Hi all. It's been incredibly busy here at Dancing Rabbit. I constantly write blog posts in my head, but somehow they don't actually get transcribed here.
Once again I hope to do better in the future.
Here's a little glimpse of our world here. Yesterday was pre-school. The kids from Sandhill, Red Earth Farms and Dancing Rabbit get together under the loving tutelage of Ali, Laura and an assortment of enthusiastic (and energetic) helpers. I (along with Mercantile guests) watch from the window - it's the best show ever, and it happens every Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.
And if you ever need fashion advice, I have just the folks to help you:
Milkweed Mercantile proprietors Alline & Kurt waiting for "meddlesome guests."
I have a Google alert for "Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage." Imagine my confusion, and then my delight, when I got the alert for this "article."
It clearly has been translated out of English into another language and back again. We believe that it is an article that began its life as a post written for Sustainablog by Brian "Ziggy" Liloila. What an incredible way to look at our lives here. I have bold-faced the passages that I like the best. Enjoy.
"Ever wondered what it felt similar to to live in a indeed tolerable community? Wonder no more, since Dancing Rabbit, an Ecovillage formed in northeastern Missouri may be a life varying experience for any person who’s peaceful to learn, live and work beneath their Eco-minded philosophy.
Dancing Rabbit was started to put the ideals of green communal living to action. In 1997, DR Land Trust purchased 280 acres of land in Rutledge, Missouri to emanate a residents of similar to disposed Eco activists and continually expands as the residents increases in its population. Nathan Brown, a long time proprietor and orator for Dancing Rabbit, sat down with me not long ago and talked about the expansion of Dancing Rabbit and why any person meddlesome in green office building should advance revisit and maybe even live as a member of this successful Eco village.
All Residents follow ecological covenants and discipline set onward by the community. Anyone who has an fascination in green living and office building are acquire to advance come together this bustling and peaceful community. The race has doubled since the commencement of Dancing Rabbit and Nathan surmises that race will twice from its stream race inside of couple of years.
This Eco encampment and zone is ceaselessly expanding as green living becomes more of a direction in the US. But the residents of Dancing Rabbit isn’t subsequent to a trend, to them, green living is a way of life, something that is ardent inside of them and they are discussing the speak and on foot the walk. Of march with any Eco disposed village, innate green office building is segment of their architectural plans.
Most of the office building materials are done of innate resources similar to staw scoop , cob, earth smear and earth floors. Dancing Rabbit moreover explores advance green technology and tries to confederate them in to the stream office building methods. Some of the office building methods that Dancing Rabbit hopes to implement are: made of clay flooring , rammed earth, earths hip, and living roof tiles where plants are planted on tip of the roof. All of the buildings on Dancing Rabbit are built with substitute energy.
A important e.g. of innate green office building is the Milkweed Mercantile , an Recyclable inn, green broad store and Organic grill that is segment of Dancing Rabbit. “Construction of the Milkweed Mercantile at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage began in the spring of 2007. We non-stop the store in July 2009, and had the authorized Grand Opening in April 2010,” says Alline Anderson, owners of Milkweed Mercantile. The two story strawbale residence runs only on solar power. The motel has 4 bedrooms and can residence up to 12 people. Visitors who are meddlesome in partial stays at Dancing Rabbit can stay at the Eco BB.
Green internships and green construction jobs are existing to any person who wants to live and work in the Eco village. The internships are jobs are not only paltry to green office building but moreover to organic gardening, green business such as the Eco Inn and Organic Cafe and moreover publishing."
In closing, I'd like to leave you with this: We look forward to your meddlesome partial stay. If you have something ardent inside of you please come visit us here where we are discussing the speak and on foot the walk.
It was on this day in 1940 that Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics to "This Land is Your Land" — now one of America's most famous folk songs (below is one of my favorite versions - love the brass!)
The melody is to an old Baptist hymn. Guthrie wrote the song in response to the grandiose "God Bless America" song, written by Irving Berlin and sung by Kate Smith. Guthrie didn't think that the anthem represented his own or many other Americans' experience with America. So he wrote a folk song as a response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," a song that was often accompanied by an orchestra. At first, Guthrie titled his own song "God Blessed America" — past tense. Later, he changed the title to "This Land is Your Land," which is the first line of the song. Although Guthrie wrote the words to the song in his notebook on this day in 1940, he didn't perform it until 1944, and it was several years more still before he published it in a book of mimeographed folk songs. The song really took off in the 1960s. Bob Dylan did a famous version, and the song was huge in the Civil Rights movement.
Several other countries have appropriated the great American folk song. There's a Canadian version with the lyrics: "From Bonavista to Vancouver Island / From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters, / This land was made for you and me."
In a British version, which Billy Bragg often performs, it's "From the coast of Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands / From the sacred forests to the holy islands /This land was made for you and me."
And for the Irish, it's: "From the northern highlands to the western islands / From the hills of Kerry to the streets of Derry / This land was made for you and me."
There are Welsh and Swedish texts as well. Bruce Springsteen sang "This Land is Your Land" at 2008 rallies for candidate Barack Obama, and then performed it at the big Obama inaugural celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial, We Are One, which 400,000 people attended.
Lifted directly from Writer's Almanac. Thank you Garrison Keillor.
It is currently sunny, breezy and around 50 degrees here in Rutledge, Missouri today. I cannot tell you what a RELIEF this is. I never really thought that I was affected by the weather, and more specifically by the lack of sun in the winter. But I'm beginning to notice that I always feel happier when the sun is out. Coincidence? You be the judge!
I wish we had Smell-o-Vision, or some way for you to smell the amazing aroma wafting through the Mercantile right now. I just took a Triple Nut Chocolate Tart out of the oven...ooohh la la! (We're preparing for the Valentine's Day dinners tonight and Monday.
I'm also busily working on getting our 2011 Seminars up and online. Running the gamut from Family Adventure Weekend to Consensus Decision Making, we're quite excited about them.
OK. I've got to get back to work - time to put the chicken in the oven and begin the Flourless Chocolate Cake. More soon!
Coeur a la Creme We'll be serving ours with blueberries we picked last summer and preserved with a syrup of organic sugar and gin. Ooooh la la!
We're mixing it up a bit at the Mercantile this Valentine's Day. On Sunday, February 13th Kurt and Alline will be hosting a Celebration of Friendship. There will be no "tables for two in the corner in the dark." Instead, we welcome you to join us at our community table for a relaxing, delicious meal among friends and neighbors. Singles and those who hate Valentine's Day are especially welcome.
Monday, February 14th we'll be back on more traditional ground, with tables for two scattered strategically (and romantically) around our dining room. Make your reservations for a romantic, in-front-of-a-roaring-fire yet unstuffy Valentine's dinnernow!
Valentine's Dinner at the Mercantile $18.00 per person Does not include alcohol, tax or gratuity Serving dinner from 6:00 p.m - 8:30 p.m.
Dessert and Coffee (or tea) only $6.00 per person Does not include alcohol, tax or gratuity
For reservations please call 660-883-5522
On the menu February 13th and 14th: Appetizer Goat-Cheese Toasts and Pear slices
Choose an entree: Bistro Short Ribs, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Italian Winter Greens Roasted Chicken, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Italian Winter Greens Pasta with Shitake Mushrooms & Cream Sauce, Italian Winter Greens
Choose a dessert: Coeur a la Crème with Local Blueberries in Gin Syrup Flourless Chocolate Cake with Organic Ice Cream (gluten free) Triple Nut Chocolate Tart with Coconut Cream (dairy & egg free)
Vegan, Vegetarian and Gluten-free diets happily accommodated with advance notice. Reservations strongly recommended.
I've included links to the recipes because I believe that there should be no such thing as a secret recipe - life is too short to be stingy with great food! I also wanted to demonstrate that is is possible to make meals that work for specialized diets and are still FANTASTIC. We serve the Flourless Chocolate cake to all guests and receive rave reviews, while helping to make our gluten-free guests feel welcome and comfortable. How can we pamper you?
Hi friends. Thought I'd take a quick moment and send an update from my angst-y last post. Don't know what gets into me sometimes - I lose perspective and from the bottom of my own little pond things momentarily seem much more bleak than they actually are. My last post was "inspired" by frustration with the process of community life, and the convolutions we must go through in order to get decisions made. This is not a bad thing - being a part of a consensus-based community is something I really value. I just get a bit fatigued by the day-to-dayness of it all.
Kurt and I had a lovely snow-covered Christmas. On the 26th I boarded the train and headed for Chicago where I was entertained in style by our faux-nephews Peter and Ed - oh, the stories they tell! On the 27th flew to SFO and then to Oregon. It takes a long time to get ANYWHERE from Rutledge, MO.
I am currently in Coos Bay, Oregon visiting my three fabulous nieces and their mom. On New Year's Eve I fly back to the SF Bay Area where I'll spend five days on a sort of a personal retreat - no cell phone reception, no wifi - just long walks, a chance to write, and time to think. Then another five days in Berkeley, hosted by the marvelous Miss Lindsey, where I'll have the chance to catch up with old friends.
Life is good. Thanks for all of your kind thoughts. I'll post more when I'm home and have access to my own computer.
It's a Jackson Browne kind of day. The song "Before the Deluge" keeps playing in my head - it reflects a bit of the gray day and sadness I am feeling right now.
Let's just say the building a village is a lot harder than it looks.
Before the Deluge Jackson Browne
Some of them were dreamers And some of them were fools Who were making plans and thinking of the future With the energy of the innocent They were gathering the tools They would need to make their journey back to nature While the sand slipped through the opening And their hands reached for the golden ring With their hearts they turned to each other's heart for refuge In the troubled years that came before the deluge
Some of them knew pleasure And some of them knew pain And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered And on the brave and crazy wings of youth They went flying around in the rain And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered And in the end they traded their tired wings For the resignation that living brings And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow For the glitter and the rouge And in the moment they were swept before the deluge
Now let the music keep our spirits high And let the buildings keep our children dry Let creation reveal its secrets by and by By and by... When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
Some of them were angry At the way the earth was abused By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power And they struggled to protect her from them Only to be confused By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour And when the sand was gone and the time arrived In the naked dawn only a few survived And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge
Now let the music keep our spirits high And let the buildings keep our children dry Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by By and by... When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
(check out the boots...)
