Memphis Democrat
July 4, 2002

We had an informal parent's week, even though we didn't plan it that way. Jeffrey's dad squeezed in a short visit from Chicago before he started teaching summer session classes. Erin's parents came from Ontario to pick her up. Good luck to Erin on her future journeys. And my parents came for a visit that included geode hunting, fence building and bird watching.

People often ask how our families react when we move to Dancing Rabbit. Every family is different. Some are positive from the start. Others, such as mine, were concerned. They are from New York and had never been to the Midwest and could not remember which state I was living in, much less find it on the map. They were worried because I was doing something so different. But once they visited and saw how happy I was here and the charms of this lifestyle and location, they became proud of my choices. They visit here once or twice a year to see the progress we've made and get a chance to actually see the stars in the sky.

Nearly everyone returned home from their travels. Folks had fun at the fair in Wisconsin and sold plenty of books. Alyson came home sleepy but happy after her travels in Siberia. Cecil returned a few days later, as he took a side trip to China after his work was done in Siberia. They both had plenty of stories to share.

There was a conference about prairies in Kirksville. I attended and learned a lot about prairies and how to restore and preserve them. One day of the conference was field trips to all over northern Missouri. One field trip came to Dancing Rabbit and got a tour of our houses and prairie restoration plots. The overwhelming sentiment I heard from conference attendees was how nice and welcoming the people of Kirksville and northeast Missouri were.

Plenty of work is getting done around the farm. When I go away for a few days, it's exciting to come back and see the changes that you don't notice when you see them progress day to day. Most notable to me was the work on some of the bedrooms in Skyhouse. They textured the sheetrock and then painted the walls with an ecologically designed paint. The rooms are really starting to look like someplace you might want to live instead of a construction zone.

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

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