Good thing I love the color green! We’ve had so much rain in the last few weeks that everything is bursting with growth! (Well, yes, and mud, but the green is brighter than the brown.) I’m sure I’m not the only one enjoying at least one aspect of the wet — all the wonderful homegrown food from the gardens. Recent yumminess has included garlic chives, asparagus, salad greens, braising greens, and last night I had my first strawberries of the season. Mmmmmmm…. Tereza here, appreciating a little sunshine after a few too many days of rain, wind, and chillier than normal temps for early June.
It’s my first spring and summer in my new house, and it’s amazing how much the views have transformed now that the trees have leaved out and the grass is high. (My grass is lower now—Ted very kindly scythed around my house while I was away, so I can at least walk around the building without getting lost in the underbrush—thanks, Ted!) I can’t even see the tents a few yards away through all the greenery! I planned a built-in desk for one corner of my small bedroom, with windows on either side. Due to the slope of the ground this part of the house is fairly high up, so I look out on a lot of lovely leafy tree branches, very close, so much that it almost seems like I’m typing in the trees. I clearly recall wanting that for this space, but over the winter managed to forget that, as the bare branches gave a very different feel. Still pleasant—I could watch the overwintering birds and squirrels at their busy lives—but nothing like this treehouse feeling, which I love.
And now would be the time when I tell you, dear readers, what has been happening in our village of late. Which requires my remembering the same. Hmmm&elip; I know I was here this week&elip; We had the village council slate selection meeting, but if you are a regular reader you already know that, because Ben mentioned it in the last column&elip;
Oh, I know! There was a contra dance. Or was it a barn dance? I can’t recall but it was super fun! Visitor Richard was the caller (thanks, Richard!), and the live band was great. I was super proud to see Sandhill neighbor Trish, who is learning banjo, playing with them. She and Anya and I play together sometimes, me on ukulele and Anya on guitar. We’re all beginners and are having a blast playing together, but I’m certainly not brave enough to play in public yet. OK, I did play one song at a no talent show once, but that was different, it specifically said no talent was required. But back to the dance, lots of new dancers were there and also seemed to be having a great time. Not much makes me laugh more than contra dancing. Now I’m looking forward to the Contra Culture dance weekend (scheduled for September) even more!
The midwives had a picnic in Rutledge for their home birth clients on the weekend. Sounds like everybody had a really nice time, and I was glad that there was so much wonderful food that they couldn’t eat all the hot dogs—yum (and thanks, Sara)!
There was also a birthday party for Tony, complete with some of his favorite things: cinnamon and the Grateful Dead. I enjoyed chatting, dancing, eating a wide variety of cinnamon-flavored treats, and watching videos of Dead shows and trying to guess whether Tony had been to them or not. (Hint: what color is Jerry’s hair?) I also enjoyed watching people do the airplane– or whatever it’s called when one person lies on their back and puts their feet on another person’s hips, holds their hands, and raises the person into the air. Ideally the person flying lets go hands and looks kind of superhero-like, but in most cases at this party there was a great deal of giggling, wobbling, falling over, and general dishevelment and merriment. Quite fun!
In case it sounds like all I think about these days is food, another highlight of my week was attending an orientation to our newest Dancing Rabbit Vehicle Co-operative vehicle, a Nissan Leaf. It’s all electric and incredibly cute. Maybe the headlights are a little too insectile for my taste, but all in all it’s nice looking. But more importantly it uses no fossil fuel! There’s a big charging cord that plugs into the front and looks a lot like a gas pump. When you “start” the vehicle it doesn’t make any noise, nor does it make much noise when it’s running. Apparently at slow speeds it beeps, a safety feature so pedestrians know it’s there and moving. Other than that, it doesn’t seem too different from a non-electric car. I am very excited to try it out for real, knowing that hauling my carcass around will be thanks to the sun and wind, rather than non-renewable resources!
And that’s pretty much what I can recall of the week, other than the usual gardening and building and hosting visitors and welcoming new work exchangers and attending committee meetings and cooking and eating and spending time with friends and all the rest that happens in a “normal” week at Dancing Rabbit.
Don’t forget! Through June 27, we’re offering Thursday Night Tours of the village, starting at 6 pm in front of the Milkweed Mercantile, lasting about an hour. (Thursday is Pizza Night at the Mercantile—come and make a night of it!) Or come to our regular tour on June 8th (second and fourth Saturdays of the month, April through October, at 1 pm). Tours are free and open to the public, though donations to our non-profit educational efforts are welcome. Sorry, no pizza available Saturdays!
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community of 70+ folks in the rolling hills just outside Rutledge, northeast Missouri. For more info, check out our website at www.dancingrabbit.us, our blog at blog.dancingrabbit.us, email us at dancingrabbit@ic.org, or give us a call at (660) 883-5511.