Memphis Democrat
July 31, 2003

There have been tons of guests this week, helping us hit a peak of 34 folks on the farm. One of our most exciting guests was singer-songwriter Rachel Garlin. She is from Berkeley, CA and played a concert for us in what will someday be the "Great Room" of our common house. Right now it is just a concrete pad with some of the walls framed in. Rachel even wrote a song about Dancing Rabbit, just for the performance.

The night before we had a dance party in the Great Room. Tamar, Penn, Cecil and Don got up on the scaffolding and played everything from traditional folk tunes to punk rock. And we danced along, calling out moves for a contra dance or finding a partner for a waltz.

Laura and I have been organizing nature appreciation events once a month. This time we looked at what lives in the pond. We pulled out nets and a microscope and books. And we found some pretty interesting creatures. We also got good and wet, which helped us keep cool.

Andra, Penn, Tereza and Tom went to an auction up in Milton, IA. They bought cool furniture for their new food co-op. But I think their best buys were a mandolin and bass drum. I can't wait to see Andra leading a parade banging on her big drum.

Thomas and Liberty made some clay pots, painted them with natural paints and then pit-fired them. I'm excited to see what they look like, but the ground was still too hot to dig them out.

A whole bunch of folks went to Zimmerman's on Saturday morning. I heard they almost outnumbered the Renegades! Everyone remarked on how friendly the Renegades were. That's why we moved to Northeast Missouri.

We were working as hard this week as any other. I finished the research season for my thesis. There has been plenty of progress on the buildings. Don picked the first eggplants out of the garden. And we had several semis in our driveway. We got a whole bunch of solar panels for the common house and several other buildings. And Skyhouse received several large items relating to their water system. Tony explained it all for me, but you'll have to hear it from him because I'm not sure I understood it. And Tony has been working on the constructed wetlands, that will filter the waste water. I did not know that delivering gravel could be so loud!

I'm heading out for my annual trip out west to visit my friends in California. Wish me luck! In the meantime, Alyson will be writing the column.

We have tours the 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month at 1pm. Please call before coming by, 883-5511. http://www.dancingrabbit.org

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