Memphis Democrat July 25, 2001

Day to Day Life
Memphis Democrat Column -- Jacob's Travel Logs

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Its been another jam-packed week at Dancing Rabbit, as usual. There was some sort of event or another nearly every night this week. Scott hosted a letter writing night, where he brought information so people could write their representatives about issues that concern them.

Sandhill came over for the regular Tuesday dinner. First we were entertained by a skit performed by some of their interns and then we were graced with a show by traveling singer songwriter, Kristi Martel from Oakland, CA. She brought her keyboard with her and wowed us with her beautiful voice.

I went to Kirksville on Wednesday with Judy Sharp (of Baring). I spent the day doing errands and then joined her in the evening for the Kirksville Quilt Guild meeting. We saw some beautiful quilts and met some lovely people. It definitely inspired me to work harder on my humble nine-patch.

I came home to find a very well attended Grateful Dead appreciation night. Tony is a big fan of the band and was generously was sharing his collection of tapes, books and photo albums.

Susan went to Kirksville one day via the OATS bus to visit some doctors about the tendonitis in her arms. While she was gone, Scott and Laurel installed a screen door on her house, and she was so pleasantly surprised.

We had a visit from Karen Keck's ecology class from the Joseph Baldwin Academy at Truman State. The Academy is a summer program for gifted and talented middle school students. We gave them a tour and then the 15 of them spent the afternoon helping plaster, garden and mulch trees.

That day a big crew came together to finish plastering the outside of the timberframe, hopefully finally with a coat of plaster that will last. Its been a long process of experimentation to find the right recipe for plaster that will work well in this climate.

Ellen invited people to an "open yurt". Lots of folks were curious about how her yurt was made and got a chance to see it up close. A yurt is a round portable dwelling that was used traditionally by nomadic people. The walls are made up of a folding lattice and then covered with a water resistant shell, like canvas.

Aubrey hosted an art night, where we painted creative signs to mark the beds in the herb garden. She's been doing a great job taking care of the herbs and harvesting them for our cooking, teas and medicinal uses.

We've been experiencing the taste of the first harvests of crops this season. We've enjoyed the first harvests of okra, potatoes, summer squash and the first few precious tomatoes. Two of the trees in our young orchard put on peaches and we are enjoying them. By the way, we're looking to buy and/or pick local peaches that were not sprayed.

Also, I'm looking for used boxboard, the thin cardboard used in cereal boxes and other packaging. I'll come pick up boxboard that is at least 13" square or you can stop by for a tour and drop it off. Just give me a call and let me know you have some.

Rainbow taught a class on Reiki, a form of healing. The students, interns Elizabeth, Megan (now going by her Russian name Masha) and Sara, are now busy trying to practice their new craft.

Erik picked up some oil from Zimmerman's store, and soon he and Rainbow will be making test batches of biodiesel. Biodiesel is a fuel made from vegetable oil. In this case we are using fryer oil that has already been used. We heat it up and add in an exact amount of methanol and lye. A chemical reaction occurs and then the results settle out into glycerin and biodiesel. The glycerin can be composted. The biodiesel can be used in a (mostly) unmodified diesel engine. We run all of our vehicles on it, including our tractor.

We've had plenty of comings and goings this week, with many more to come next week. Aaron left to pick up his belongings and move to Iowa City. We hope he'll visit often, as he's not that far away. Cecil returned his sad trip to his family in Florida. Allegra has joined us again for a visit and our ex-intern Megan has returned as a resident.

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