Memphis Democrat
Aug 1, 2002

by Alyson Ewald, standing in for Rachel Katz

RAIN!!! Finally we got rain this week at Dancing Rabbit. Sometimes the thunderstorms seem to blow right past us, or over us, but on Sunday we really got hit. We eat our lunch and dinner in an "outdoor kitchen" in the summer. It has a roof but no walls on three sides, so our tables look out over our herb garden and some willow trees. When the rain hit, we were all eating dinner. The raindrops poured in across the table, and everyone jumped up whooping and hollering with excitement, trying to get our food out of the driving rain.

The gardens were so happy to get that rain, although the wind did push over several strawbales on one side of Skyhouse. They hadn't been plastered yet, so they were not yet secured into place. When the plaster is on they will be really firm, and no Big Bad Wind will be able to blow our house down.

The other little excitement in Skyhouse this week was a small fire in an unfinished room on the second floor. A single rag with linseed oil on it spontaneously combusted, and a couple of floorboards and studs began smouldering and smoking. Tony discovered it when he went upstairs to check on something else. Quickly a bunch of folks rallied and put it out, then spent some time trying to flush all the smoke out of the building. We feel really lucky that it was caught so soon and so little damage was done. We sure learned our lesson about oily rags!

We accepted a new long-term resident this week: Andra from Kansas City. She's planning to be with us for at least a year, starting in September. We're so happy to have our numbers increasing, and it's great to have more and more "local" people join us.

Rachel went up to Iowa for a course on mushrooms. We're looking forward to hearing all about what she learns. She's getting to be a true expert on all the local flora and fauna. She's real excited to be taking some classes this fall at Truman State University. You should have seen her eyes shine when she got her textbooks in the mail.

Tom is getting away from the heat by climbing a glacier in the northwest, while Susan Brown is in Washington, DC working as a personal assistant for a couple of weeks.

Gare, Tamar, Andra and Rachel went to Lorraine Kapfer's house to pick up some manure, and they came home with a bed to boot! Gare's real pleased about that; he was tired of sleeping on the hard wooden tent platform. It's so nice when our neighbors think of us when they have something they don't need anymore.

One afternoon Susan Wright and Erik Odom hosted us all on their "warren" (their plot of land) for cold drinks and delicious fresh-baked snacks. We had a nice time sitting in the shade chatting for a while, then had a tour of the cabin and other things they're working on these days. It can be a lot of work getting started on a homestead out here, so Susan and Erik are taking it one step at a time. While they live on their land in a camper, they'll build a temporary cabin to live in for the first year. Then while living in that, they'll build their "dream house" on the other side of their plot.

We've started canning to stay caught up with all the delicious produce coming in. This week there's been blackberry jam, canned corn, sauerkraut, and herb drying. We're also starting to build a larger solar dryer so we can dry lots of vegetables and preserve the nutrients without spending all that time over a hot stove.

Our peaches are also finally coming in, and people have been enjoying them on cereal, in pancakes, and right off the tree. Yum! We love fruit out here, but our fruit trees are still all pretty small. In the past we've been so happy to be invited to pick any extra fruit that our neighbors have to offer. If you've got too much fruit to handle--peaches, plums, apples, pears, or any berries--just give us a call and we'll be glad to come take it off your hands.

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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