The March Hare: October 1996
Issue 9

Come see our past issues for lots of Dancing Rabbit information.

The Rabbits Pick a New Home

The Decision

We all can take a deep breath and release it; after years of talk and months of searching, Dancing Rabbit has chosen a home. The seven of us in the Midwest spent two and a half days meeting and have come to consensus to move near Sandhill Farm in northeastern Missouri.

Sandhill, a community of nine people near Rutledge, Missouri, has extended a most generous offer, boosting DR towards a great beginning. Sandhillians have expressed interest in helping us learn the skills we'll need to do construction, gardening, farming, and starting new businesses. In addition, having been on their land for 22 years, they represent a unique resource as we seek to build community ourselves. Additionally, they have offered eight or ten acres of cleared land for DR to begin building on and planting gardens, if we choose.

Coming to consensus was not without its difficulties. Some expressed reservations about the appropriateness of this area as a site for DR. Mostly our concerns lie in the distance from large towns and cities and the difficulties presented in terms of recruitment and economic opportunity. Some members of the group also had personal concerns about their future here. The social and physical geography of this area are very different from that of Carbondale, Illinois (the other site we gave heavy consideration) and what they had pictured for their lives. We did a lot of talking about people's hopes and fears for the future and how moving here would affect them. While we can't tell the future, we hope we've created a consensus we can all live with. It's time to start building our ecovillage!

The Next Steps

Now the next stage of work can begin. We're spending a lot of time looking for land (see "The Search Narrows") and a place to live this winter. So far we have found few rental possibilities in the town of Rutledge (population:109). Unfortunately, we've had some disappointments with housing including having an offer to sell a 5 bedroom house for $5,000 rescinded just as we decided to buy. Thankfully, there are still a few options to explore and (thanks to Sandhill) we won't be left out in the cold even if we don't find something soon.

Meanwhile, we're busy helping Sandhill with their income labor, including sorghum harvesting, tempeh making, fairs, and digging horseradish. This will both help out our friends and explore potentially expanding some of these businesses. Star is working in the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) office here, a welcome non-commuting cash source. Tony, Cecil, and Rachel K. are still telecommuting to California while Aaron and Halle' scored a great part-time job delivering organic produce in Bloomington. Aaron was pleased to land a promising construction job there recently, as well.

Planning the ecovillage is getting more specific and real to us, as we prepare to incorporate Dancing Rabbit as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. We're also writing the articles of incorporation and working on the bylaws for our first subcommunity, Skyhouse. Named after our old Berkeley home, it will probably be a 501(d) tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. This means some of us will be income sharing, and may join the Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC). Meanwhile, we still find the time to discuss outreach, future membership, and the social and economic structure of the town to come.

As far as recruitment goes, we've been holding off on receiving visitors until we have our own space. We have been pleasantly surprised to hear how many folks have been watching our progress and fantasizing about ways they could fit in. One group that shows particular excitement about our project is the Chicago-based Fiddler's Green (see "Dancing to a Different Fiddler"). We recently enjoyed meeting with them and doing some visioning about possibilities for the two groups.

This winter the Rabbits will be dispersing a bit as we travel to FIC and FEC meetings and holiday gatherings. We are all looking ahead to the gathering of the whole group when Halle', Aaron, and their newborn (stay tuned to hear if it's a Jack or a Shira) come from Bloomington, Illinois in February. Dancing Rabbit is moving full speed ahead!