Memphis Democrat
March 14, 2002

Can you believe the weather? We don't know whether to stack more wood to heat our houses or start digging our garden beds. We've done a little of both. Don's seedlings are popping up in their little rows. Tamar is preparing luscious looking lettuce beds in her yard. Speaking of gardening, if anyone has some manure they want taken off their hands, give us a call. We'll put it to good use.

With the crazy temperature fluctuation, the maple sap has continued to flow. The cooperative Dancing Rabbit-Sandhill maple sugaring team drew off another 8 gallons of almost-syrup.

Kurt, Alline and Mark went to visit our friends Dan and Nancy in Canton, to help them prune their apple orchard. Tom also stopped by for a night (in between dropping off Rainbow in Quincy and picking up Susan the next morning) and helped harvest salad.

We've been having a great time with our visitors Paul and Sydney, from Portland, OR. They have been helping us immensely, whether its by hanging dry wall or making soy milk and tofu. We hope they'll come back again soon.

We've been rehearsing our singing because we're going to be performing at the Scotland County Care Center. We hope y'all will enjoy our eclectic musical choices.

Tamar, Jeffrey and Cecil joined the Clatts at the pom pom dance exhibition Memphis. They remarked on the quality of the dances and the cuteness of the kindergartners.

Cecil and Jeffrey went to play bridge in Kirksville with some of their regular bridge friends, Mark and Irena Sanning. They brought along Alyson, who is fluent in Russian, to talk with Irena, who is from Ukraine. The Sannings served a Ukrainian feast which was enjoyed by all. Cecil exclaimed that it was the best borscht he'd ever had.

The warm days have encouraged us all to be out on the land, before the ticks return. We've been witnessing some beautiful wildlife, including migrating snow geese and a muskrat in one of our ponds.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is a nonprofit and a residential community that demonstrates ecological sustainability in Rutledge, MO. We have Saturday tours beginning April 6th. Please call first, at 883-5511.

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