I imagine that you, dear reader, have many moments when, with nothing else to think about, your thoughts wander to Dancing Rabbit. You probably often ponder things like "gosh, what holiday is the Rabbits' favorite?" and other weighty issues. Being a resourceful sort, you try to answer your questions, too. You guess perhaps Easter, with all of its rabbit-related accessories? Canada Day? National Left-Hander's Day? Christmas or Hanukkah? All good guesses, but no, no, no, no and no! The hands-down favorite holiday among Rabbits is (drum-roll please!) LAND DAY! After a mere four years it is developing into a gathering of our extended family, a celebration of all we've accomplished, a look forward to future dreams, an incredible potluck dinner and a kick-booty open mic!
This year's celebration got off to a great start as folks began to gather here at DR. Kicking of the immigration was Lisa Schwartz from the intern class of '98 (fondly known as "Intern #2"). Also coming in for the ceremonies were interns from the class of 2001Aaron, Mukluk, Kit and Emily H. Rachel's parents, Stan and JoAnn Katz, were here to help us celebrate. Last but not least, former members Timothy and Jacob brought cute baby Indigo down from Detroit.
Friday night we began our weekend with a Remembrance Ritual. We climbed the ladder to the second floor of the half-finished Skyhouse, which was decorated with (big surprise) straw! After Aubrey invoked the directions with beautiful ceramic tiles she had painted, we all shared our memories of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Cecil, Tony and Rachel began with the early historythe 'temporary' name ("Dancing Rabbit? That's the stupidest name I've ever heard of!"), the historic attempt to get the van and trailer across the Great Plains ("hey, let's put the van inside the moving truck!"), searching for land in Tennessee and Illinois, and finally arriving here in Missouri. Jacob and Jeffrey began to add memories, followed by Kurt, Alline and Susan B. We remembered friends and members come and gone, triumphs and tears, and memories both funny and bittersweet .
Saturday morning found us all up early, running around like, well, rabbits, getting ready for our second annual Open House. Rachel, Little Tom and I 
prepared tour headquarters where we set up tables, hung Kit's quilt (made while she was our Artist-in-Residence this summer) for decor, and set out Community Bookshelf books for perusal and possible purchase by the masses. And masses they were! We had over 200 visitors again this year. All seemed to be very interested in and positive about what we're doing.
To help with crowd control, each Rabbit, resident, intern and visitor had a job. Big Tom (intern #1) and Lisa handled the parking situation. Susan B., Megan, Mark, Masha, Scott and Zach led tour groups from stop to stop. Stops included the gardens where Don revealed the secrets of organic gardening, the bio-diesel shed where Erik explained the miracle of bio-diesel, the Milkweeds cottage where Kurt showed off the house and grinned a lot, Allium/Bella Ciao/the Timberframe where former intern-now-resident Tamar told all. Then it was on to an explanation of our Conservation Reserve Program by tractor drivin' intern-turned-resident Ted, to an insider's view of the legendary Skyhouse presented by Tony, and topped off by a quick glimpse of the Outdoor Kitchen by Jeffrey and Cecil. It was wild! We had a great time.
Next was the potluck dinner, where many more friends, including the Sandhill folks with the prodigal Ann Shrader in tow, Larry Ayers, Nancy Kelly, the Cattleman's, and our favorite filmmaker John Schmidt joined us in a pre-dinner circle around the herb garden as the sun shared our happiness with a beautiful sunset. We all sang "The Dancing Rabbit Song" with huge smiles on our faces. Then it was time to eat!
After stuffing ourselves fuller than full (lots of extra food prepared by Brendan and Danielle) we once again climbed the Skyhouse ladder for our evening's entertainment. Eight-year old Emit and his brother Jules embraced the joy of microphones and started us off with stories about zoos in Columbia (we think). Morgan led us in a foot-stomping' sing-along version of "Feeling Alright", Lisa read a poem she had written, the DR Madrigals (25 singers strong!) made a special appearance, as did the group of Zack, Susan B., Masha, Danielle and Ted. A Sandhill visitor named Shawn led us in a non-sensual song called "Kanga-potato-roo" which we still don't totally understand but enjoyed immensely. Interns #1 and #2 joined with Cecil and Jacob to lead us in Space Ghost's "Bean Song". Then, after a rousing version of "Oh, Canada" in honor of Mukluk, we turned the stage over to fiddlers extraordinaire Tamar and Masha and bassist Cecil, who played Contra-dance song after song while the rest of us did free-form/slam contra dancing ("who needs a caller, anyway?"). Lots of laughing and very creative moves, especially by the gifted Little Tom and Kit. After we were done some folks went to relax in our new sauna (built by Shannon and Ted) and many more went down to the bonfire circle (lovingly prepared by Rainbow, Laurel and Ted) and drummed and howled until the wee hours.
We LOVE Land Day. We'd love it even better if you'd all join us next year. So put the first weekend in October on your calendars, and we'll look forward to dancing with you then!
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