Memphis Democrat Column Week of 4/12/10
Hi all. This is Alline reporting the latest doings at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. As I write this the sun is shining, and everything is green, green, green! We knew it was truly spring when Tom shaved his beard, when Ziggy began watering the strawberries on his living roof, and when the robins started shouting, um, I mean singing, each morning at 5:00 a.m.
With the lovely weather everyone who has ever even considered having a garden has been busy digging in the dirt. I’ve seen Adrienne making numerous trips with the wheelbarrow down to the Osage Garden, and watched Alyssa take a tray of seedlings out to the Sunflower garden for planting. Sharon and Dennis have been mulching and composting like crazy in preparation for the garden at the site of their new house, and Cob and Meadow keep planting berry bushes as they arrive. Tom and Tereza went away for a few days but first arranged to have someone look in on their seedlings (as any good parent would do). BJ and Nani continue to encourage their nine varieties of okra seedlings. I’m sure that any day now Ted and Sara will produce the first tomato of the season and we’ll all be consumed with tomato envy (OK, I’m exaggerating a bit, but…). In other gardening news we were excited to hear that Dan has been approved for a grant from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for a hoop house, which will enable him to extend the growing season on whatever fabulous things he decides to grow this year.
On Sunday we had a freakishly blustery storm which took part of the roof of Maikwe’s house and blew it into a tree. Fortunately about 25 Rabbits came to the rescue and put up a tarp, and everyone was OK. Whew!
On Wednesday Mary Beth hosted a fancy dress up sushi party for her birthday. The original venue had been Maikwe’s house, but in deference to the recent roof rearrangement the party was held at the Milkweed Mercantile. Anthony, recently returned from a trip to St. Louis crafted gorgeous fresh fish into sushi and sashimi, which many folks here at DR miss desperately. We love our lives here, but sometimes get “homesick” for the restaurants we’ve left behind. We’re grateful that Mary Beth shared her sushi craving with the rest of us! Photos may be viewed here: http://tinyurl.com/mmsushi
Saturday was busy, busy, busy! Jennifer and Meadow volunteered their time to wrangle, er, organize the community’s annual Land Clean. They told us that it was going to be “The Best Land Clean, EVER” but I’m not sure any of us truly believed them. Brothers and sisters, we are now believers. Hallelujah and amen! The devious duo planned the Clean Up so that we started off with homemade cinnamon rolls, freshly brewed coffee and hot tea, and ended with more snacks at 11:00 a.m. In between the Outdoor Kitchen was completely cleaned out and received a fresh coat of paint (on the non-mural side), mini-bridges were built over water-drainage channels, dog bones were picked up, and old buckets and trash were loaded up into the trailer for a trip to the dump. It’s looking pretty spiffy around here!
After the Land Clean many Rabbits made the pilgrimage to the monthly Dog & Gun Flea Market, which is located seven miles from Dancing Rabbit. They came home, thankfully, without any dogs or guns. One of my favorite things to do is to watch folks trickle in, sunburned and tired, but happy to play a brief game of show and tell - there were many “new” treasures to be exclaimed over. Elle came home with a bicycle and now she and Ewan do little else but ride up and down Main Street, happy as clams. I’m not sure that they even take time out to sleep!
On Saturday we also hosted the first DR tour of the year - it was a great crowd. Bob led the public tour which included old friends Frank & Theresa Cicela and new friends Barb and Billy from Kirksville, Illinois. Jennifer & Brian spent the afternoon with a group of students from Washington University in St. Louis. We had a full house for lunch at the Milkweed Mercantile’s “Sometime Café.” Anthony made his already-world-famous burgers, and it was great fun to sit on the porch in the sunshine and eat. The next Dancing Rabbit tour is Saturday, April 24th at 1:00 p.m., and the Mercantile Cafe will be open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. One last bit about the Milkweed Mercantile: we are having our Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday, April 17th from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. We’ll be giving tours of our two-story solar-and-wind-powered strawbale building (our café, store and 4-bedroom Inn) and serving delicious complimentary appetizers. We’ll be having a ribbon cutting at 3:00 - we hope you can join us! For directions on how to get to the Milkweed Mercantile go here: http://tinyurl.com/mmdirections
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community in Rutledge, Missouri, practicing ecological sustainability. The next tour of Dancing Rabbit will be held on Saturday, April 24th, at 1:00 p.m. For more information, please see our website at http://www.dancingrabbit.org.
With the lovely weather everyone who has ever even considered having a garden has been busy digging in the dirt. I’ve seen Adrienne making numerous trips with the wheelbarrow down to the Osage Garden, and watched Alyssa take a tray of seedlings out to the Sunflower garden for planting. Sharon and Dennis have been mulching and composting like crazy in preparation for the garden at the site of their new house, and Cob and Meadow keep planting berry bushes as they arrive. Tom and Tereza went away for a few days but first arranged to have someone look in on their seedlings (as any good parent would do). BJ and Nani continue to encourage their nine varieties of okra seedlings. I’m sure that any day now Ted and Sara will produce the first tomato of the season and we’ll all be consumed with tomato envy (OK, I’m exaggerating a bit, but…). In other gardening news we were excited to hear that Dan has been approved for a grant from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for a hoop house, which will enable him to extend the growing season on whatever fabulous things he decides to grow this year.
On Sunday we had a freakishly blustery storm which took part of the roof of Maikwe’s house and blew it into a tree. Fortunately about 25 Rabbits came to the rescue and put up a tarp, and everyone was OK. Whew!
On Wednesday Mary Beth hosted a fancy dress up sushi party for her birthday. The original venue had been Maikwe’s house, but in deference to the recent roof rearrangement the party was held at the Milkweed Mercantile. Anthony, recently returned from a trip to St. Louis crafted gorgeous fresh fish into sushi and sashimi, which many folks here at DR miss desperately. We love our lives here, but sometimes get “homesick” for the restaurants we’ve left behind. We’re grateful that Mary Beth shared her sushi craving with the rest of us! Photos may be viewed here: http://tinyurl.com/mmsushi
Saturday was busy, busy, busy! Jennifer and Meadow volunteered their time to wrangle, er, organize the community’s annual Land Clean. They told us that it was going to be “The Best Land Clean, EVER” but I’m not sure any of us truly believed them. Brothers and sisters, we are now believers. Hallelujah and amen! The devious duo planned the Clean Up so that we started off with homemade cinnamon rolls, freshly brewed coffee and hot tea, and ended with more snacks at 11:00 a.m. In between the Outdoor Kitchen was completely cleaned out and received a fresh coat of paint (on the non-mural side), mini-bridges were built over water-drainage channels, dog bones were picked up, and old buckets and trash were loaded up into the trailer for a trip to the dump. It’s looking pretty spiffy around here!
After the Land Clean many Rabbits made the pilgrimage to the monthly Dog & Gun Flea Market, which is located seven miles from Dancing Rabbit. They came home, thankfully, without any dogs or guns. One of my favorite things to do is to watch folks trickle in, sunburned and tired, but happy to play a brief game of show and tell - there were many “new” treasures to be exclaimed over. Elle came home with a bicycle and now she and Ewan do little else but ride up and down Main Street, happy as clams. I’m not sure that they even take time out to sleep!
On Saturday we also hosted the first DR tour of the year - it was a great crowd. Bob led the public tour which included old friends Frank & Theresa Cicela and new friends Barb and Billy from Kirksville, Illinois. Jennifer & Brian spent the afternoon with a group of students from Washington University in St. Louis. We had a full house for lunch at the Milkweed Mercantile’s “Sometime Café.” Anthony made his already-world-famous burgers, and it was great fun to sit on the porch in the sunshine and eat. The next Dancing Rabbit tour is Saturday, April 24th at 1:00 p.m., and the Mercantile Cafe will be open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. One last bit about the Milkweed Mercantile: we are having our Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday, April 17th from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. We’ll be giving tours of our two-story solar-and-wind-powered strawbale building (our café, store and 4-bedroom Inn) and serving delicious complimentary appetizers. We’ll be having a ribbon cutting at 3:00 - we hope you can join us! For directions on how to get to the Milkweed Mercantile go here: http://tinyurl.com/mmdirections
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community in Rutledge, Missouri, practicing ecological sustainability. The next tour of Dancing Rabbit will be held on Saturday, April 24th, at 1:00 p.m. For more information, please see our website at http://www.dancingrabbit.org.