Memphis Democrat Column Week of 2/2/09
Hi, all. Juan here, and here's another update from Dancing Rabbit. If you're expecting more book reviews, you're out of luck. All I've been reading has been information on childbirth and parenting, with some fiction thrown in to balance. Amy's and my upcoming baby isn't leaving us much time before they show up.
We had an interesting week, weather-wise. The clouds and snow early on reminded us that it was winter, and brought our batteries low. Then we had some really mild sunny days starting on Wednesday; I remember seeing flocks of birds heading back north. Wait, not yet! You'll freeze your tail feathers! Oh well.
One of our ponds is affectionately known as "Cattail Pond," thanks to the cattails that grow in it. As far as some of the kids around here are concerned, though, it's just another ice rink. Almost daily games of broomball have been happening out there in the afternoons. I've never played it myself, but apparently broom-ball involves a big ball and brooms. Who would've thought? The 6-year-old skating/runnning on the ice carrying a pushbroom made it definitely a spectator sport.
Chilly evenings have brought the indoor activities up as well. Settlers of Catan is once again a popular boardgame in the common house on any given night. This has no doubt been helped by the fact that our neighbors at Sandhill have acquired the latest expansion, as have we.
Friday night saw a last-minute showing of "A Mighty Wind," a parody of fictionalized documentaries about musicians. I missed it myself, but I heard it's quite funny, even if it does claim to be in that horribly-named genre called "mockumentary."
It's not all fun and games, however. Our yearly retreat is fast approaching. For those who are just joining us, we get together every year for several days of meetings to knock out any large decisions or issues facing the community. This requires a lot of preparation work, so most of our committees have been meeting to write up their various proposals. So much is there to talk about, in fact, that we've been having business meetings on Sundays more frequently these past few weeks, trying to tackle some of the early stuff, well, early.
On an interesting note, those of you who have televisions may be interested to know that The Food Network was around here filming some months ago. I'm unable to confirm this information on their website, but we've been told that we're due to appear on an episode of the show "My Life in Food" called "Living off the Land" in the next week or two. Check your listings, and we'll update you if we know more.
Finally, the Milkweed Mercantile got themselves some furniture, plates and glasses for their cafe, and the building itself is looking more complete by the day. However, Alline is still looking for a decent 6-burner commercial stove. If you know where to find one, contact alline@milkweedmercantile.com
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is a nonprofit and a residential community that demonstrates ecological sustainability in Rutledge, MO. Our tours and visitor program will begin again in the Spring. Please call us at (660)883-5511 or visit http://www.dancingrabbit.org for more information.
We had an interesting week, weather-wise. The clouds and snow early on reminded us that it was winter, and brought our batteries low. Then we had some really mild sunny days starting on Wednesday; I remember seeing flocks of birds heading back north. Wait, not yet! You'll freeze your tail feathers! Oh well.
One of our ponds is affectionately known as "Cattail Pond," thanks to the cattails that grow in it. As far as some of the kids around here are concerned, though, it's just another ice rink. Almost daily games of broomball have been happening out there in the afternoons. I've never played it myself, but apparently broom-ball involves a big ball and brooms. Who would've thought? The 6-year-old skating/runnning on the ice carrying a pushbroom made it definitely a spectator sport.
Chilly evenings have brought the indoor activities up as well. Settlers of Catan is once again a popular boardgame in the common house on any given night. This has no doubt been helped by the fact that our neighbors at Sandhill have acquired the latest expansion, as have we.
Friday night saw a last-minute showing of "A Mighty Wind," a parody of fictionalized documentaries about musicians. I missed it myself, but I heard it's quite funny, even if it does claim to be in that horribly-named genre called "mockumentary."
It's not all fun and games, however. Our yearly retreat is fast approaching. For those who are just joining us, we get together every year for several days of meetings to knock out any large decisions or issues facing the community. This requires a lot of preparation work, so most of our committees have been meeting to write up their various proposals. So much is there to talk about, in fact, that we've been having business meetings on Sundays more frequently these past few weeks, trying to tackle some of the early stuff, well, early.
On an interesting note, those of you who have televisions may be interested to know that The Food Network was around here filming some months ago. I'm unable to confirm this information on their website, but we've been told that we're due to appear on an episode of the show "My Life in Food" called "Living off the Land" in the next week or two. Check your listings, and we'll update you if we know more.
Finally, the Milkweed Mercantile got themselves some furniture, plates and glasses for their cafe, and the building itself is looking more complete by the day. However, Alline is still looking for a decent 6-burner commercial stove. If you know where to find one, contact alline@milkweedmercantile.com
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is a nonprofit and a residential community that demonstrates ecological sustainability in Rutledge, MO. Our tours and visitor program will begin again in the Spring. Please call us at (660)883-5511 or visit http://www.dancingrabbit.org for more information.