Memphis Democrat
November 11, 2004

Tereza and Tom will be heading out this week. They bought the camper that Susan and Erik arrived in, and are planning to spend the winter as caretakers at a hotsprings spa in Arizona. I'm trying to figure out a good excuse to visit them.

One of the most exciting events of this week was the arrival of hot water in the Common House. I heard that so far, Amy, Tom, Nicole, and Penn have all enjoyed the availability of hot showers -- the first indoor hot showers on our land.

We were pleased to learn that the local voter turnout was very high. Since Tuesday there have been a number of politically inspired discussions around various tables at DR. It's an interesting time right now, for sure.

With the seasons turning, we've been putting gardens to bed for the winter -- harvesting some of those last root crops, putting in garlic, saving seeds -- and transforming our greenhouses and south-facing windowsills into active food production areas. The more wild areas have also yielded up some tasty morsels. Thomas and Nicole cooked up some delicious oyster mushrooms into a soup for Tuesday's Sandhill potluck dinner. And I'm thinking of stalking the wild burdock and parsnip one of these days.

I'm looking forward to having Jess, Jacob, and Dave here this weekend for our Dancing Rabbit board meeting. All of them have been involved in DR for many years, and I really enjoy getting together with them to discuss DR's accomplishments, direction, and future plans. Some other members and residents who don't know our board members very well are excited to finally get to spend more time with them.

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