Memphis Democrat
October 7, 2004

Wow! What a fun time we've had. This Saturday was our annual Land day celebration. It was the 7th anniversary of when we purchased our land. The Courard-Hauri family, who helped come up with the idea of Dancing Rabbit in the first place, joined us for the weekend. Both Chad and Alyson's parents also chose this weekend to visit with us and each other. Add on top some visitors and friends and it was a full house!

We started the day with a big breakfast in the Common House, complete with waffles, soysage (vegetarian sausage) and tofu scramble (sort of like scrambled eggs). Then we moved out the tables and spent the rest of the morning in a circle telling stories about the history of Dancing Rabbit.

After lunch, Thomas led us on a walk of our land. We visited our tree-plantings, native grass fields and a shallow little "wildlife pond" in our woods. We returned for a raucous game of kickball. At dinner time, friends from Sandhill and around the area showed up for a big potluck dinner in the Common House. It was the first time we got to use the newly almost-finished kitchen. The food was delicious and the company good.

After dinner we had a whirlwind of events. Jacque emceed an Open Mike. Our local band played music while a guest of Sandhill's called Contra and Square Dances. But we weren't done yet. Many of us then headed out to the fire circle and sat around a big, hot bonfire. The drumming and hanging out at the fire lasted pretty late. But when the fire died down, there were a handful of people ready for more and they finished up with a dance in the Common House. We know how to celebrate!

There was another lesser, but still important celebration this week. Jeffrey and Cecil have been playing bridge in Kirksville for four and a half years. They've been honing their skills and this week they finally came in first! Congratulations.

We also did a lot of hard work this week. Ted and Sara have been building the greenhouse that is attached to the south side of their house. Dan's got the frame for his porch in. Bob has been racing against the rain, putting a tin roof on his big tent-home. The first frost meant lots of last minute harvesting before and new crops to harvest after. I've been so glad to eat sweet potatoes again. Jacque has been doing lots of teaching in Gorin. And Tony launched the computer project he's been working on all summer, an online directory of communities all over the world.

We all came together to do a big Land Clean. Once or twice a year, we gather to neaten things up and take care of special projects. We cut weeds, stacked wood, mulched paths, trimmed trees and generally cleaned things up. I hope you'll come see how nice it looks this Saturday, when we host our annual open house.

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