Memphis Democrat
October 13, 2005

This is Suzanne. We had beautiful weather this week for our Open House--cool and sunny. Over 100 people came out to see what's new this year. Among the more tangible changes are Kurt and Alline's new workshop, wind tower and solar hot water heater; Tim's huge wind tower and solar panels; and Skyhouse's beautiful new earthen floor. And then there are all of our new members and residents. It has been a year of growth for Dancing Rabbit and it was great to see so many people come out to support us.

This year Amy organized a bake sale for the Open House and Amy, Nicole and I all made vegan goodies. The bake sale was a success so it looks like we'll do it again next year. Nicole's apple sunflower muffins were a big hit, disappearing in the first hour.

Ironweed harvested loads of green peppers and tomatoes early this fall after hearing from the forecast that there was a chance of frost. They pickled a lot of the peppers and made hot sauce. There are still plenty of tomatoes so it looks like we'll be eating fried green tomatoes this week.

On Thursday a group of us went and picked apples for Lakeview Orchard in Labelle. We had a crisp sunny day for picking, Thom fed us delicious lasagna for lunch, and we came home with lots of crunchy sweet apples. Talk about a dream job.

Julie Glenn, a news reporter from Quincy came out this week to do a story about Dancing Rabbit for the evening news. She and her crew took a tour of the village and interviewed a number of people here--we appreciated their interest and enthusiasm and look forward to seeing a tape of the footage.

This week Tom and Tereza moved out of Bella Ciao, the small cabin they have been renting for the past five years, into Dan's house. Dan is on leave of absence in California for two years and is renting his house out while he is away.

We are playing musical houses here--I moved from my tent into Bella Ciao. It was too small for Tom and Tereza but it seems very roomy to me. I thought it would be really funny if somebody moved into my tent, but nobody expressed an interest so I have stored it away.

New residents Ben, Elise and their two young children River and Lunea arrived this week from Columbia Missouri. After two attempts to sell their house fell through the sale was finally completed. Congratulations Ben and Elise! We now have two families with young kids living here. River is close to Torin in age and they are already having way too much fun jumping on the trampoline together and having shouting contests. Watch out, Dancing Rabbit!

A group of us went into Kirksville Saturday night for salsa dance lessons at Truman State and afterwards we went to La Pachanga for Mexican food. It was a fun evening. Now we are wracking our brains for ways we can attract a dance teacher to move to Dancing Rabbit and give us more lessons--salsa, tango, swing, ballroom dance. We aren't picky.

Back to list of Memphis Democrat Columns