Memphis Democrat
April 18, 2002

We've had one more addition to our spring population boom. Lindsey graduated recently from Truman State and is spending a month here helping with construction. On the other hand, Rainbow is packing up to go to her new community home in Virginia, called Abundant Dawn. There was a going away bonfire in her honor. We wish her luck in her new home.

After our massive land clean effort, we were left with a couple of loads of old farm equipment to go the landfill. We coupled a landfill run with a trip to the Carlson's to pick up chicken manure for the garden. They also gave us two gigantic winter squash. Thanks!

We're not producing enough biodiesel yet to fuel our vehicles, so Mark and Megan took a little trip down to St. Louis to get some more. We didn't know it took two days to get to St. Louis and back. Maybe the extended visit had to do with Mark and Megan's upcoming one year anniversary? Or Megan's upcoming birthday?

When we bought this land we inherited a little building we nicknamed the "Toxic Shed" due to its previous use as a storage spot for pesticides and chemicals. Its been sitting all these years full of junk. But Tom had a vision of it as our new bike shed. On land clean we emptied it out. Then Tanya and Penn donned dust masks and pulled down the old sheetrock and birds nests. Its looking pretty good and we are trying to start calling it the "Bike Shed" instead.

Students from Truman State's Expanding Environmental Consciousness class came by for Saturday afternoon. They joined us for lunch and a tour, then jumped into mulching paths, doing some deconstruction and harvesting wild parsnips. Wild parsnips are a common weed that has an edible root. An added incentive for harvesting them is that when they grow tall the juice from the plant can cause a poison ivy-like reaction on the skin. Thanks EEC class for saving us from the dreaded rash.

Alyson, Tony and Erin joined me on trip birdwatching again with Pete Goldman and his ornithology class at Truman State. Erin in from Canada and there are significantly different birds there. We enjoyed showing her a bunch of new species. On the way home we stopped at the Dillavou's place to get a tour and see their beaver lodge. Their place is beautiful.

Its almost time for our quarterly newsletter to come out again. Susan and Cecil have been working hard editing and laying out the article we wrote. If you want a copy, give us a call or an email.

We were very sad to hear about the loss of Jackie Neese. Cecil and I thought the viewing was really lovely. We send our condolences to her family and friends.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is a nonprofit and a residential community that demonstrates ecological sustainability in Rutledge, MO. We have Saturday

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