Tereza here, with the latest from Dancing Rabbit…
One of the best bits of the week, to me anyway, was DR’s first ripe tomato of the season! And it came from my garden! Yum! That makes it truly summer now, no matter what the calendar says…
[Note: I have not checked with every single Rabbit to ensure that I did, in fact, have the first ripe tomato of 2012 at DR. I did ask all the gardeners I’ve seen in the last two days, assuming that at least one of them would have heard about such big news had it happened to someone else. Rest assured that if it turns out mine was not the first, a retraction will be forthcoming.]
As for the rest of the news, all the hot and dry weather we had must have shriveled my brain – for the life of me I couldn’t recall what went on this last week. So I strolled up to the kitchen in the community building, where Nani was cooking the last dinner for our second visitor session, and asked the folks helping (or just hanging) out in the kitchen what happened this week. My thanks to SunGee, Nick, and Nani for the assistance. Tiny baby Abigail was there too, but frankly she wasn’t terribly helpful. (Adorable, yes. Informative, no.)
Here’s what I recall of what they said: there was a party at Red Earth in Joan’s new round summer house. Sounds like the party was fun and the house is very cool. There was also a bonfire, yoga (both self-led and of the “class taught by teacher” variety), a new class on contact improv, part two of The Lord of the Rings movie, and a contra dance called by visitor-turned-work exchanger Jenny.
Another highlight mentioned was skirts. Visitor Amathyst recently took up sewing as a hobby and, as she puts it, has become addicted. While she was here she made herself a patchwork skirt that was such a hit she ended up with lots of orders for them. At my count four adorable skirts, many of them sporting the DR logo, appeared on well-dressed Rabbits this week, and more will be arriving via mail (and hopefully a visit-disguised-as-a-delivery) in the near future.
In other crafty news, Skyhouse work exchanger Meredith made a sweet little dream pillow for Amathyst, and filled it with mugwort, a herb reputed to enhance dreams. Meredith’s own dreams have included a desire to appear in this column, and I am happy to oblige.
One kitchen informant remarked on how many residency interviews we’ve had of late. A residency interview is the third step for someone who wants to live here. First they have to visit, either through our official visitor program, or by coming as a work exchanger or guest. (When folks don’t come through the official visitor program, we encourage them to attend the visitor program workshops, as lots of good information is provided in that forum.) The second step is to write a letter of intent, telling us why they want to live here, what they want to do, etc. The third step is the residency interview, where MARC (the Membership and Residency Committee), and anyone else who cares to attend, meets with the prospective resident and chats more about their hopes and dreams. MARC then decides whether or not to recommend the person for residency, and the process continues from there.
The same informant suggested I mention the part of our mission that says that we want to grow to be the size of a small town, and which is usually spoken of as being 500-1000 people. (Our current population is approximately 70.) Population growth has been a hot topic off and on at DR. Folks argue, oops, I mean discuss, how much, how fast, and in what ways we should grow. I think we all agree that if we grow too quickly we run the risk of losing our unique culture and possibly even experiencing the dreaded “mission drift.” What we differ on is exactly how fast is too fast. Some tend toward the “bring ’em on” end of things, while others think growing slowly is more sustainable in terms of our infrastructure and available energy to integrate new folks. Most of us are somewhere in the middle, I think, and we strive to balance everyone’s needs and desires when we check in about how many new residents we accept each year. We’ve already reached this year’s check in point of ten, so the topic will likely be discussed at our next business meeting.
Speaking of numbers, this week I really noticed how many people were here who I didn’t know. It’s exciting to get used to seeing folks in the courtyard or on the path who I don’t even recognize. There were only ten people at DR when I moved here, so I’ve been more used to knowing, or at least knowing about, everyone I see, but nowadays—no way! What with all the cool B&B guests, visitors, guests, and work exchangers, not to mention everyone who lives here, it’s certainly starting to feel more town-like to me.
Finally, eight folks are here to participate in a 15-day timber-framing workshop hosted by April and Ziggy. It will be exciting to see how much progress they’ll make on their new building with so many eager-to-learn helpers!
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and educational nonprofit in Rutledge, northeast Missouri, focused on sustainable living. We offer free tours to the public twice monthly, on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays at 1pm. The next will be June 23rd. Meanwhile, for more information you can visit our website www.dancingrabbit.org or give us a call at (660) 883-5511.