Memphis Democrat
June 5, 2003

I recently got back from a great trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. My parents and Tony's parents met Tony and I for a week long vacation of wildlife watching. It was fabulous! We saw baby moose and baby bison and . . . I could write a whole column about it. But this is supposed to be about Dancing Rabbit.

I returned to lots of changes. The grass was at least a foot taller. There was a great big hole in the ground where the cistern for the common house will be. We're building a place to gather for big meetings and events. The cistern will hold rain caught of the roof for use in the bathrooms and kitchen. Within the week they'd dug the hole, poured the floor and laid the block for the walls. And it was big enough for folks to eat dinner in one night. Bluestem food co-op has made great strides with their kitchen, building the walls and trusses. The gardens are producing abundant lettuce and scallions, and the snap peas and strawberries are just starting to come in.

There were some new arrivals, too. Chad, who visited us years ago and then moved to Sandhill, is spending some time here to decide if he wants to swap communities. Dan, who has visited us from his home in California every year since we moved here, has returned to ponder whether now might be the right time to make the move. And we have a new work-exchanger named Colie. She hails from Maryland and will be helping out Don in his gardens. We're all enjoying her good attitude. We've also celebrated the homecoming of our little red Jetta. It threw a rod a few months ago. The Rutledge Garage has been hard at work installing a new engine for us and it just come home.

We've also welcomed into our village a crew of three documentary film makers from KBS, the Korean equivalent of the BBC. They are going to spend ten days here filming the goings on and it will air on South Korea television at the end of the month. They think they are learning from us, but we've already been learning a lot about the Korean culture and language.

As we grow, it's neat to see our connections to people all over the world grow. Frank Cicela has visited here several times with his family. He just got back from a trip to Costa Rica with an organization called Earthwatch that promotes global research in sustainability. Alcoa Inc. funded several people to go on this expedition into the rainforest. If you're interested, you can learn about his experiences at http://www.myearthwatchexperience.com

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