Hi everyone. This is Alline writing the very first Dancing Rabbit column for 2012.
I’m sitting here at my (solar & wind-powered) computer feeling sugared-out, and wondering what it would be like to have Christmas in, say, Australia, where the holiday falls right smack in the middle of the summer. Would we be eating fresh tomato and basil salads instead of eggnog and chocolate fudge?
Many of us are still smiling from our New Year’s Eve party. Planned and executed by former work exchanger Craig Duncan, the evening was filled with something for everyone, and was chock full of Craig’s enthusiasm and creativity. The piece de resistance was a hand-crafted 3-foot wide paper mache ball that “fell” at the stroke of midnight. When the kids pulled on the strings (as instructed) they were delighted to be showered with confetti and balloons. Other activities included a trivia contest, dancing, music, and games. Thanks Craig, for another unforgettable event!
I am actually going to cheat a bit today, and present an annual Dancing Rabbit wrap-up. Here’s what we accomplished in 2011, with a few sneak peeks into exciting events and opportunities coming up in 2012. Thanks to Alyson and the development team for putting together much of the info, and presenting it in such an entertaining manner!
This year a whopping 30 people applied to live in our ecovillage, and already 17 have moved in, with more coming in the spring. This winter we have nearly 60 people here, filling our cozy homes to capacity. For the first time, families are moving to Rutledge while they consider joining, and some ex-members are staying nearby. Northeast Missouri is becoming a magnet for those living cooperatively and sustainably, with four intentional communities and new and old friends all playing their roles in the exciting culture we’re creating.
Some of these new “rabbits” found us through our visitor program, or by helping us build homes and grow food during a work-exchange or internship. Visitors (60 of them in 2011) participate in the life of the village and learn about consensus, natural building, renewable energy, and raising food. Dates and application information for our 2012 Visitor Program are available here: https://www.dancingrabbit.org/join/visiting.php.
Work exchangers (36 this year) offer us a season of their energy and in return get practical experience in creating homes and gardens in an ecovillage. (Interested in a work exchange for 2012? Go to this page for more information: https://www.dancingrabbit.org/social_change/interns.php). And of course many of these folks—plus about 150,000 more every year—find us through our highly informative website, where an upgrade is currently in progress (https://www.dancingrabbit.org/).
With our current growth, we will very soon outstrip the capacity of our current Common House. We’ve spent much of the year designing a new building with space for meetings, workshops, and our nonprofit office, as well as a gathering place for community potlucks, celebrations, and social events. This community center will also boast a co-operative kitchen and bath house that will serve our growing population for years to come. Our architect is now working with members to create the ultimate eco-center, as we nail down specifics of the timeline and budget. Stay tuned! We can’t wait to share this with you as it develops.
This year Dancing Rabbit was filmed for two documentaries, Rhythms of Rutledge and Within Reach (https://www.withinreachmovie.com/), and has been featured in four magazine articles and two interviews. Arkansas Tech professor Joshua Lockyer and two colleagues from North Texas University are studying DR’s experience as they develop ways of measuring sustainability. And the Milkweed Mercantile B&B welcomed almost 300 guests, more than half of whom were meeting us for the first time. Included in this number were college classes from Principia College and University of Illinois/Champaign-Urbana. The enthusiasm and energy of the students was incredibly inspiring, and we’re looking forward to hosting many more in 2012.
With a government grant, Dancing Rabbit installed over 25kW of solar panels in a new grid-tied renewable energy system. The BEDR Power Co-op (Better Energy for Dancing Rabbit) will provide power to new homes and businesses here while exporting additional energy to the national grid. This more than doubles our energy production capacity, allowing our car co-op to turn to electric vehicles and our cooks to switch away from propane. We’re considering adding a large wind turbine next.
If you blinked this year you might have missed the lightning-speed construction of La Casa de Cultura. The paint was barely dry when 40 dancers from around the country descended on DR for Off Grid Blues. Next summer La Casa will allow Dancing Rabbit to host the Ecovillage Design Education course, a leadership training program offered at ecovillages around the world. We are finally becoming a leading destination for students of sustainable, regenerative culture. Learn more about the course details here: https://ecovillageeducation.us/about/gaia-education/.
One of our members wanted a vineyard and greenhouse, and we’ve always been committed to providing local food. So we took 20 acres out of a government conservation program, freeing that land up for agriculture. He put up a hoop-house with an incentive grant, and now folks here can buy locally grown salad greens in the winter—and pay for them in our local currency. He’s also offering organic cheese, and other villagers are selling yogurt, garlic, vegetables, eggs, bread, and beeswax candles—so you can have a full candlelight dinner without spending any “food miles”—only “food feet.”
That’s it for today. Here’s hoping that 2012 will be filled with happiness, compassion, good food, good friends and all that you dream of.
Are you looking for other ways to learn more or become involved with Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage? Check out our blog, the March Hare /marchhare//, for occasional updates and articles by a variety of Rabbits. And consider joining Ziggy and April for two natural building workshops, planned for this summer. More info can be found online at https://small-scale.net/yearofmud/natural-building-workshops/.