The Return of Spring…and Things: A Dancing Rabbit Update

The Return of Spring…and Things: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Yes, indeedy, spring is here, a time of growth, rebirth, and lots of activity. Recently returned from a month in Texas with Nathan visiting family and friends, I made my first batch of asparagus and shiitake mushrooms last week, sauteed up with plenty of Ironweed garlic, and that right there was the taste of spring in NEMO to me. Mmmmmm... Tereza here, writing to you at the end of a busy spring week, and the beginning of what looks to be a busy season altogether, here at Dancing Rabbit. The first week of the first visitor session of 2017 is…read more >
Season of Flowers: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Season of Flowers: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Hello all, and happy flowering season to you! Ted here to bring you the news from Dancing Rabbit. Everything seems to be in bloom this week, all-in on spring's arrival. Green is the new gray/brown, and our honey bees are often a good clue for me, as I roam about our gardens and orchards and out on the land. Where the buzz is, I find pollen sources and nectaries... until nightfall. In recent years we've realized that right around sundown, the bees go home to the hive and the moths come out. As busy as our courtyard peach tree is…read more >
Moving at the Speed of Life: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Moving at the Speed of Life: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Saturday's Metropolitan Opera broadcast was a performance of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. You know, the one with the famous wedding march that virtually all brides use to make their grand entrance. While listening I was observing the frantic activity of at least 14 different species of insects visiting my blossoming plum tree. Cob here, offering that unusual pairing as the foundation for my report on all the happenings at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. I noticed that the many creatures visiting my plum tree each moved at different speeds as well. The honey bees were continually on the move, whereas some…read more >
This Week’s Reasons Why: A Dancing Rabbit Update

This Week’s Reasons Why: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Every once in a while, I wonder why we decided to move our little family halfway across the country—why we decided to leave behind our house, extended family, jobs, schools, and a giant patch of black raspberries in our back yard. Christina, here, writing about this week’s reasons why. My week started off with a game of Capture the Flag on Sunday afternoon. Of the many ways that we play here, this is perhaps my favorite. Kids and adults sprinting along the paths, hiding behind buildings, chasing each other and screaming and laughing. I don’t remember which team got more…read more >
Leading Pigs with Marshmallows: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Leading Pigs with Marshmallows: A Dancing Rabbit Update

Howdy y’all. Ben here, finally upland of the soggy pig waller I’ve been slogging about in for the last week. One week and about a dozen neighbors, plus some sheet metal and some marshmallows, is all it took for me to get our sow loaded onto the trailer, but as the old joke goes, “What’s time to a pig?” In fact, one week ago, I thought I had this pig in the bag, but it turns out that as a sow grows, she typically becomes more ornery, more wizened. That’s true of some of my human friends, too. In the…read more >
Happy Spring! A Dancing Rabbit Update

Happy Spring! A Dancing Rabbit Update

The cat lockdown began this week, initiating four months (through mid-July) of our annual attempt to shelter ground-nesting birds in the village area from the depredations of our vicious feline friends in the most sensitive period of raising young. Ted here—a little weary from multiple nighttime wake-ups by my cat Gromit to let him in or out of the three not-quite-outdoors destinations now available to him—to bring you the news from our fair village. I got the lowdown this morning on the Scotland County Community Theater play in Memphis, MO, from Danielle, Hassan, and Graham, who was heading out after…read more >
True Confession: Permaculture Course at DR

True Confession: Permaculture Course at DR

by Liz Hackney I have a confession to make before I tell you all about how wonderful the Permaculture Design Course (PDC) at Dancing Rabbit (DR) was. You see, all the DR visitor sessions for the year were full, and I felt urgent about seeing it all in person, so I signed up for the PDC course because there were open spots for me and my 27-year-old son. I didn't do the homework reading beforehand, I didn't watch any of the recommended videos. My son and I traveled together to St. Louis the day before the course started and on…read more >
I Love the Way I Live Here

I Love the Way I Live Here

Howdy, readers! My name is Kale and I was once just like you: a person interested in living more sustainably and following Dancing Rabbit (DR) as a means to get that inspiration for my own life. That was 2-5 years ago. Now I’m writing this blog post as a person who returned to Dancing Rabbit, after an immersive internship and more than a year back home in Canada. After years of reading about Dancing Rabbit, the lives of the folks who live here, and the amazing ways they contribute to the betterment of our world, I decided it was time…read more >