Grass is starting to grow now. I stood in my garden yesterday, almost paralyzed by the thought of all the work I need to do to banish the prairie to outside my fence line, or at least confine and subdue it in the paths. Looking at the huge, healthy clumps of lush greenery coming up through last year’s mulch, I remembered commercials on TV for things like super grass seed for $20 a quart, that will grow where no other grass will.
You know what? I think the trick to growing grass might be to try to grow a vegetable garden; Then the grass will surely grow, with long roots and fantastically fast-growing leaves. That’s my experience anyway.
So, here’s my lawn-care advice, which I’ll give to you for the low low price of reading it: If you’re struggling with your lawn, till it, mix in some compost, and plant vegetable seeds. Grass will grow, I guarantee it or your money back. (Refund supplied in the form of fresh produce, guarantee void if the garden is thoroughly mulched.)
The grass is just one aspect of the onset of Spring. There are plenty of other symptoms this week, like Cob getting his first sunburn of the year, solar ovens being put to use, kids racing bikes up and down main street, and whole person-days spent digging, hoeing, planting, and mulching. Whiffle-ball and Ultimate Frisbee games have started up. Male robins are fighting in the streets, and female robins are so fat with eggs it’s hard to believe they can fly at all. Trees are budding out, wexers are arriving, plans are being laid for the first visitor program session of the year and we had a training session for tour guides.
Our Saturday tour (second and fourth Saturdays of each month, April through October, 1pm) is almost always led by our most senior guide, Bob. He’s been doing this tour for years, so he really knows his stuff. I recommend joining him some Saturday.
Even if you’ve been on a tour before, so much changes from year to year, and even month to month, it’s a new tour every time. You can see dozens of unique houses and hear about the pros and cons of different materials and designs. New houses are being built all the time. You can see our huge arrays of solar panels, our wind turbines, and our new electric mini-grid infrastructure. The site of the new common house has been staked so it’s a little easier to visualize than it has been previously. New trees and gardens are being planted this year.
The most important part of the tour, in my opinion, isn’t as much the cool stuff you get to look at as it is the opportunity to ask Bob, or whoever your guide is, questions about Dancing Rabbit. He’ll tell you about why we’re here, how we’re working toward that mission, what our daily lives are like, and whatever else you might be curious about. We can even steer you toward information about how to do some of what we do here in your own life, if that appeals to you. As a bonus, I bet if you brought along a copy of your favorite This Week at Dancing Rabbit column, we could get the author to autograph it for you. We love our fans.
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community of more than 60 members in Rutledge, northeast Missouri, practicing ecologically sustainable living. We offer a tour of our village on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month, April through October. The tour begins at 1:00 pm and generally lasts one and a half to two hours. Wear comfortable shoes and sun protection if it’s sunny. You do not need to make a reservation for the regularly scheduled Saturday tour. If you need directions, please call the Dancing Rabbit office at 660-883-5511 or email us at dancingrabbit@ic.org.
For more information about the village you can always visit our website at www.dancingrabbit.org.