It’s been a week of rushing and rumbling Rabbits; some braving some hairy travel to see friends and family for the holidays, and others have been hunkering down in their warrens. Both have left the village a very quiet landscape.
Nik reporting to you from his ivory strawbale tower on the top floor of the Milkweed Mercantile, and even writing on this day of Festivus, I have very few grievances to air. The shortest day of the year is now behind us, and many big pushes on our collective part have been paying off.
Our nonprofit’s year-end fundraising campaign is doing well. Katherine was busy all week hand writing thank you notes to folks who’ve already donated to Dancing Rabbit. Donations go to support DR’s education and outreach programs, helping us share our sustainability skills and lifestyle with the rest of the world. If you haven’t yet and would like to, please click here to support our efforts.
The weekly pizza night at the Mercantile turned into a joyous dance-party for Katherine’s birthday. Even though she was slinging pizza pies all night, she took precious time to rock out with patrons. A glorious vegan chocolate cake was served to all, and Shiner premium beer was imported all the way from her home state of Texas. It’s been said that the celebration stretched on for days, featuring various feats of strength, and that next year will feature quite the spectacle.
Mid-Winter Solstice came and went on Saturday, which gave us the shortest day and longest night of the year (a night of 14 hours and 28 minutes to be exact). A group of about ten people took the opportunity to stay up throughout that longest night in a time to reflect, meditate, and prepare. In the Casa de Cultura (Cultural & Performance Center) the wood stove burned all night, and that group of folks emerged with tired eyes and a new sense of clarity and words to live by on their minds for the new season.
So, with a skeleton crew aboard the rabbit ship this time of year, what keeps us hopping?
Broomball on the frozen ponds, for one thing, keeps the blood flowing and the feet sure. The noble ice game from Canada has been played at DR for years; not unlike a mixture of ice hockey and field hockey but played with brooms (traditionally with the bristles cut short, professionally (seriously!) with a hard rubber-head stick shaped like a broom) and a ball a little larger than a softball. Skates are not part of broomball. Special shoes with spongy rubber soles reduce slippage, which still happens a lot, but we tough it out with our rubber muck boots and layers of wool socks.
Sledding up on the hill between the tri-communities is one of the best ways to spend a free afternoon or late night. Small groups can be seen trailing toboggans and tractor inner tubes up the hill under moonlit nights. Standing atop that hill, looking out on the snow-blanketed farmland, the landscape looks magical. The fences and tree lines look like a perfect Grandma Moses painting. It’s almost a shame to have to sled down…but the ride is worth it. Just hit the brakes before the creek!
One late-night diversion that has a steady cult following is an Amish card name called “Dutch Blitz”. It is a fast-paced, sometimes ruthless, and always exciting game that is played with an official Dutch Blitz deck, or it can be made from a number of decks of regular playing cards with the face cards removed. Four decks— the plow, the bucket, the buggy, the water pump— are played simultaneously in a lightning fast flurry of a mix of solitaire and slapjack (or Egyptian Rat Slap). The game was brought to DR from Manitoba, Canada, where it is very popular among the Mennonite and Hutterite communities up there. For more information, challenge the current Blitz champion, Josi, one evening. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Signing off for now and wishing y’all a grand winter, happy holidays, merry Christmas, and bountiful New Year…or a Festivus for the rest of us. Let’s all take time to enjoy the people we actually get to see this time of year.
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and educational nonprofit in northeast Missouri, focused on sustainable living. Regular tours will start again in April of 2014. In the meantime, check us out on our website or on Facebook.