Travel Logs 2: Homesteading on the Prairie

HOMESTEADING ON THE PRAIRIE

The past week has been a very quiet one here in Missouri. Almost the entire time I've been here with just one other person and working on projects that might have occupied my time if I were a homesteading settler. The weather's been uncommonly warm for late November and my time outdoors has been a treat. Frequent chances to look out over the low, rolling hills while the low sun shines over the golden grasses finally drove home that this is the prairie in a way that is too easy to forget in urban settings.
But to really get a feel for how different this week felt, I should first explain what the scene here is usually like and introduce the people and setting that I am currently around.

DANCING RABBIT AND SKYHOUSE
As I mentioned in my last entry, I am currently doing part time work for the FIC (Fellowship for Intentional Community). It's work I believe in and find important, but it's also true that I'm working there to make money. The reason I came down here was to do environmental work, and the majority of my time is spent doing work for Dancing Rabbit (DR). Despite the hippie name, Dancing Rabbit is a serious project. The organization is building a village that will be an ecological demonstration and research site. Recognizing that recycling isn't enough to curb the damage our nation is currently wreaking on our environment, DR is modeling and creating a way of life that will be sustainable for ourselves and our environment. It is a long term project and will continually change and evolve over time.
Land was just purchased a year ago, so the organization is still quite young (although they'd been working on the project for a few years before purchasing land). The land is held in a legal structure called a land trust, which is a structure often used to put land in common ownership for conservation purposes. New people moving here will be able to lease land for very reasonable fee. The land still belongs to the land trust but any houses, buildings, etc. built belong to the leasees so that they may build equity. While maintaining it's environmental guidelines for the community, it will operate as any town government might, although it is likely to have a stronger focus on democratic participation than many towns do.
Currently, the majority of people living here live in an income-sharing community. Typically called a "commune", which is a perfectly accurate term, sometimes I avoid the word since it has so many pre-conceived connotations for most people. This sub-community of DR is called Skyhouse, and this is where I am staying while down here (though I'm not a member and therefor not part of the income sharing). I don't really feel like going into an indepth description of how Skyhouse works right now, but if anyone has any questions or concerns about this "crazy commune" life, I would be happy to talk about it.
All the Skyhouse folk currently live in a rental house right across the street from DR land while building homes on the land. I'm just going to give a brief description of the Rabbits (as I affectionately call them) that I've known for the past few years today -- I'll describe the others as needed in future logs. Tony, a Detroit native, rode out with me to California. He's an accomplished computer programmer and telecommutes to help bring in money for the group. He is on the board of the FIC as well and although a former deadhead he's extremely smart and dedicated and the prime gardener of the group. Cecil is very funny (an veritable encyclopedia of the world's jokes), plays trombone and homebrews beer. An avid tinkerer, he's skilled at fixing things that appear to not work. Aaron knows the DR's land more intimately than anyone else here and oversees the reforestation work. He is the only one in the group who hunts and is also the most accomplished carpenter. He is also the father of the community's one child, the ever-cute and freindly two-year old Jack. Halle is a professional midwife, as well as a wool spinner and craftsperson. She and Aaron are partners and she is Jack's mom in addition to being pregnant with Jack's younger sybling. These are the four founding members of Dancing Rabbit (and Skyhouse) who are still active members of the project. Another person currently living here, who factors into today's tale, is Jenn, Aaron's sister and a former housemate of Tony and Cecil's. Jenn has been here since the spring and is applying for membership to Skyhouse and Dancing Rabbit this winter. Another Stanford graduate, she just visited here to see her friends and family after moving from Seattle and loved it so much she decided to stay.

Okay, this whole thing is already getting much longer than I had originally anticipated and it is several days past the time I had anticipated sending it out. So, I'll just plow ahead with the one more detail needed for this entry's story. One of the (many) reasons that DR decided to buy land here was that there is already a very friendly, competent and succesful agrarian commune just 3 miles down the road, Sandhill. Sandhill has been around for about 25 years and offers a wealth of experience in consensus decision making, organic farming, and many other things including how to create and maintain excellent relations with the surrounding rural community.

Now the stage is set well enough that I can actually start describing what I've been up to for the past 10 days or so. When I last wrote it was the day before Thanksgiving. Normally, there is a lot of hussle and bussle around here, but everyone had left to spend Thanksgiving with family or friends except for Jenn and I. Fortunately, we weren't left on our own for the holiday, but were instead invited over to Sandhill for fesitivities. Jenn and I cleaned the house in the morning, then baked sesame rolls and a sweet potatoe and cinnamon dish to bring to dinner. Heading over from our queit house to the warmth and activity of Sandhill gave the day a very festive feel. Dinner was well underway in the big kitchen in the old country house that Sandhill bought with their property 25 years earlier. Not all the Sanhill folk were there, but some of their friends had come for dinner and there were about 15 of us gathered in all. Folks filtered in and out of the kitchen and living room, some finishing up the days chores, others socializing, some dipping into the homemade persimmon wine (delicious!). Once dinner was ready, we all sat down around the extended table in the dining room. Everyone held hands and sang "Tis a Gift to Be Simple", an old Shaker tune that is quite popular at Sandhill. Then everyone went around the table and said a word or two about what they were thankful for. Finally we dug into the food. There was lots of it and all was delicious. Thanksgiving is the one day a year that I regularly bypass my vegetarianism and eat meat -- and boy was I glad to do so this year. No turkey was served, but instead we ate a ham that had, as a pig, been raised on Sandhill's farm, then butchered and cured locally. It was the most delicious ham I have ever eaten in my life. Overall, it just added to the sense of a picture perfect, idyllic Thanksgiving holiday, with the exception of the fact that I wished more of my friends and family could have been there.
The next day, Jenn and I got a phone call saying that Aaron, Halle and Jack wouldn't be back that day as expected, but would return after the weekend. It was odd to realize that the two of us, who hadn't really ever spent time together before and were the two people who weren't members of Dancing Rabbit, would be the only one's holding down the fort for a few days. Fortunately, we had a great time of it and have instead discovered a new friend.
Friday, we went out and gathered pine boughs and cones from the woods, and rose hips and sumac from the fields. Friday night and Saturday, we sewed a bunch of popcorn garlands and Sunday night we decorated the house. We were both feeling very festive after the Thanksgiving dinner and wanted to fix the place up for when everyone else returned. The decorations look great and with the edition of a hung orange with cloves stuck in it (a trick I first learned from Andy), the place smells great too.
We weren't always sure what to work on while the others were gone, since they usually coordinate tasks more. Skyhouse uses a wood burning stove however, so there's always the need to cut wood. We spent a lot of time cutting up scrap lumber from the local sawmill. Jenn cut the pieces with a chainsaw and I used a large mawl (essentially a very heavy axe) to split the pieces. Hefting a mawl over my head all day, while listening to whistling birds and looking out over the rolling hills was quite enjoyable, though my back was tired by evening. It was during one of our woodcutting shifts that Jenn pointed out how much this felt like homesteading between our work and the isolation. We were about to start calling each other Sven and Berta by the time Aaron came back Sunday night.
During the past several days, more folks have come home and things feel busier here now, but much of my homesteading work continues. I've spent several days helping Aaron, who is overseeing the construction of a timberframe cabin. Walking about on rafters 20-25 feet above the ground is nerve-wracking but fun. I've also spent time working on the garden, preparing beds for the winter with mulch or cover crops. Of course, at other times I come in and telnet into the internet and do some work on the computer -- at that point the homesteading feel is a bit incongruous. But what the heck, I don't really want to homestead anyway. The work I've done, however, has been great fun and good for both body and soul.
One night last week, when the sky was clear and the air uncommonly warm, I went out and laid on a small wood platform in the field to stair at the stars. I've never learned too many constellations, but then I don't know that the constellations matter anyway. The best thing about them is to group the stars in a way that make it easier to understand where everything is in the heavens. So I've been making up constellations. It's great fun and I highly recommend it. I just look around and find clusters of stars that suggest a shape to me and let my mind float about until it occurrs to me what the shape best represents. It's giving me a much more personal connection to the stars and I have an easier time identifying stars than I ever had before. So far I can "discovered" the Hawk, the Archer, the Fiddle, and a few others that I haven't named yet. Someday, I may try to pull together stories about them.
Last night Tony and I went out for a long walk along the road, which was covered in such a thick, moonlit fog that my hair got wet. We mostly talked about friendships, relationships and gender issues. It was enjoyable and really drove home for me how happy and lucky I am to be here right now. The people are fantastic: smart, friendly, caring, and I think they have a lot to do with why I'm feeling as good as I am, despite the recent personal upheaval in my life. It's a little strange to be afloat as I am without a regular home or job, but it seems that the world is still taking care of me. I'm thankful for that, and not just the third Thursday in November.

Jacob