The March Hare: Summer 1997
Issue 13

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

Summertime News

Things are humming away here at Dancing Rabbit. The garden has exploded with life beyond our control! For a few weeks we've had more greens than even the hungriest rabbits could eat. We had salads and sandwiches and just stuffed handfuls of tender lettuce into our mouths while we gardened. Now the spring greens are aging in the heat, and summer vegetables are coming on. Halle' canned a bunch of strawberries from the garden, as well as mulberries from our walks in the woods. Gooseberries and raspberries are just starting in - we hope we get to some of them before the deer do.

We're looking seriously at several pieces of land. It feels like we should have some ground to call Dancing Rabbit by the end of the summer, an exciting prospect. We're also coming closer to 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, and Skyhouse is now an official member of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities (see "Skyhouse joins the FEC").

With all these things happening, we're starting to think seriously about what to start building first and how we're going to build it (see "Cabin Design").

Our population has gone through some changes. Rachel Katz is back for a while and we're all happy to have her. Of the several visitors that have come through, Steve Mann has decided to stay in Scotland county and get to know us better. Since we can't accept or house new members until we have land, Steve has an apartment in Memphis and comes over to visit quite a bit. Ray, our alternative energy icon, decided that Missouri is not his permanent home and left for a community in New Mexico. Skyhouse purchased his off-grid trailer and gave him a bike trailer to carry the possessions he took with him. Mitch tuned up Ray's bike and off he went. We wish Ray well and the best of luck, and hope he'll keep in touch in his new home.

Rachel F. and Mitch are settled in their new place, three miles down the road, and had a housewarming party in early June. They found time to go on a bicycle trip through Illinois and Wisconsin to the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair (see "Energy Fair Pilgrimage") and encountered some fascinating new human powered vehicles on the way (see "Velodiversity"). Skyhouse had a surprise birthday party for Cecil on July 1st. Amazingly enough, he was actually surprised. As always, we have dinner with the Sandhill folks once a week, which often feels like a party. Other fun things we've done together are: go to fireworks at a lakeside restaurant called the Catfish Place; shoot off our own fireworks (legal in Missouri); attend the Memphis community theatre production of The King and I; lots of berrying; and of course swimming in the pond several times a day as the summer heat calls us there. With so much fun going on, it's amazing we get any work done.