My wife Maisha and I recently demonstrated our utter lack of good sense, visiting Dancing Rabbit during one of the coldest weeks they've seen. The midwest was in the grips of a winter storm that dumped six inches of snow in a few hours, and left the two of us and one of the Rabbits (Jeffrey, returning from visiting family in Chicago) stuck in Iowa overnight.
We were rescued the next afternoon by Halle and Jennifer, and transported back in a somewhat anachronistic vehicle: a gasoline fueled Honda. The biodiesel vehicles in the community car cooperative didn't want to cooperate, and were being too difficult to start in the extreme cold! The last mile of our trip, down an unplowed gravel road, involved quite a bit of pushing by the four of us and a neighboring farmer.
Our night in Iowa left us with only about three days at the community. Maisha lost one night to a stomach virus, but other than that, we were able to participate in community activities. We kept warm by helping stoke the stove and carrying firewood. We ground flour and soybeans to make fresh bread and homemade tofu. In a stiff wind, we helped reattach a tarp to the nearly-complete straw bale cabin. Keeping the cold at bay, we played Boggle, enjoyed meetings and conversation, and tossed around ideas on a variety of topics.
If it's possible to spend too little time somewhere with a daytime high temperature of zero degrees, we spent too little time at Dancing Rabbit. We made up for it, though, by spending too much time getting home; not surprisingly, while life proceeded almost normally at the community, once again transportation systems were disrupted by a storm. We're hoping to visit again, but next time we'll do it when the weather is warmer.
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