Memphis Democrat Column Week of 8/10/09
I sit here writing this article in the Common House on Sunday evening while a storm brews outside and people are cooking up a storm inside canning dillybeans and oatmeal cookies. Liat here with this weeks news of Dancing Rabbit. It seems that as we grow in numbers the amount of activities around the village and people passing through grow proportionally. There wasn't a night this past week when fun things weren't happening.
This past week brought many friends from around the country. My friend Brian from Florida visited for a week. The Carletons' friends from New York are visiting and are considering membership in the future. Ma'ikwe had a whole slew of friends from Albuquerque. Steve's friend Sara is also here from New York. There seem to be many people coming and going around here it is hard to keep track of who I will run into during the day. Currently the list of people out of town includes Tamar, Amy, Juan, Jolyon, Rachel, Ted, Brian, Lily, Brandon, Dan S, Rowan, Cynder, Toren, and Peter. Some of them will be back later this week, but others will be off on other vacations and trips.
With so many people around its easy to get a work party together. There were the typical get togethers of moving heavy stuff. A large pile of gravel left over from the roads project got distributed in the front driveway to fill in potholes and ruts. One of the most fun, short and easy work parties this week took place on the roof of Ironweed kitchen. The solar panels that had been set up on the ground for years have finally found their way to their permanent spot on the roof; hopefully they will be able to gain full solar access finally.
The houses being built his year are moving along fast. Jennifer's house got its first straw bales in this week. Jan's house has practically all its bales in now. Ma'ikwe's house has rafters and perlins and I hear the roofing metal is going up today. Ziggy has been building a cob cook oven next to his house and I have now successfully carved out my berm and created a nice front yard space.
Ma'ikwe's friend Rev brought lots of music to our village. On Monday evening there was a drum circle around a fire where he taught us how to keep a beat and listen to each other. Then on Wednesday Rev put on a concert where there was lots of drumming, singing and dancing.
Mark from Red Earth Farms came over on Tuesday with his father who is a square dance caller. It was great fun to have records spinning and Rabbits dancing around the room. We had enough people for two squares (16 people) plus a crowd that sat back and watched.
On the topic of Red Earth Farms, Mark was gracious enough to allow a mud wrestling tournament happen in his clay pit. Thirteen or so people showed up Saturday afternoon, many in fun "wrestling" outfits ready to get dirty. Aside from a bit of mud in mouths and eyes people seemed to enjoy themselves.
On Tuesday there was a local vote for our county. The two topics on the ballot were about a road tax and a health ordinance. For those who aren't aware, our county commissioners got rid of our health ordinance a year or so ago and many people in the tri-community area and Scotland County have been fighting to have it reinstated. The polls show that the majority of people in this county do want a health ordinance so hopefully we will see some action from our commissioners.
I already mentioned that we are a growing village and hopefully this paragraph will provide you with a better image of what I mean. In the past two weeks we have accepted both Tim and Dan S as full members. Shelia, Nani, Lahi, and Jenn have been accepted as residents, and Brian and Lily have applied for residency. I am on the membership committee and it seems like we won't have a rest this year. Interviews and meetings happen just about every week.
A few people asked if I would make some requests in the memdem this week, so here goes... It is fruit season and sadly our peach trees decided not to provide good fruit this year. If you live in the area and have fruit trees that are producing and you don't think you will use all of the fruit let us know. A few people here are interested in harvesting your fruit so that they can preserve it for the winter. Also, Kerry is looking for old stuffed animals (the synthetic type)- she wants to make a recycled stuffed animal cushy piece of furniture. Nathan will be interviewed on the radio on Wednesday from 4-5pm and is inviting you all to listen. Also, if you miss the live show it will be available on podcast in the future. Here's the link directly to the radio show page:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/AwakeNowRadio/2009/08/12/A-Glimpse-of-Life-at-Dancing-Rabbit-Eco-Village
Thats it for the week. Hope you all experience enough rain to keep your gardens happy and enough sunshine to keep you happy!
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 - our next tour is scheduled August 22nd at 1:00 p.m (no need to RSVP). For more information, check out our website at www.dancingrabbit.org, or give us a call at (660) 883-5511.
This past week brought many friends from around the country. My friend Brian from Florida visited for a week. The Carletons' friends from New York are visiting and are considering membership in the future. Ma'ikwe had a whole slew of friends from Albuquerque. Steve's friend Sara is also here from New York. There seem to be many people coming and going around here it is hard to keep track of who I will run into during the day. Currently the list of people out of town includes Tamar, Amy, Juan, Jolyon, Rachel, Ted, Brian, Lily, Brandon, Dan S, Rowan, Cynder, Toren, and Peter. Some of them will be back later this week, but others will be off on other vacations and trips.
With so many people around its easy to get a work party together. There were the typical get togethers of moving heavy stuff. A large pile of gravel left over from the roads project got distributed in the front driveway to fill in potholes and ruts. One of the most fun, short and easy work parties this week took place on the roof of Ironweed kitchen. The solar panels that had been set up on the ground for years have finally found their way to their permanent spot on the roof; hopefully they will be able to gain full solar access finally.
The houses being built his year are moving along fast. Jennifer's house got its first straw bales in this week. Jan's house has practically all its bales in now. Ma'ikwe's house has rafters and perlins and I hear the roofing metal is going up today. Ziggy has been building a cob cook oven next to his house and I have now successfully carved out my berm and created a nice front yard space.
Ma'ikwe's friend Rev brought lots of music to our village. On Monday evening there was a drum circle around a fire where he taught us how to keep a beat and listen to each other. Then on Wednesday Rev put on a concert where there was lots of drumming, singing and dancing.
Mark from Red Earth Farms came over on Tuesday with his father who is a square dance caller. It was great fun to have records spinning and Rabbits dancing around the room. We had enough people for two squares (16 people) plus a crowd that sat back and watched.
On the topic of Red Earth Farms, Mark was gracious enough to allow a mud wrestling tournament happen in his clay pit. Thirteen or so people showed up Saturday afternoon, many in fun "wrestling" outfits ready to get dirty. Aside from a bit of mud in mouths and eyes people seemed to enjoy themselves.
On Tuesday there was a local vote for our county. The two topics on the ballot were about a road tax and a health ordinance. For those who aren't aware, our county commissioners got rid of our health ordinance a year or so ago and many people in the tri-community area and Scotland County have been fighting to have it reinstated. The polls show that the majority of people in this county do want a health ordinance so hopefully we will see some action from our commissioners.
I already mentioned that we are a growing village and hopefully this paragraph will provide you with a better image of what I mean. In the past two weeks we have accepted both Tim and Dan S as full members. Shelia, Nani, Lahi, and Jenn have been accepted as residents, and Brian and Lily have applied for residency. I am on the membership committee and it seems like we won't have a rest this year. Interviews and meetings happen just about every week.
A few people asked if I would make some requests in the memdem this week, so here goes... It is fruit season and sadly our peach trees decided not to provide good fruit this year. If you live in the area and have fruit trees that are producing and you don't think you will use all of the fruit let us know. A few people here are interested in harvesting your fruit so that they can preserve it for the winter. Also, Kerry is looking for old stuffed animals (the synthetic type)- she wants to make a recycled stuffed animal cushy piece of furniture. Nathan will be interviewed on the radio on Wednesday from 4-5pm and is inviting you all to listen. Also, if you miss the live show it will be available on podcast in the future. Here's the link directly to the radio show page:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/AwakeNowRadio/2009/08/12/A-Glimpse-of-Life-at-Dancing-Rabbit-Eco-Village
Thats it for the week. Hope you all experience enough rain to keep your gardens happy and enough sunshine to keep you happy!
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 - our next tour is scheduled August 22nd at 1:00 p.m (no need to RSVP). For more information, check out our website at www.dancingrabbit.org, or give us a call at (660) 883-5511.