Memphis Democrat
September 15, 2008

Ted here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage with this week's news and a little of last weeks, too.

If you're anywhere in the vicinity, you'll be well aware of the seven inches or so of rain we've had over the past three days, and nine over the past week. That made for mud conditions not unlike March and April, just to remind us of how much we love it. It also meant that our creek jumped its banks for the third or fourth time this year, when it typically does so once or not at all in a given year. A hundred yards or so of the road we live on was under water in both directions for most of the day. At the height of the rains I ran out to check the high water at our new pond, and seeing the entire dock including the landward end of it surreally surrounded by water, I couldn't resist the urge to run and dive in for a moment, a million raindrops splashing the surface around me.

Given the weather, it wasn't surprising that our annual Open House on Saturday wasn't heavily attended. Eight hardy souls made it for a muddy tour of the village, including a couple of folks all the way from Springfield. Somehow, though, most of the goods on the bake sale table seemed to go to good homes nonetheless. I saw at least a few DR kids and some adults as well walking around with cardamom nut breads and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. One duo of women I gave a tour to had been visiting since before any of our buildings were built, so they went back farther than my own seven year association.

When the sun finally peaked out Sunday afternoon, there was a collective swoon in the common building, and I stepped out into the courtyard to bask in the glory of it. Our power system also breathed a silent sigh of relief, drinking in those rays and quenching the thirst of our low batteries.

Our final visitor session began on Monday with ten hardy souls, including two young kids, joining in the workings of the village. There was rain the day they arrived, then some sun for a day or two before the rain descended for the duration. Toward the end of the week a number gathered up their dribbling tents and clothes and headed for drier climates. One tried to leave Sunday morning, but found her way blocked by closed roads and had to bunk down for one more night to wait for the waters to recede. We were glad to have all of them for the week and wish them well in their travels.

By the start of this second week we're down to just one, Laurie from Philadelphia, who'll be staying with us for another two weeks. Among other things, she's a yoga teacher, and stood in for our absent Tamar to teach yoga on Friday. I missed it, but will hopefully take part in her next class this week.

Sara and I spent much of the week plastering and creating a colored glass mosaic on the last remaining unfinished wall in our house. It included all kinds of nooks, stairs and contours that made it take several days, and we couldn't have done it without the help of Jan, Alyssa, Liat (who'd just returned from two weeks' absence) and others who hung out with Aurelia while Sara and I collaborated on the project. We're well pleased with the result, which makes our house about 98% finished just in time for us to break ground on our addition next Spring and tear out some of the other walls...

Alline is trying to win a grant for the Milkweed Mercantile to help finance a wind turbine and tower. It involves a few minutes of your time on the internet. If you're interested in supporting the project, please see her blog for details at http://ecovillagemusings.blogspot.com/ She sends her thanks!

I offer my apologies for our missing column last week owing to some miscommunication on our end. One major event of the previous week was the roof raising over at Ziggy's cob hut. It is a roof design we haven't seen here previously called a reciprocal roof, where a dozen or so logs supported at the periphery of the building all overlap and rest on each other near the apex, forming a self-supporting peak with a circular hole in the middle. Nearly the whole village was on hand to help, along with some from Red Earth and Sandhill, and we had a great time. We later heard that Ziggy plans to take it down and re-erect it with some improvements and repositioning. Sounds a little anticlimactic, but then again, when you haven't done it before, a little rejiggering is to be expected, and this way we'll all learn it that much better.

As cooler Fall weather comes on, we're starting to button up and there have been more than a few trips with the truck and trailer to acquire firewood for various entities here. We've also had some cooperative journeys to pick apples at our friend Dan Kelly's Blue Heron Orchards over in Canton. I haven't been able to participate with all I've got going on, but I have benefited from all the apples brought home, and look forward to taking part next year. The smell of apple crisp in the oven certainly makes thoughts of Winter more appetizing, but I'm still trying to enjoy the last weeks of fresh tomatoes, okra and peppers, and feeling like the warm season was a little short this year with so much rain and mild weather. But what fun would it be if every year was the same?

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