Memphis Democrat
October 2, 2002

We all had a lovely time at Sandhill's Sorghum Festival. They entertained us with tours of the sorghum mill, music courtesy of Cecil, Tamar and Penn, candle dipping and fresh sorghum on ice cream. It was fun to see old friends and neighbors who traveled from near and far to enjoy the beautiful day together.

An old friend arrived to stay awhile. Stephanie visited us with a class from Truman State University the first year we moved here. She has spent time at Dancing Rabbit every year since. We missed her when she graduated and moved to Portland, OR for a year. But now she has come back to live at Dancing Rabbit at least until May. Its great to see her smiling face around the farm.

We said goodbye to Susan for a month. She left to be a personal assistant to a disabled woman who works for the World Bank. They are traveling all over Asia attending meetings. When asked what most excited her about the trip, she replied that she looked forward to all the Japanese food she'd get to eat. Intern Nicole left us to return to Buffalo, NY. Her parents came to pick her up, bearing New York maple syrup. which was delicious.

On Friday night, I attended the Kirksville quilt guild's Quilt Til You Wilt event. It was a great opportunity to be inspired by what other folks were working on and to get some mentoring for a beginning quilter like myself. I stayed late, but when I left, plenty were still quilting. I heard some talking about staying until dawn. The next morning Judy from Baring and Shelley from Callao visited with Alline and I for more quilting and chatting.

Much of the wood we burn in our wood stoves is scrap from Oakwood Industries in Memphis. Folks were playfully stacking it artistically and then someone got the idea to play the game jenga. That's a game where small blocks are stacked and then removed from the pile carefully and placed on top so as not to knock it over. Only, we played with firewood piles as big as us!

Thanks to Ron who stopped by to donate some old fencing supplies. We'll surely put it to good use!

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is a nonprofit and a residential community that demonstrates ecological sustainability in Rutledge, MO. We are not giving tours for a few weeks. Please come instead to our Open House on October 12th, 1-4pm!

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