Memphis Democrat
October 6, 2008

Another week has passed in a whirlwind of activity here at Dancing Rabbit. The colder night time temperatures have reminded us all that winter is approaching and we better hurry up to gather in our waning harvests, finish-off fair weather building projects, and above all collect sufficient firewood to hold us through the next 5 months!

Looking back to the start of this building season, it's amazing to see how far various projects have come. The Milkweed Mercantile has moved from bare wooden framing to completed strawbale walls, windows, doors, and even the first coats of paint on the trim. No doubt the interior work will progress even more rapidly now that it is sheltered from the elements. Ziggy's cob home has transitioned from a spiral drainage ditch to full-sized building with roofing in place. Aubergine (Liat's home, formerly known as the bus) has gained a finished interior, the beginnings of a greenhouse, and a functioning wood stove. Bluestem has gained a nice addition, and Sparky's cabin has completely new walls, wiring and windows. New foundations have been laid and other projects are underway, even as the days get shorter.

Of course we're talking about Rabbits here, so naturally there were plenty of fun activites and games to keep our lives in balance. The highlight of the week was our annual Land Day celebration, which commemorates the original purchase of our land 11 years ago. After a morning gathering celebrated our beginnings and highlights through the years in the oral tradition of story telling. After each story was related (usually by people who hadn't been present for the story they were telling) we all solemnly proclaimed "We Remember"!

After a fine afternoon land walk and tour of the village, we split into two teams for our traditional relay race. Each team had a lot of strategizing to do, to make the most of each individual's talents. My telling may be somewhat skewed toward Team Two's perspective, but after all....we won!

We began the race with a fairly traditional three-legged race, which Duncan and Angela won handily after Tamar and I fell on the turn. I was laughing too hard to properly track the spool rolling event which followed, but Ted and Morgan returned the length of the ultimate field and tagged the next contestants nearly simultaneously. A younger contestant from each team placed their forehead on a bat and turned around 10 times before attempting to navigate the length of the field. During the next two events, the Walking Pyramid and Frisbee Golf, both teams were hurriedly strategizing their next moves. Tony and Mark (from Red Earth) had to throw their frisbees from the ultimate field to the outhouse. Tony won, but Mark struggled valiantly through the weeds, trees, and wood piles in between!

The next event was a group activity, where each team had to gather a wheelbarrow full of clay, add sand and straw in proper proportions, and stomp a complete batch of cob for use in Annie's new massage studio building. Team one had a significant head-start, and were minutes ahead, but fortunately for Team Two, Ziggy has personally created countless batches of the finest cob all summer long and took charge of Team Two's efforts. We were off and running before Team One even finished adding their straw.

We didn't stay behind to hear Tamar recite the DR Ecological Covenants on our behalf, eager to get started on identifying and retrieving plant specimens. All we were given was the proper Latin name for a plant or tree found on the property and we had to figure out what it was and retrieve a sample for examination by the judges. Team One had a sure-fire ace-in-the-hole with both Tony and Rachel on their crew, but Ted came through for us and we went into group charades neck and neck.

Charades dispensed with, Rene (from Sandhill) circumnavigated the Bay (aka new pond). Her experience on the school swim team benefited Team Two, though Team One was keeping the race close. Following the swim, Ma'ikwe and Jeff (Ziggy's work exchanger) battled it out blindfolded at a table covered with assorted jars and lids. Their task was to match one jar with one lid. Their techniques were different, and Jeff won...so he's the co to ask if you want to improve your own skill in this area.

Ted and Toren competed next in the tree-climbing leg of the race, with Toren's speed offset only by his desire to avoid the poison ivy. Ted's willingness to risk the itch brought them out simultaneously, tagging Liat and myself for the Humey race. Apparently DR cannot fathom the concept of a relay race without involving humey. The goal was for each contestant to select a bucket from the outhouse, run it down to the active composting bin, wash and return the clean bucket, then wash hands (WITH soap) before tagging the next team member. Don't tell our teammates, but as we were both laboring down the hill we decided to collaborate in true DR fashion. We shared the cart, I dumped while Liat rinsed, and we saved our breath heading back uphill to the outhouse. We washed up, shook hands, and then took off as fast as we could back to our teams.

Dan (which one, I'm not telling) flew his paper airplane against Morgan's for the next leg of the race, and most of the kids took part in the human wheelbarrow race, before Ziggy faced-off against Nathan for the have-your-mouth-stuffed-full-of-peanut-butter-and-whistle portion of the race. If you think it's merely a matter of pushing the sticky peanut butter into your cheeks, you should try it sometime. I don't know that Ziggy's cob manufacturing experience gave him an edge here, but he came out to join our human pyramid first!

Finally, each team had to recreate the DR logo with their bodies on the ground. Judge Alyssa pronounced Team Two the winner, and our grand prize was to go to the head of the line for the evening's potluck supper. A prize worthy of our collective efforts. Team One gave it their all, and by doing so urged us to greater heights. Go Team Two!

In addition to all of the preparation and excitement surrounding our annual Land Day shenanigans, we also welcomed the Dancing Rabbit, Inc. and Dancing Rabbit Land Trust board members for a day long board meeting the following day. We heard many state-of-the-rabbits reports from different committees, talked about upcoming financial challenges (such as extending and surfacing roads, working out systems for village-wide gray water, and future fund-raising efforts), as well as policies for improving member oversight of all our activities.

On a final note, you might have some fun setting up a personal Google-Alert for Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. This provides a daily email summary of new places where Dancing Rabbit shows up on the web. Today's edition provides links to the winner of the Notre Dame 2008 Student Film Festival (Philip's film was about living in community, and was shot here at DR); I learned that Alline will be speaking on a panel in Chicago later this month for a gathering of women entrepreneurs (www.wswe.org); and one of our visitors this past July spoke at the Ethical Society of St. Louis. You can listen to a podcast of her experience at Dancing Rabbit at www.ethicalstl.org/platforms/ESSTLPlatform2008-09-28.mp3

It's the next best thing to being here. Till next time...

Back to list of Memphis Democrat Columns