There are some ways in which life at Dancing Rabbit is much like life anywhere else, but there are other ways in which it can be quite different.
Being a new village, we have the rare and huge opportunity to create whatever life we want around us. Often, we think about the ecological effects and relationships of our thoughts and actions, but that's not all. We also are made up of the individual interests, hobbies and idiosyncrasies of the individual people here.
This section has a wealth of detail about life at Dancing Rabbit. Below is a handy list of the subjects to be found in the "Eco Living" section. If you would like something a bit more brief however, just take a look below the list for a quick summary of what life here is like.
Life at Dancing Rabbit changes with the seasons and the natural rhythms of rural life. Spring, summer, and fall you'll find us gardening, swimming in the pond, building our strawbale buildings, and enjoying evening sing-a-longs. Summer brings many visitors and interns adding creative energy and new friends to our village. Most of us share nightly meals with others in one of our four eating co-ops. Others chose to eat by themselves or with their partner. Every Friday the entire village is invited to eat together in the common house. Every Tuesday we have a potluck supper with our neighboring communities Sandhill Farm and Red Earth Farm.
During winter the days get cooler and shorter, the interns move on, and things quiet down. We get enough snow and cold to ice-skate and occasionally cross-country ski but not so much that we are stuck inside all the time. It can be a time to reflect more, travel a bit and for the community to envision and plan the coming year.
While our goal is to grow larger, we are currently a medium sized group. We meet together every other week to discuss and make decisions about the community by consensus. We also think it important to work on both our personal and interpersonal issues. We take pride in our efforts to communicate well, speaking and listening from our hearts, with open minds. We believe good communication is an essential part of community living.
At Dancing Rabbit, our central focus is ecological living. This core value binds us together, but there are many other values that add to our healthy community life. Feminism is a common theme here; we are committed to empowering women in non-traditional roles and to addressing power dynamics within our group. Economic accessibility is also core, with DR having no buy-in fee and low monthly dues to minimize economic barriers.
Life in community can be intense. Living, working, and playing with close friends and neighbors is an exciting social experience. At DR we work hard to live out our values and ideals. Creating an ecovillage with a whole new culture can be challenging, both physically and emotionally. We strive to support each other in this pioneering phase, and we know that our hard work is done in the hope of a better world.
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