Howdy y’all. Ben here, bringing you some of the latest news from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, and I believe that I may finally declare that we are progressing toward fall. In fact, upon consulting my calendar, this week will be the autumnal equinox, and I have noticed an increasing difficulty in my ability to creep out from under the blankets at the crack of dawn, into these cool mornings. I have also observed that the dawn doesn’t break quite so suddenly these days.
Other signs present at Dancing Rabbit that hint at autumn’s approach include the blooming of asters and goldenrod, the circulation of a chimney parts catalog around the village, some chatter about firewood, and the occasional sighting of Canada geese headed south.
The beautiful days we’ve had of late helped to make an excellent Rutledge Fall Festival. This year’s Dancing Rabbit contingent of the parade was mounted on bicycles (or, in some cases, unicycles) and included both some of our youngest and eldest rabbits. The sight of adults and children snaking their way on two wheels through the pasture on our treasured “short cut” to town was both inspiring and visually intriguing. It is not every day that one sees a multi-generational bicycle convoy cruising the prairie, even here, and the people of Rutledge have justly rewarded our parade entry with a $10 prize. I personally hope to reallocate said winnings to Bike World, our community bicycle repair shop/salvage yard.
In other news, a crew of volunteers has repainted our common house great room in time for Dancing Rabbit’s fifteenth birthday. The names on the paint buckets say things like “Champagne Waltz” and “Rock of Ages”, but I would describe the paint job as whitish in appearance with a dark blue accent wall and taupe trim. Regardless of semantics, it is great to have our walls repainted—may they endure many more years of communal use and abuse.
Other sights and sounds around the village include Thomas hand-hewing a curved log into a bench backrest, Cob slipping into his beekeeper’s suit, a musical performance of piano and flute by Meadoe and Jess, and Hassan eyeballing the dimensions of a large sheet of rubber pond-liner prior to hauling it up to the top of the reciprocal roof he has just completed.
Perhaps the most consistent sound in my life lately (besides the clucking of chickens and the repertoire of songs my daughter has picked up recently) is the tell-tale bang of hammers and wang of chisels emanating from my dear neighbors Dennis and Sharon’s house, which is currently being roofed and decked. They were recently spotted waltzing on their new roof, and with the second half rapidly filling, there may soon be an occasion for a larger dance event, before the rooftop space is converted to garden.
Speaking of dancing, this week is also Off-Grid Blues, a three day blues dancing event being held in our CASA co-op. The Dancing Rabbit population will receive a bump for a few days as blues dancers and instructors from far and wide converge to dance, teach, and celebrate, and perhaps learn a little bit about community and sustainable living as well.
Well, I’m gazing westward now, staring at a sun that seems too low in the sky for this time of day, aware that evening is almost here. I need to move along to bed and get some rest: our rooster is less and less reliable an alarm clock on these cold mornings.
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and educational non-profit in Rutledge, Missouri, focused on sustainable living. We offer free tours to the public twice monthly from April-October. For more info you can visit our website www.dancingrabbit.org or call (660) 883-5511. If you’re interested in purchasing property in our area, we sometimes hear of houses and land for sale. You can contact us to see if there’s anything current.
Please Note: If you have resided at Dancing Rabbit in the past and would like to join us for the reunion the weekend of October 5th, this is your last chance to RSVP. We need the final list by the 19th of September. Please go to https://reunion.dancingrabbit.org. You will then be contacted about how to pay for food for the weekend.