Josi here, writing to you from my straw bale loft in Skyhouse, listening to the snow slide off the solar panels directly above my head. How do you know it’s a new year in the village? You spy seed catalogs in every house you visit, traveling Rabbits trickle back home, and a collective deep breath is taken by everyone who has been working furiously on year-end fundraising.
As 2013 passed away, the swell of donations kept us busy with details, and grateful for all the folks around the world who support Dancing Rabbit in creating a village model for sustainable living. It’s been a week of celebrations and gratitude, and a welcome herald for 2014.
Skyhouse hosted our New Year’s Eve Extravaganza, with hand-made decorations from Katherine’s ever-expanding collection of festive decor. That we danced a lot is a given, but the parent-child twinkle toe displays were especially memorable. Ted swirled and swung Aurelia around, her super-fancy purple gown billowing across the dance floor. Acrobatic skills were on display with Kody using Sam’s legs as a launching pad for daredevil backflips.
The sweetest moments were watching Bri dance with baby Dimitri in a front carrier: she has MOVES! Morgan, Duncan and Ewan cut quite a few rugs as well, aided by glow-sticks and flashing fingertip gloves. We rung in the New Year on every hour, from 8 pm to midnight, with one extra countdown for Newfoundland, which falls on the half-hour at 9:30 pm our time. Rabbit revelry makes souls sing! I hope your New Years’ celebrations were as joyous as ours.
Demonstrating how our message resonates positively with our neighbors, a recent news report on Kirksville’s ABC-3 highlighted how the Milkweed Mercantile continues to entice and educate guests with the comforts of sustainable living; click here to watch the footage! And if you’ve never visited Milkweed Mercantile, stop by for Pizza Night every Thursday. A Memphis resident who frequently attends calls it the best pizza she has ever had. Breaking news from Alline: Milkweed Mercantile will be open for Inn guests this summer. It’s your chance to experience eco-luxury with 5 stars & Platinum Green Leader ratings from TripAdvisor.
If you’ve seen snow in your neighborhood lately, chances are you’ve seen rock salt and other chemical melting agents just waiting to leach into the local creeks and make your water a little less clean. When I lived in St. Louis, trying to find an effective eco-friendly ice melter was an annual frustration. I’m thrilled to share with you the method we use at DR: wood ash. Yes, the ash from the stoves that are heating our homes is reused on the roads and paths in our village. Wood ash has highly abrasive qualities, that when sprinkled on treacherous ice, render it safely navigable. This is just another way that my fellow Rabbits demonstrate closing loops to increase sustainability; if there is ice outside your door there will be a fire in your stove. Wood ash mixed with snow-melt actually improves our clay soil and presents no risks to our local watershed. It’s new to me; have you ever seen this method used? What do you think?
Cozy game nights continue in abundance with the Scrabble-like persuasion being much favored. Dutch Blitz still has a loyal contingent, and this week both Caleb and Aurelia were introduced to the furious pace of play. On the gaming innovations front, Katherine (with the help of Thomas), has perfected “The Scarf Game”—a scarf is tied into knots then passed to the player who must completely unknot it within 15 seconds; having witnessed this, I can assure you it’s much more challenging than it may sound!
Over in Thistledown Kitchen, Cob has been perfecting how to get the most cheese out of whole milk from the local dairy. With two gallons ($6 total), he was able to press two pounds of Gouda and use the remaining whey to make almost a pound of ricotta. I’m looking forward to April when we get to slice into the Gouda!
This is my first time writing to you all; Dancing Rabbit has been my home for the last five months. I came here this summer to attend the Ecovillage Education US course and learn how to start an ecovillage. I stayed, because what is happening here is so powerful I wanted to put my energy into growing this village as a model for the rest of the world. I’m thrilled to be working as the Secretary/Treasurer for Dancing Rabbit, Inc. and helping to keep the nitty-gritty financial underpinnings of our village on track.
If you have interest in what it really takes to found a sustainable community, check out the Ecovillage Education US (EEUS) course running here at Dancing Rabbit Summer 2014. There is also a crowd-funding campaign underway to raise scholarship funds for future EEUS students who want to become sustainable culture leaders— take a look at how you can contribute to this world changing course!
We are so grateful for all of your continued interest and support of the sustainable culture we are creating at Dancing Rabbit!