Memphis Democrat Column Week of 7/13/09
Greetings from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. This is Alline with this week’s news.
I’ve spent the last two weeks a bit isolated in my house. Having been bitten by a tick and infected with Erlichiosis (Lyme’s Disease’s less-glamorous cousin), I am now in the process of being “cured” with massive doses of antibiotics. I’ve been napping a lot, which has left me a bit out of the loop.
So last night at community dinner I asked my table-mates what I had missed so that I could write this column. “The float trip!” shouted one. “Delivery of a million strawbales for Jan and Ma’ikwe!” “Actually,” corrected another, “I think it was only 950,000.” And on it went. The annual DR Board meeting. The Visitor Period. World peace. A brief weekend visit by Jeffrey, and week-long stays by Jacob and Cecil, all Rabbits from the early days. Unfortunately, they were only joking about world peace.
The five-member board, consisting of Jacob Stevens Corvidae (former Rabbit), Dave Hauri (who was at Stanford with Cecil, Tony and Rachel when Dancing Rabbit was conceived, and who’s wife Frederique came up with the Dancing Rabbit name), Alyson Ewald (former Rabbit and founder of Red Earth Farms), Ted Sterling (Dancing Rabbit member) and me (Dancing Rabbit member), met all day Friday. Ably assisted by Jennifer in her role as Dancing Rabbit Inc. administrator and Cob as Dancing Rabbit Land Trust administrator, we discussed issues ranging from our alternative community currency (called ELMS) to budgets for both organizations. Dancing Rabbit is holding its own financially; like all non-profits we could certainly use infusions of cash, both small and large, but we are careful to keep our budget balanced and our dreams reined in (somewhat!) to ensure fiscal solvency. It is an interesting line to tread - as far as we know we are the most (financially) accessible eco-village in the country. While others charge large buy-in fees or over $250,000 for a house, we strive to be sustainable in all ways. By building our homes of renewable materials on our Community Land Trust, we can keep costs down and can concentrate on other aspects life rather than paying off a 30-year mortgage. We are grateful for the opportunity to have made the choices that we have.
Jeffrey was here for just a short weekend, but it was a delight to see him. Between his last job as a programmer and the one he starts in a few weeks he managed to squeeze in 500 miles of hiking on the Appalachian Trail, a trip to Thailand, a cross-country train trip and a visit to Dancing Rabbit. Whew! Jacob brought his children Indigo and Ansel - it was especially fun when they all came over on their last night to show us fireflies in a jar. Cecil regaled us with tales of his brass band and their European tour.
Ziggy has officially moved out of the grain bin apartment and into his house. He promises a house-warming party soon. Yay! Maikwe and her crew got all of the tubing for the radiant floor heating system installed in her house, and are prepping for a pour of her floor any day now. She’s talking about showing movies on the huge wall of bales before they are all put into their proper places in her house. Jan’s house is looking more and more like the home it will soon be - it is beautifully situated, placed just so on a gentle slope of the new neighborhood. Jeff and April continue work on his house; it is getting closer and closer to being finished. In the Milkweed Mercantile the ceiling fans, lights and store fixtures are all installed. Sparky continues painting, and Bob and Tom are finishing up work on the upstairs floors. Bob carefully sized, fitted and installed reclaimed flooring in the three upstairs bedrooms, and Tom just finished installing locally-harvested honey locust flooring in the guest lounge. I may be biased, but it is gorgeous!
Our July visitor period started off with a bang; eleven new folks have come to test the Dancing Rabbit waters, staying from one to three weeks. They are a diverse and talented crowd - we’ll let you know how it goes!
Dan and Mary Beth’s chickens continue to grow happily in their chicken tractor in the vineyard, and fresh produce seems to be pouring out of the gardens. Kale and chard are plentiful and delicious, and during Sunday’s meeting Tamar and BJ prepped bowls-full of fragrant basil for processing. I see lots of pesto in our future! Yesterday I saw Ziggy walk by with an armload of shitake mushrooms collected from the logs he inoculated.
The first tomato of the season has been harvested, but its legitimacy is hotly contested. It seems that on Sunday Ted & Sara ate a tomato that had fallen from the vine and ripened in their greenhouse. Tereza contends that that is not exactly vine-ripened, and is holding out for the First Tomato Crown for herself. Some of the rest of us are simply delighted to have tomatoes growing, whether they’re ripe or not. I suspect that by September we’ll all be sick of the very thought of tomatoes! And then there is the zucchini…
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community in Rutledge, Missouri practicing ecological sustainability. We offer tours 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month through October. The next will be this Saturday, July 25 at 1pm, and is open to the public. For more information, check out our website at www.dancingrabbit.org, or give us a call at (660) 883-5511.
I’ve spent the last two weeks a bit isolated in my house. Having been bitten by a tick and infected with Erlichiosis (Lyme’s Disease’s less-glamorous cousin), I am now in the process of being “cured” with massive doses of antibiotics. I’ve been napping a lot, which has left me a bit out of the loop.
So last night at community dinner I asked my table-mates what I had missed so that I could write this column. “The float trip!” shouted one. “Delivery of a million strawbales for Jan and Ma’ikwe!” “Actually,” corrected another, “I think it was only 950,000.” And on it went. The annual DR Board meeting. The Visitor Period. World peace. A brief weekend visit by Jeffrey, and week-long stays by Jacob and Cecil, all Rabbits from the early days. Unfortunately, they were only joking about world peace.
The five-member board, consisting of Jacob Stevens Corvidae (former Rabbit), Dave Hauri (who was at Stanford with Cecil, Tony and Rachel when Dancing Rabbit was conceived, and who’s wife Frederique came up with the Dancing Rabbit name), Alyson Ewald (former Rabbit and founder of Red Earth Farms), Ted Sterling (Dancing Rabbit member) and me (Dancing Rabbit member), met all day Friday. Ably assisted by Jennifer in her role as Dancing Rabbit Inc. administrator and Cob as Dancing Rabbit Land Trust administrator, we discussed issues ranging from our alternative community currency (called ELMS) to budgets for both organizations. Dancing Rabbit is holding its own financially; like all non-profits we could certainly use infusions of cash, both small and large, but we are careful to keep our budget balanced and our dreams reined in (somewhat!) to ensure fiscal solvency. It is an interesting line to tread - as far as we know we are the most (financially) accessible eco-village in the country. While others charge large buy-in fees or over $250,000 for a house, we strive to be sustainable in all ways. By building our homes of renewable materials on our Community Land Trust, we can keep costs down and can concentrate on other aspects life rather than paying off a 30-year mortgage. We are grateful for the opportunity to have made the choices that we have.
Jeffrey was here for just a short weekend, but it was a delight to see him. Between his last job as a programmer and the one he starts in a few weeks he managed to squeeze in 500 miles of hiking on the Appalachian Trail, a trip to Thailand, a cross-country train trip and a visit to Dancing Rabbit. Whew! Jacob brought his children Indigo and Ansel - it was especially fun when they all came over on their last night to show us fireflies in a jar. Cecil regaled us with tales of his brass band and their European tour.
Ziggy has officially moved out of the grain bin apartment and into his house. He promises a house-warming party soon. Yay! Maikwe and her crew got all of the tubing for the radiant floor heating system installed in her house, and are prepping for a pour of her floor any day now. She’s talking about showing movies on the huge wall of bales before they are all put into their proper places in her house. Jan’s house is looking more and more like the home it will soon be - it is beautifully situated, placed just so on a gentle slope of the new neighborhood. Jeff and April continue work on his house; it is getting closer and closer to being finished. In the Milkweed Mercantile the ceiling fans, lights and store fixtures are all installed. Sparky continues painting, and Bob and Tom are finishing up work on the upstairs floors. Bob carefully sized, fitted and installed reclaimed flooring in the three upstairs bedrooms, and Tom just finished installing locally-harvested honey locust flooring in the guest lounge. I may be biased, but it is gorgeous!
Our July visitor period started off with a bang; eleven new folks have come to test the Dancing Rabbit waters, staying from one to three weeks. They are a diverse and talented crowd - we’ll let you know how it goes!
Dan and Mary Beth’s chickens continue to grow happily in their chicken tractor in the vineyard, and fresh produce seems to be pouring out of the gardens. Kale and chard are plentiful and delicious, and during Sunday’s meeting Tamar and BJ prepped bowls-full of fragrant basil for processing. I see lots of pesto in our future! Yesterday I saw Ziggy walk by with an armload of shitake mushrooms collected from the logs he inoculated.
The first tomato of the season has been harvested, but its legitimacy is hotly contested. It seems that on Sunday Ted & Sara ate a tomato that had fallen from the vine and ripened in their greenhouse. Tereza contends that that is not exactly vine-ripened, and is holding out for the First Tomato Crown for herself. Some of the rest of us are simply delighted to have tomatoes growing, whether they’re ripe or not. I suspect that by September we’ll all be sick of the very thought of tomatoes! And then there is the zucchini…
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community in Rutledge, Missouri practicing ecological sustainability. We offer tours 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month through October. The next will be this Saturday, July 25 at 1pm, and is open to the public. For more information, check out our website at www.dancingrabbit.org, or give us a call at (660) 883-5511.