I spent the train ride from Chicago to Carbondale in
anxious anticipation of returning home to Dancing Rabbit
Farm. I'd just flown back from Australia, my first overseas
trip, and felt a little strange about having been away from
my partner and all the work and play of life in our little
village for two whole weeks. The minute I saw Cecil's face as
he stood on the platform, straining to find me through the
glare of the tinted windows, I knew it would be o.k. I felt a
stupid grin on my face seeing him hold little Shira's hand as
she jumped up and down like a spring. When I stepped off the
train I got two hugs, one around my knees and one big bear
hug from Cecil.
"Hi guys! Let's go home." We put the panniers on the
tandem and Shira in the Burley and took off down the dirt
road just as the sun was setting. I breathed in deep,
appreciating the country summer evening smells of pine,
barbecue smoke and dusty roads. The crickets and tree frogs
were just starting up for the night and Shira sang a little
made-up song about trains that go "toot-toot."
"Star, we harvested the yellow squash and tomatoes
yesterday and they sold out at the farmers' market! Rachel
finally sold her computer and the new member I told you
about, John, brought a better one with a faster modem and put
it in community use. I think we'll be done telecommuting by
spring, though. We can pretty much mothball the computers by
then. John's partner, Court, is doing a visitor period and he
seems really cool. He's a killer cook and is making us all
dinner as we speak."
"He knows how to get accepted at DR."
"He and John want to start a gay men's subcommunity."
"That should be a nice compliment for the Catholic
Workers that are moving in next month." I smiled.
"I think Halle has a new couple for you two. They live
in Murphysboro and they are still deciding if they want to
have a homebirth. You'll be really into them, Star. They have
a horse farm."
"Right on. I'll be glad to jump right back into work.
What other work is waiting for me?"
"Well, you have a ton of correspondence waiting for you
and the FEC meetings are going to be held here in two weeks,
so we've been trying to get the straw bale visitors' center
done for them. You're not going to believe how fast we
cranked through it. All the experience of the other buildings
has really made us pros. Aaron is even thinking of writing a
book on strawbale construction this winter."
"I always wondered if he was a closet case writer. So
how's the big, hoofed baby? I really missed him in
Australia."
"You are not going to believe the trouble he's been
stirring up. Yesterday I was cleaning the common house and
kept hearing strange noises in the kitchen. Finally, I went
in to check it out only to find Jeffrey had escaped from his
paddock and let himself in our kitchen. He looked surprised
that I walked in on him snuffling around the floor. He is
such an escape artist."
"Oh, he just missed me. I'll keep his little brain busy
learning ground driving this week. He's getting big enough
that I think he can start plowing some real easy stuff for
practice. By next spring I think he'll be very useful for the
garden beds."
"Starling, train! Toot-toot!" comes from the Burley.
"We're almost home, Shira. Are you hungry for dinner?"
"Star, she's been eating us out of house and home.
You'll be so proud of me. I have been watching her all
weekend while Aaron and Halle went camping with Rachel
Freifelder. She seems pretty content and getting her to eat
has been no problem."
"I am proud of you Cecil. Has Tony been helping you a
lot?"
"Yeah, Shira will do anything Tony asks. Having him
around has helped a lot. We played trucks and weeded potatoes
and she's been using her potty pretty consistently."
We turned up Colma Road and parked the tandem in the
bike shed. I lifted Shira out and gave her a little kiss on
the cheek before she took off for Skyhouse. When I walked in
the door, Rachel Katz gave me her usual friendly welcome hug
and I felt very glad to be back on the farm. Dinner was just
being served and I was especially glad to be back to our
fantastic home cooking. It was good to listen to people talk
about their days and Shira chattering to herself. I talked
about my trip and listened to Rachel K talk about finding
teachers for the women's self defense collective she started
in town.
After dinner, Cecil and I put Shira to bed and left her
safe in the common house with six different people around to
listen for her. We walked out to the back field and sat down
at Sunset Point (named after a similar spot at Acorn Farm) to
watch the sun go down behind the back pasture. We could see
our two horses and our milk cow galloping and kicking around
the pasture, chased by the neighbors dog.
"They do this every night." Cecil told me when I tried
to chase the dog off. "It only lasts until the sun goes down,
then Bandit goes home and they go back to grazing. I let him
do it because I think it's just a big game. You know they
aren't afraid of that little weasel."
The sunset was all pinks and fiery reds. In the distance
we could see the light playing off the tree-covered rolling
hills of the Shawnee National Forest. I took Cecil's hand and
we walked silently back to our room, listening to all the
night creatures and watching the stars come out one by one.
Nights like this I could hardly imagine why I had ever lived
in the city.
We found our little house by memory, as it was mostly
surrounded by trees, and walked in onto our adobe floor.
Cecil lit the candles on the candelabras illuminating the
bits of glass, mirrors and china we had built into the adobe
walls. We had designed and built this little 15-by-15-foot
straw bale structure so that we could sleep out in the woods
and yet still share the common house with our friends. It
served as a sanctuary from the chaos of community life and a
place for me to write and sew. The temperature stayed pretty
comfortable except in extremes when we would actually fire up
our little wood stove. Cecil and I had chosen to build our
room without modern conveniences while most people at Dancing
Rabbit had chosen to use alternative technologies to maintain
a modern American lifestyle. We guessed that as we grew older
we may choose to build our own earthship, but for now we
liked the closeness of sharing community space and roughing
it a little in our private space.
Dancing Rabbit was a good life for us. We each had our
own little social and personal growth groups and many
supportive friends. I was glad to get to participate in
raising children, caring for farm animals and learning
building, gardening, business skills, interpersonal skills
and handcrafts. It seemed like there was always a new person
around with something to teach whoever was interested. I
enjoyed our Skyhouse rituals and sing-a-longs. Mostly it was
great to share healthy transportation, living foods, clean
air and a vibrant farm with folks and build an example of
just how fun and joyous it can be to live sustainably.
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