The March Hare: The Dancing Rabbit Weekly Blog

It has been 16 years since Sara and I took up residence at Dancing Rabbit, and every year I learn again that there is nuance and change within long-term patterns. Certain features of my life, like weekly potlucks with friends and neighbors, groups of interested strangers coming to visit our village for weeks at a time, naming our houses, and cooperative labor, remain the same, but the specific shape those things take does change over time: for instance, redbud and plum are about to burst into bloom as they do each year, but do they always coincide so closely, or…read more >

Time stands still for no one, and that is certainly true at Dancing Rabbit. Liz here, describing the ebb and flow of life at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Spring has definitely sprung. The whole landscape is turning green and the first bulbs are beginning to flower. We have had mild temperatures, rain and cool winds, which is typical of spring weather in northeastern Missouri. Often, when I’m exchanging pleasantries about the weather with my village friends, there will be the inevitable warning not to get too used to it: April often has surprises in store. We had snow for a few…read more >

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 >

Wow, a lot happened this week, and I think I'm experiencing a bit of whiplash, though that could be from one of the many slips I have taken in the copious mud created by the recent thaw. Ted here, to share the week's update from Dancing Rabbit as we run up to the spring equinox. One of Dancing Rabbit's newest inhabitants, delighted by the end of a baaaad winter. The nightmare of a cold winter, determined to thoroughly outstay its welcome, turned on a dime to the inevitability of spring. The spring birds all showed up at once. Unlike the…read more >

We’re all affected, every day, by the arrest of one of our community members several weeks ago. Liz here, with the difficult and delicate task of writing about life at Dancing Rabbit. While I could use this column to express how it has affected me, it seems pale in comparison with how it has affected some community members more directly, so I’ll take a page from my midwestern neighbors and talk about less tender subjects. Frost glistening on last year's Queen Anne's lace. Since January, I have been commuting to Kirksville twice a week, taking my daughter to classes at…read more >