Memphis Democrat
July 3, 2003

Hi everyone! This is Alline filling in for Rachel. She has a few more weeks off from school and I didn't want to disturb her in the hammock...

Activity is as high as the temperature here at Dancing Rabbit! We've got four kids visiting us (with their parents) - Alina age 12, Isa age 10, Adam 7 and 6-year old Jibran. Their boundless energy is being somewhat directed by swimming and rowing around the pond. They also have weekly tutoring sessions - Alyson is teaching the four to speak Russian, Colie is concentrating on reading, and Jeffrey is exploring math & physics, mostly with Adam and Jibran.

Bob and Tom have been working "9 days a week" (sez Tom) on the Bluestem kitchen, and it shows. It's bee-yoo-tee-ful! The framing is in, the roof is up, the floor is in. The floor, which is made of wheat sheets, a product similar to chipboard but without the gnarly chemicals, even has the outlines of the future furniture drawn on - fridge, stove, table, island... And speaking of the Bluestem kitchen, Sunday night it hosted the first of many parties. Susan Tereza's friend Rodrigo, visiting from California, celebrated his birthday in a foot-stompin', cake-eatin' party. The grand finale were the fireflies and the sunset, both spectacular.

Our former intern Nicole visited with us for a week, which was all to short but fabulous all the same. She helped Thomas build an outdoor wood-fired bread oven. And she did it quite stylishly, wearing her delightful waitress uniform - you know, the classic pink zip-up-the front dress with a little black collar. Stunning!

Liberty, Tamar, Kurt and Kent continue work on the common house. The first wall (framing) went up this week - yippee! Also very cool is the floor - it's poured concrete, with color added to make it look like terra-cotta tile. And Kurt, after a 1-month and 18-day hiatus, finally got the chance to work on our house again. He had a great time and the cabinet he's building is VERY nice.

Don returned from a 3-day OCIA inspection. Audra is keeping her fingers crossed that she didn't kill anything in the garden in his absence.

Cross-country cyclist Andrew found his way here to DR after being directed by friendly folks in Memphis. We enjoyed his company an extra day when his laundry wasn't dry the morning he was planning to leave. Hmmmm, we should try this with all the guests we like.

We received a postcard from our very own cross-country cyclist Steph, who is traveling with Kit and Holly. They wrote from Montana, which they like very much. They report that they're having a fabulous time, especially with Idaho in their rear-view mirrors. Pedal on, ladies!

Tony, Doug and the rest of the Skyhouse crew spent the week constructing screens for all of Sky's windows. Tony is sure that this will keep our insect friends from dive-bombing the lights. Keep your fingers crossed.

Rachel got out of her hammock long enough to accompany Alyson and Laura to the Morris Prairie, an absolutely gorgeous prairie remnant. It's quite a treasure, and serves as a model for Rachel who has dreams of transforming/returning our scrubby acreage into the beautiful prairie it once was. Her bird research is going well, too. Her first nest of field sparrows fledged - at least she hopes so, as the nest was empty.

Last but not least, Tamar has finally finished with the mushroom logs. She had drilled holes into logs, and then had to pound in dowels that were inoculated with mushroom spawn. After the dowels were in, she sealed up the holes with beeswax. Whew! Can't wait for the pasta la fungi in our future!

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and non-profit corporation demonstrating ecological sustainability. Tours are the second and fourth Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. BUT CALL FIRST to let us know you're coming at 660-883-5511. We regret that we are unable to give unscheduled tours. More information on Dancing Rabbit can be found on the web at www.dancingrabbit.org

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