week in mulching the last of the 1250 trees we planted down by the creek last year as part of a new Conservation Reserve Program contract we entered into. Now we return to the beginning, where it has been a year since the first trees got mulched, and some need remulching. The repeated floods down there in these past two wet years made for a hard start for some of the trees, including many that lost their mulch or ended up smothered by rafts of it.

Friday night Lilly and others threw a costume and dance party, which saw lots of us showing our moves. I'm always surprised by the variety of costumes people come up with, new to me despite living with many of these folks for years now. And our tiny houses-- where do they hide their duds? Dancing lasted nearly till midnight, about the same time Thomas and I wrapped up brewing our latest beer, a Scotch ale. Much more fun to do it during a party when there's lots of entertainment during the boil times.

I've enjoyed getting back into the swing of our ultimate frisbee schedule after two weeks away from it. I was sorry to miss a "hat tournament" that Tony and Owen played in down in St. Louis just before my return. Everyone who shows up to play puts their name in a hat, and the teams are chosen at random. Now that we've mowed the spot for our new playing field, I'm thinking about trying to organize an annual mini-tournament here at Dancing Rabbit each fall to coincide with Sandhill's sorghum harvest, when lots of folks from other communities (including lots of ultimate players) come to help with the harvest.

Nathan, who was interviewed on an internet radio show recently, was asked to do a second interview about Dancing Rabbit, and we invite you to listen to it Wednesday afternoon. Here's the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/AwakeNowRadio/2009/09/02/Nathan-Brown--A-Second-Glimpse-of-Dancing-Rabbit-Eco-Village

Thanks for reading, and if you're interested in seeing Dancing Rabbit up close, mark down on your calendars to attend our annual Open House, Saturday September 26 from 1-4pm. We'll offer tours, a shop at the Milkweed Mercantile, baked goods, produce, and lots of smiles. Hope to see you there!

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community in Rutledge, Missouri practicing ecological sustainability. We offer tours on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month through October – our next tour is scheduled September 12th at 1:00 p.m. (just show up-- no need to let us know ahead of time). For more information, check out our website at http://www.dancingrabbit.org, or give us a call at (660) 883-5511.