November has arrived and still we have had only superficial frosts, with tomatoes, basil, and nasturiums persisting in the thermal shelter of rock walls and buildings. Temperatures are headed back up to short-sleeve weather for the first half of the week here, and autumn work will be enlivened once more. Ted here amidst firewood and other winter preparations to bring you this week’s update.
The return of warmth didn’t stop us having a chilly Halloween evening for our annual Progressive Fiasco Saturday night. The clouds cleared to bring a crisp, starry night for the festivities, as we gathered first outdoors after dark at Critterville out on the periphery of the village, and then progressed to other, more sheltered locations as the evening waxed. Still, each transition in our traveling celebration meant braving the outdoors again, though not without company and the warmth it brings.
Clever costumes abounded, some of which took an hour or two and several party stops for me to figure out (or overhear conversation about). We Ironweeders all planned and dressed and arrived together as a herd of cats wearing the sort of collars that have become both popular and infamous here in the past year, as we’ve discussed the kitty lock-down period in spring and early summer (to protect ground-nesting birds from voracious feline pets). They are wide and bright and meant to warn such birds of our approach. Two of us are on the current Village Council, and two others recent past members, so perhaps the political angle on a village issue came naturally.
The Mercantile offered me another chance to try bobbing for donuts on a string, which I’ve mostly watched kids and others do in past years, but attempted and succeeded at this time. Just had to find the right motivation. We also managed a wide-angle group photo there, which we’re still trying to track down.
Thistledown had hot cider and two-line spooky stories, Ironweed served alien eyeball concoctions, and Skyhouse anchored the tail end of the party for a couple hours, with dancing, snacks, and Halloween ambiance.
Thankfully for those who stayed late, the night held an extra hour of sleep, despite the sun being at a more advanced stage for a given hour come morning, with daylight savings kicking in overnight. It was nice to have light upon waking at a normal-ish hour, but it led for me to anxiety at the advanced rate of the passage of limited daylight hours by the time I actually arose for breakfast and to wash all the party dishes.
Between and alongside bouts of rain this past week, plenty of other events kept us occupied here. For Sara and me, most of our week up through Thursday night was preoccupied with preparation for the second of a series of webinars dubbed “Ecovillage Answers” and hosted by our educational nonprofit, Dancing Rabbit, Inc.
Ours, titled “The Carbon-Efficient Kitchen,” focused on carbon footprints as related to food, and how to ratchet down our food-related collective impact on the planet.
My focus on the information we were preparing to offer meant that I found myself for the last few weeks obsessively aware of the impact of my various food-related choices day-to-day, especially while traveling to the East Coast to visit family with Aurelia.
DR, Inc.-sponsored eco-footprinting research over the past couple years suggests that the average Rabbit is consuming at about 10% of the average American’s rate in a number of key areas. I attribute much of that reduction to living as a whole group of people who all make decisions with an eye toward ecological sustainability. Changing our consumption behaviors and habits is so much easier when normalized by group buy-in.
Some of the hardest moments for me are when spending time with friends and family who are not yet organizing their lives and all their daily choices around the most sustainable/lowest impact options at each juncture. I prefer to demonstrate rather than remonstrate, and there is only so far it feels reasonable to push my beliefs when in that company. Each disposable or even recyclable container or car trip I fail to avoid leaves me feeling that much heavier. How large already is the mountain of such impacts I have personally been responsible for in my life?
Our webinar went off without any significant hitches, and was followed by a lively question-and-answer period with participants. Sharon and Dennis hosted the presentation in their home, Robinia, and Illly and Rae covered the technical side with various computers and recording devices arrayed around us to bring it all together with our remote participants.
We hope to keep up conversation with those who joined us, as they grapple with shifting their daily choices to reduce their individual and collective impacts on the world. Dennis presents the next installment this week, talking about carbon impacts related to activities in the home.
It’s not too late to sign up for the remaining webinars in the series! If you’re interesting in making your footprint smaller and fending off calamitous climate change in the coming century, please consider joining our presenters for the remaining webinars; if you sign up for the bundle you also get access to the two that have already happened.
My brother just wrote this morning to say he was working on a bok choi kim chi (a spicy, fermented vegetable condiment consumed in great quantity in Korea). I’m brewing up my own kim chi today with some Chinese cabbage that volunteered in our garden, and the last of the Critters’ daikon radish that they kindly sent my way for the purpose.
Dan Kelley dropped off great quantities of apples and cider Thursday from his Blue Heron Orchard in Canton, the only certified organic orchard in the state of Missouri. With the cider fermenting, and more cheese to be made this week, I think I’ll have an even half-dozen ferments going at once. I don’t love the coming cold, but I do love harvest time!
Now it’s back to garlic planting and firewood for this Rabbit. May all your ferments be perfectly scrumptious, and your root cellars well-stocked, as you head into the cold and dark of the year. Happy November!
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As Ted mentioned above, this Thursday, November 5th, our online education series continues with our third webinar: “At Home with Carbon-Conscious Living.” Dennis will guide you through specific steps you can take to make your home and lifestyle part of the climate solution, sharing insights into your home carbon footprint, designing and building houses with low carbon in mind, how to use new and old technologies to power your home, tips and tricks for carbon-conscious home heating, and ways to live well with less stuff! (In other words, how to live like an ecovillager!) Register here, check out the series’ promo video, or find more info here!
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Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and nonprofit outside Rutledge, in northeast Missouri, focused on demonstrating sustainable living possibilities. Find out more about us by visiting our website, reading our blog, or emailing us.