Workshops, Visitors, and Tractors – Memphis Democrat

Approximately 30 antique tractors from around Missouri paraded down Circle Drive. Photo by Katherine.

Greetings, friends! It feels good to be writing again to yall after so long. Katherine here, with a few musings for your reading pleasure.

This week has seen a lot of high energy around the village with workshops, visitors, and tractors! After a successful Milkweed Mercantile Natural Building workshop last week, followed by the CSCC Natural Building workshop (both of which I cooked for), we launched immediately into the second visitor program of the season and a yoga retreat (for which I am also cooking). With all these people in town, I can tell you that mounds of kale and lambsquarters have been devoured!

With hungry appetites satiated by good food, much rejoicing has been had! The rain and winds lent themselves to an exciting stage for our community courtyard and the magic continued when someone brought out the hand drums to play with. I grabbed my little accordion and along with another melodica, the dancing ensued. I have so many appreciations for the gifts people bring to our village and music is one of them!

It seems that since then, the frivolity has yet to cease. Just this weekend there was a bonfire hosted by the visitors, capture the flag with the tri-communities, a pizza party with out-of-town friends, and a dance party with the yoga folks! Whew!

Amongst the activities was still daily life of gardening, committee work, and down time for self-care. I love having so many social opportunities and also appreciate a good book at home.

One shift that our village is experiencing as a whole is the choosing of a new Village Council (VC). The VC makes decisions on behalf of the community in lieu of full membership meetings and operates internally by consensus. Five people currently serve on the VC for a two-year term and the terms are staggered so that we elect new cos (co = gender neutral pronoun some of us use as a noun) every year. We had one full group plenary meeting to discuss slates of willing council members and will take two weeks of process time before coming back as a group to make a decision. With such a spectrum of Rabbit talents, many factors are considered in order to make up a holistic council for serving the community. For me, there feels an ease with the distribution of responsibilities to keep our village functioning.

And wait! Didnt I mention tractors?! Yep! Around 30 antique tractors from around the state drove around our very own Circle Drive and showed off their history. Rabbits gathered and waved from our Main St. as the parade went by, and it was fun afterwards to mingle with folks as they idled their machines and took a look around our village. I appreciate the opportunity to chat with farmers I may not otherwise bump into on the street, and the juxtaposition of them with the yoga attendees. There are so so so many different types of people in the world and Dancing Rabbit is one place that some of them may come together.

If you want to come learn, play, and experience ecovillage life in northeast Missouri, please check out our websites, http://www.dancingrabbit.org and http://www.milkweedmercantile.com. There are work exchange opportunities, tours, and every Thursday plain ol good food being served at Pizza Night. Remaining Milkweed Mercantile workshops this year include Preserving the Harvest: The Basics of Fermenting, Canning and Cheesemaking, and an all-level writers workshop, Digging Deep, Practicing Courage and Speaking Out.

Maybe one of these days well get to meet through a shared-values experience like environmental awareness, inner-sustainability, or social change, and youll get to try my home-made pink mashed potatoes for yourself! (The secret is in the beets.)

Thanks for reading and until next time, (please) be excellent to each other!

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and educational nonprofit outside Rutledge, MO, focused on demonstrating sustainable living possibilities. We offer public tours of the village on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month, April-October; the next is this Saturday, July 8th at 1 pm. Reservations not required. Tours are free, though donations to help us continue our educational and outreach efforts are gratefully accepted. For directions, call the office at 660-883-5511 or email us at dancingrabbit@ic.org. To find out more about us, you can also check out our website: http://www.dancingrabbit.org.

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Workshops, Visitors, and Tractors - Memphis Democrat