Memphis Democrat
May 9, 2002

For those who experienced it, I hope everyone and their crops survived that half inch hail. It was exciting and scary at the same time for us, especially those folks living in tents. But we did alright.

Many other exciting things happened this week. Sandhill has a party every May to celebrate the return of spring and the anniversary of the forming of their community. We went over to participate in music, dancing, and socializing.

Speaking of dancing, Susan and Erik moved out of their temporary winter home in the outdoor kitchen. We took down the straw bales, and before we set up the kitchen the open space was like a great big dance floor. So we brought out the cds and stereo and had a dance party to remember.

We own a silkscreen that has our little Dancing Rabbit logo on it. We noticed the new people envying our Dancing Rabbit t-shirts and pulled it out to make a big batch. Watch for people sporting their new shirts around town.

Tony, Alyson and I joined a group of birders in Kirksville for a Bird-A-Thon. It is a form of fundraiser where folks pledge a small amount of money for each species of bird that we spot. The money goes to a scholarship fund for a Truman student studying biology, in memory of a biology professor who died. We spotted 56 species of birds that morning, ranging from as common as a Red-Winged Blackbird to as rare and tiny as the endangered Cerulean Warbler.

We had a visitor named Gabriel with us who had traveled from his home in Spain. He speaks English very well. Several of us speak Spanish (though not many of us speak it well) and we had a great time taking advantage of his patience and brushing up on our Spanish skills. We also had a lovely visit with Jeffrey's father Andy. He visits us faithfully two or three times a year. He sports a good attitude while helping us in our work whenever he is not catching up on his job in Chicago as a professor of Computer Science.

Tom, Mark, Penn and Tanya made a heroic effort and took down an entire shed in Edina in one day, to bring home the wood for reuse. They managed to deconstruct the Shaw's shed quickly despite the fact that Mark stepped on a nail and was incapacitated. We hope Mark feels better soon.

Don and his garden team also made huge strides in the great Spring potato planting of 2002. We hope it will be followed by the great potato harvest. In the meantime we are enjoying the scallions, spinach and lettuce that he brings us.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is a nonprofit and a residential community that demonstrates ecological sustainability in Rutledge, MO. We give tours Saturdays at 1pm. Please call first before coming by, at 883-5511.

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