Memphis Democrat
December 15, 2008

Welcome to Cob's pre-holiday edition of news updates from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. If this column lacks cohesion, it's because I'm feeling somewhat scattered myself. My days are full of year-end and last-minute details as we prepare for our trip back east to be with family during the holiday school break. What seemed possible last week has become increasingly challenging as the number of remaining days diminishes! Just thinking about it causes me to hear those freshly frosted cookies calling to me once again.

One of the highlights of our week (aside from heeding the call of the cookies) was attending the Scotland County elementary school play "Santa Goes Green". The kids performed beautifully, and clearly had a wonderful time doing so. Kudos to all the children, parents, and educators! The environmental message was a hit with the many rabbits in the audience, and a few have even been caught humming the refrain to "Recycle the Fruitcake" days later. In addition to the play, Renay from Sandhill showed off her drumming talents in the 6th grade band performance, and Ewan's kindergarten class brought new life to favorite carols. It was a pleasure to see so many friends from Sandhill, Red Earth Farm, Dancing Rabbit, and from across Scotland County all in one place, and all with smiles on their faces. To really bring home the message of the season, we learned that the children at the school had raised well over $2,000 for a local family that lost absolutely everything to a house fire just one week earlier. We are blessed to live in such a caring community.

In an effort to keep your news report fair and balanced, this was also a week of runny noses, upset tummies, and all other manner of impolite (or at least inconvenient) bodily behaviors. Meals were sparsely attended, a highly unusual event I assure you! At least two separate bugs worked their way through most of the rabbit population, but fortunately seem to have run their course before folks hit the road for their holiday travels.

Indeed, many were recovered enough to make the most of the weekend's unseasonably warm weather. Thomas made a bit more progress on his new roof, Nathan and Bear both cut up more firewood, and more than one rabbit was observed shifting firewood from shed to house in anticipation of the incoming arctic blast. When folks learn that Meadow and I hail from upstate New York (Buffalo and Rochester) they usually comment about how awful it must be to get so many feet of snow each year. Maybe...but whatever your opinion regarding snow, we never before experienced a 54 degree temperature swing in a mere 12 hours or less. Brrrrr!

Two current residents at Dancing Rabbit must have decided they like the cold well enough to apply for permanent membership. Mary Beth must have figured that the cold wind and winter cloud cover is better than the unremitting Florida sunshine. After all, one can only take so much of that before going crazy! Tim is already from the cold northland and is camped out on the frozen tundra for winter, so this is pretty much life as usual for him. We all look forward to learning more about why they have chosen to be part of the Dancing Rabbit demonstration project.

Between the growing holiday diaspora and rabbits not wishing to leave their beds, Juan's grand birthday board game tournament drew far fewer than the anticipated dozens. A few hardier souls bravely assembled for an hours-long game of Ninja Burger (don't ask me, I have NO idea what it's about) and had a marvelous time. Juan (and the game-playing multitudes) are hoping to reschedule a true tournament in January after folks return home and before we put all our energies into the annual retreat. Hopefully this next time around, the clatter of dice won't be so painful, and I'll be able to attend.

Fortunately there are still enough rabbits on the farm to hold two of Dancing Rabbit's big annual traditional activities: Secret Snow Co and the Very Vegan Cookie Swap. The whole secret snow co thing is really just an excuse to be sneakily nice to each other, try to guess who's picked our own name, and to have a "reveal" party at the end of the week. Similarly the cookie swap is just an excuse to have a party in the middle of the week and eat lots of really good cookies. The "very vegan" part simply lays down the challenge to achieve this without using eggs, dairy, or honey. The results are simply amazing. Hmmm...no real surprises there for our long-time readers. Cranberry marmelade sorgum drop cookies anyone?

Alline will be back to you next week with a full report and, if you're very lucky, maybe even some of the recipies. Safe travels, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Feliz Navidad everyone!

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