A Chorus of Many Voices: A Dancing Rabbit Update

A Chorus of Many Voices: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Howdy y'all. Ben here, bringing you my recent observations from the sodden hollows and misty hills of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in northeast Missouri. Arthur, outside and on the roof. Humans are not generally the first thing I interact with in the morning, and that's been working out for me pretty nicely so far, as well as for the humans. Every morning I am greeted by an ever-insatiable horde of chickens walking up the footpath from their cold season range, traipsing through the fog and mire for snackies. I emerge from my fitful sleep, and before mixing feed, or even pulling…read more >
Monsters and Ice: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Monsters and Ice: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Howdy y'all. You know, whenever I have a hard time talking about what's really going on — or worse, no idea what the other party could possibly be thinking — I like to discuss the weather instead. So I think I'll start there. Ben's chickens scrabbling for oats in the snow. Ben here, writing to y'all from the icy physical and emotional purgatory that is Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, tucked away in the impassibly slippery rolling hills of Northeast Missouri. This has been the hardest winter I've ever experienced, maybe. Then again, I've been through some pretty hard ones. Everything outside…read more >
Doing Good As A Pessimist: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Doing Good As A Pessimist: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Ted putting some finishing touches on the purlins of the new barn in preparation for roofing.  Howdy y'all. Ben here, your favorite manure-encrusted freelance writer (emphasis on the free), bringing the latest news from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in cold, dreary Northeast Missouri. I'm encrusted in manure for a few reasons. One is that my work area this afternoon is a somewhat rare combination of icy yet muddy conditions; it’s like scrabbling over frozen chunks of waterlogged earth frosted in a thin veil of poultry leavings, which have been warmed over by a balmy sun. It has a consistency similar to…read more >
The Ongoing Fiasco: A Dancing Rabbit Update

The Ongoing Fiasco: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Howdy y'all. I guess it's my turn to write this thing again. I'll just tell you, because I'm required to do so, that my name is Ben and I've been bumbling about Dancing Rabbit for a hot minute now, doing things and touching stuff in a vain attempt to live a little simpler than I could outside of a community like this one. Some of my attempts succeed—like using all three sides of the toilet paper—while others seemingly drag me into an ever more complex fiasco of using resources in order to save resources. Sure, if I could find a…read more >
It’s Almost Soup Season: A Dancing Rabbit Update

It’s Almost Soup Season: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Howdy y'all. My name's Ben. I have a master's degree in duck husbandry and domestic thermodynamics and a minor in bull manure, which is probably how I ended up on the prestigious list of presenters and learning leaders for Dancing Rabbit's new, homegrown Permaculture Design Certification currently in progress. Now a person can read some of the several, thousand-page tomes on the subject of permaculture or attend a class such as the one being offered here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, but don't be surprised to discover that there's a bunch of permaculturists around who don't even know that they're already…read more >
Abundance and Adaptation: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Abundance and Adaptation: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Howdy y'all. Ben here, checking in from the slightly moist dust bowl of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, northeast Missouri. We got about a half inch of rain overnight, just enough to make the step outside my outhouse slippery and keep my sweet potatoes from quitting for one more day, not to mention get some mildew brewing and keep me from dehydrating the metric boatload of produce I'm tripping over. After months of arid conditions, the cottonwoods are already dropping leaves due to stress. I drop things when I'm suffering from stress, too, mostly tomatoes. We are at the height of abundance…read more >
Human Scale: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Human Scale: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Howdy y'all. Ben here, with an account of this week's happenings at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Northeast Missouri. It's hot here; the sort of heat that boils the motivation out of my blood. Somehow, the air is extremely humid, but the soil is dry to the point of forming fissures. At this point, if you've been reading updates from me, you may have noted that I have a major fixation on complaining about the weather. The life we are creating here leaves little space for hiding from it. When extreme temperatures hit, there are a lot of lives at stake, both…read more >
Chores and Chiggers: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Chores and Chiggers: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Hot darn y'all. It's me, Ben. I am not an astronomer, nor an astrologer, but I do in fact live in the dirt, like 80 percent of the world does, and I do declare that writing this inspirational tome, under a newish moon, in late May, in northeast Missouri, of temperate North America, is something of a chore. It is nothing I’m not used to; I do a lot of chores around here, some of which I actually enjoy when the weather cooperates. As of late, our quaint eco-burg has been affected by a climate pattern I like to call…read more >