Into the Sunset: A Dancing Rabbit Update

This week at Dancing Rabbit has been simply pleasant and ordinary in a lot of ways. Progress was made on building projects, gardens produced in abundance, we hung out at the pond, carried on our committee work, worked our income jobs, and did our chores. Same old, same old. For me though, everything I did and witnessed took on a special sparkle of affection or patina of nostalgia, since many of them I was doing or witnessing for the last time.

Hi, this is Sam, and I’m writing to you as I begin a sort of encore week at Dancing Rabbit, since I had planned to leave at the end of August but will stay for one more week. This will be my last time writing this update for y’all, though if you subscribe to the March Hare blog, you’ll likely see more of my work there in the coming weeks.

It’s a little harder than usual to recall what happened this week, since I’ve removed myself from the announcements email list, so I can’t use my inbox as a cheat sheet. A lot of the Critters have been out of town, at sheep conventions and what have you, so Mae was enjoying some quieter time between chores.

Plaster work is going on at Moon Lodge and Rae and Illly’s house. Tereza has a new shed, The Grocery Store is looking tidier than ever under its new management, and the planted beds in The Bean Field community gardens are looking impressively prolific. Wildflowers are continuing their colorful slow-motion annual parade, and I saw the first Monarch butterfly of the season. Cicadas are now at peak noisiness, I think.

This week we said “see you later” to our friends the Bushmans, as they moved away from Rutledge for family reasons unrelated to the tensions they felt around recent meetings and ordinances there.  They weren’t members of Dancing Rabbit, but so many of us knew them through the children’s friendships, work relationships, and general socialization that their departure was notable enough to warrant a going-away brunch.

Some folks stopped by Thistledown to enjoy finger foods and cocktails in honor of my going away, too. I was so touched at one point by a gift I received, I had to go have a little cry before rejoining the party. (Thanks for the bowl, Thomas.) Cob had promised folks there’d be prizes, and he declared some winners that night. For my part, I declare Katherine and Nik tied for winner in the vegan category, and I’ll bring them their prize of my purple sunshine t-shirt just as soon as I’ve washed it.

The pond weather has been just right, and I’ve enjoyed reading my book while the kids frolic in the water. For me, the pond is really one of the most important aspects of life at DR, and besides personal relationships, it’s the thing I’ll miss the most. Access to a clean swimming hole, with views of rolling wild prairie and lush draw, where everybody knows your name and herons come to visit, is something hard to achieve without community. I’m going to miss it a lot.

I’m also going to miss pizza night, and having a neighborhood bar where they don’t mind if I don’t buy anything, so long as I come in to spend time, and when the barkeep asks how I’m doing, I’m pretty sure he really cares. I’m not going to miss feeling responsible for the selection of the Board of Directors of a non-profit organization, but I will miss living with others who are passionate enough about some of the same things I am to spend their time and energy making decisions like that. From what I hear, the Board, as selected on Sunday, is chock-full of awesome people. I have high hopes for what Dancing Rabbit can accomplish with their leadership.

It will be interesting to see what the next few months and years bring for Dancing Rabbit. How will the ever-changing cast and crew, not to mention team of writers, perform over the next seasons? I may have dumped my last bucket of humey, but there will always be a part of my heart here at DR. You can picture me in chaps, with a duster flowing dramatically in the wind and my charming sidekick close beside. I’ll say, “Well, it looks like my work here is done. I’m needed elsewhere now,” and then ride off into the sunset.

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Editor’s Note: We’ll miss you, Sam and Kody! Thanks for being here and doing all you’ve done over the years– wishing you the best of luck in your away-from-DR adventures!

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Dancing Rabbit’s Annual Open House and Village Fair is coming up! Saturday Sept 27th, 2014,  from 1-4 p.m. we’ll be showing off all we do to friend and neighbors. Free tours will happen every half hour, with friendly Dancing Rabbit members to answer questions, a Village Fair selling unique crafts and goods, and some complimentary refreshments. Check out our website or our Facebook event page  for details!