Memphis Democrat July 12, 2000

Happy birthday to member Cecil. We planned a big canoe trip on July 4th to celebrate his birthday with 24 folks Dancing Rabbit and Sandhill Farm. Unfortunately, right after we got to Keosaqua, IA to start our trip on the Des Moines River, a big thunderstorm rolled in. Since its ill advised to canoe in lightening, we waited out the rain in Keosaqua under a picnic shelter and enjoyed our lunch of fresh baked rye bread, homemade hummus, and zucchini bread. Then we decided to head up to Fairfield, IA, where we enjoyed our visit there despite the rain as we went to the movies, played pool, ate pizza and when it cleared up, we watched fireworks. We also visited our friend Lonnie, who also builds alternative housing and uses solar energy. His little farm was inspirational.

The population on the farm is down as many of our visitors have left and members Jeffrey and Cecil are on vacation on the east coast to visit friends and family. Don, our gardener is also in the east for a week, leaving the garden in the hands of the able interns. But we do have one new intern, Rebecca, who is joining us from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to learn construction.

We've been enjoying getting to know our new neighbor, Michael Roe. Its nice to have someone living on the corner of Smith and Woehrle Roads again, especially someone who shares our interest in reclaiming building materials.

Members Alline and Kurt visited Larry and Betsy Ayers of Know City, for dinner. Joining them were Kent and Mary Jo Kattleman of Newark. They enjoyed homemade pizza in the Ayers new timber framed house, which they built themselves. Larry is skilled with wood and carving, as he is a sawyer with his own portable saw mill. Alline was particularly impressed with their collection of native wildflowers.

The first blackberries of the season are coming in and we are anticipating the rush of canning as we turn those berries into jam. We've also been experimenting more with our garden produce and a solar food dehydrator that was built last year by some visitors.

Jacob worked this week on illustrations for a magazine. We are always proud when we see his art in a publication. Rachel has been booking tours and doing publicity for the two folk musicians she works with. Timothy has been hard at work in the office of the Fellowship for Intentional Community, a non-profit that has its office over at Sandhill Farm.

The whole crowd enjoyed a long auction after dinner on Monday night after we cleaned out the grain bin we use to store our stuff. In Dancing Rabbit auctions everything is free, and the first or most persuasive person to ask for the item gets it. Everyone walked away with some new piece of clothing, book or other abandoned prize. The Salvation Army did pretty well too, getting a nice pile of things that no one bid on.

We welcome folks to come by for a tour Saturdays at 1pm, but please call first at 883-5511.

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