As the fall came to a close and the weather turned cold in mid-December all the Rabbits returned to their home for a week of meeting and planning. As usual with these things the agenda loomed larger than our allotted time could possibly accommodate but we were optimistic and ready to use our time efficiently and wisely to get through it all. In the end we had time to touch on all the topics and made good use of committees and delegation of tasks, while still leaving some topics for further discussion as the winter moves on. Topics ranged all across the map and with some facilitation help from our neighbors at Sandhill we negotiated even the toughest of them. Here are some highlights so you can keep up with what we're doing these days and planning for the next year:
Accepting new members and non-Skyhouse members
We were pleased to accept two new members at our retreat! Jennifer and Jacob are now DR and Skyhouse provisional members. They join Jeffrey and Matthew as new members accepted during 1998. Also exciting is that with Aaron, Halle and Jack transitioning out of Skyhouse soon and Matthew not joining Skyhouse we are starting to flesh out our DR subcommunity structure. We worked out some of the financial and social arrangements for these members' relationship to the income sharing group, Skyhouse, and will be further refining that relationship during the year.
Workshops
We hope to hold two or three workshops at DR in 1999, inviting small groups to come for a weekend or a week so we can share our skills with them or learn skills from an outside expert together. Currently we have plans for one on strawbale building and one on adobe floors, as well as a building workshop for women. We'll keep you informed as to dates and plans as they come together.
Building and demolition
With DR the growing town that it is construction is often found on our agenda. While we are still finishing up this year's cabins we need to start looking towards the major projects for 1999. To start, we were lucky to find a barn in our area that needed taking down. So winter will see us dismantling that for the reused lumber. Then our major construction project will be a five bedroom house with kitchen, bathrooms, and common space. This is being dubbed "The New Skyhouse" but will no doubt be somewhat of a community center until DR grows and has built a community center of its own. So plans are being drawn up now for a two story strawbale structure which we hope to have livable by the fall of '99.
Childcare
One difficult issue we touched on during the retreat was children and childcare. With Jack turning 2 and another child on the way, children are already much a part of our lives and culture here at DR. But we took some time to discuss dynamics that many income sharing communities face about how childcare fits into the community work structure. As well as resolving issues around our current situation, we flagged this as a definite topic for both DR and Skyhouse to discuss as people with children look to join our young community.
Tree and grass planting
Our ecosystem restoration projects will continue with this year's efforts including planting 4,000 trees and ten acres of grassland. Because we are so busy with other projects we may have to "farm" this project out to a local person with the right tools and equipment. But I'm sure we'll still get our hands dirty helping out and will work with whoever we employ to ensure that we do things according to our standards.
Work scene
With so much planned for 1999 we had to talk about people's work scenes and look at ways that people could be doing the work they wanted and not be overloaded with more work and responsibility than was reasonable. We agreed to try and hire out some projects and agreed to prioritize certain things, letting others wait for the future. And we had some good talks about how to utilize and value skills besides those in high demand (construction, gardening, etc.). We found that a lot of our new people have skills in management and other people skills that are key to our success if we can make space for them to be used.
Large donation
Dancing Rabbit was excited to receive a substantial donation from Cecil's parents following his father's visit to Missouri this fall. The brainstorm of what to do with the money was stimulating for our whole group and led to a number of interesting ideas. We need to use the money in a way that fits with our non-profit educational purpose and so there are some legal limitations we will learn to work with. The group seemed to lean toward doing something tangible with the money soon so that it can be used as a springboard for our young project. Many ideas centered around a construction project that could end up as a visitor center or space for workshops, education, or interns.
Gender issues
With DR's population skewed towards the male side we all wanted to take a look at what DR can do to more successfully recruit women to our project. We took a look at what sort of filters we have that may make our community more accessible or attractive to men than women and we came up with a number of theories. Some of the issues are somewhat inherent in the structure and situation at DR and are thus harder to address (a remote location, being in a pioneering phase, a focus on construction right now, housing limitations). Other are more related to the vagaries of our current population and the culture we have created (cleanliness, computers and technology, childcare). It's surely a long and complex topic, but we are committed to being proactive in helping DR to be a place where women feel welcome and empowered.
Sustainability issues
As DR's vision is becoming more and more of a reality, some of our ideas and theories that we've come up with over the last five or six years are finally being put into practice. Sometimes what looked great on paper or was agreed to by all in theory becomes an issue when it comes to its practical effects. Like any group of people, we don't always have the same views on these issues. But we brought to light some things for DR to wrestle with during the near future such as: What ecological compromises are we willing to make in the short and long term to help people transition here? How do we consider people for membership without being too judgmental? When should we turn people away for ecological reasons?
Interpersonal issues
The retreat was also a time to look at our personal and interpersonal lives and look at ways we as a community can be supporting each other better. We had some really good sessions where we worked through some hard stuff and looked at ways to improve our relations and communications. And best of all we made a commitment to having time for discussion of interpersonal issues outside of our weekly business meetings to give folks the option of joining in or not without feeling disempowered from group decisions.
Whew! And this was just an overview of our retreat. It promises to be an exciting year for us Rabbits. Come for a visit and join in the action!
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