Memphis Democrat
November 7, 2002

You wouldn't believe the kind of changes that have been happening here. Maybe it's because the cold weather has made everyone realize that winter is just around the corner. Susan and Erik have enclosed their house and set up the wood stove. Even though it is not insulated yet, it is warmer with the wood stove going than the camper they've been living in. Penn and Andra have been busily getting their house together: roof, windows, and doors. Skyhouse finally put the bales in on the last little section, making the house completely enclosed. They also installed their first wood stove, a specially designed rocket stove, that burns wood very efficiently.

That cold weather also had us worried about all the canned goods and vegetables we had stored out in our summer kitchen. Andra led a heroic effort to apportion the food by month and store it in every nook and cranny we could find that was heated. There's more food this year than ever before and it all looks great!

We've had some turnover of people as well. Thomas left to visit friends and family. He plans to return to Dancing Rabbit in March to stay. Jillian wrapped up her food processing and herb gardening internship with a bang. She cooked a delicious formal going away dinner. We hope she had a safe trip back to Chicago.

Jeffrey has been living at Dancing Rabbit for more than four years. He came straight out of college and has been talking about going away for a few months to live on his own since he got here. His best friend from high school lives in Germany and is getting married there. Jeffrey took the opportunity to travel and work there for the winter. We hope he'll have many exciting adventures to tell us about when he comes home in the spring.

But it has not been too quiet around here because many people have come back, too. Susan returned from her month long trip around Asia as an assistant to a disabled person who works for the World Bank. Cecil returned from his trip to California just in time to meet up with his parents. They have not visited us for two years and so they fit us into their month long road trip around the eastern United States. It's always fun to have the Scheibs around.

We've been seeing a lot of Janet and Clayton Dillavou recently because they've been cleaning house and donating lots of great building supplies to us. We were pleased that they joined us for dinner one night as a small token of thanks for their generosity, not to mention a fun social event.

Speaking of donations, we like to reuse as much as possible and not buy new things to use less resources. Sometimes that means we use things a little too long. We know people replace vacuum cleaners frequently and ours is itching to retire. Let us know if you have a working one around that needs a new home.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is a nonprofit and a residential community that demonstrates ecological sustainability in Rutledge, MO. Please call before coming by, 883-5511.

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