Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage Open House - Saturday, September 24th

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is hosting its 

Annual Open House 

Saturday, September 24, 2011

from 1:00- 4:00 p.m.

and we really want you to be here!!!

Come enjoy free tours, a peek inside several of the private homes, an insider's guide to life off the grid, info on renewable energy, building with alternative and sustainable materials, a village fair, live music, and much much more! We hope to see you there!

 

Our children are slow but cute. Please don't run over them.

If you get lost we'll be in the Milkweed Mercantile most of the day and can help talk you in. Our phone number is 660-883-5522. Please note that AT&T does NOT have cell phone reception in this area (maybe they're not so smart after all...)

Wear comfortable shoes, bring a jacket and maybe an umbrella, and your friends!

 The Rabbits demonstrate car-sharing.

A google map is available here:  http://tinyurl.com/mmdirections

Our GPS Coordinates are:
40 degrees 19.953' N
92 degrees 5.766' W

Driving directions from just about everywhere:

From the NORTH (Minneapolis, Des Moines):

• Follow 35 South from Minneapolis.
• In Des Moines, take the exit onto I-80 E toward Davenport 3.4 mi
• Take exit 141 to merge onto US-65 S toward Altoona/Des Moines 4.5 mi
• Take exit 79 for IA-163/E University Ave toward Pleasant Hill 0.4 mi
• Turn left at IA-163 E/E University Ave
• Continue to follow IA-163 E
• Continue onto US-63 S

• After going through the town of Bloomfield, turn left on Iowa Route 2.
• Head east to Iowa Route 15 and head south (a right turn onto 15). NOTE: If you are driving by during business hours, Milton Creamery has AMAZING cheese. They are on Route 2 on the right just before you turn onto Highway 15. Absolutely worth the stop. We highly recommend Prairie Breeze and Prairie Rose.
• As you cross the state line it will turn to Missouri Route 15.
• Continue on Route 15 all the way through Memphis.
• Several miles south of town at the bottom of the hill, take a left turn to head east on 136.
• Continue on 136 for a couple of miles. After the Pizza Hut and J’s Grocery store, turn right at Ridge Road/Highway MM.
• Ridge Road//Highway MM.will take you along the ridge, down into the river bottom, over the creek and back up the other side.
• At the T intersection, turn LEFT on Highway M.
• M will twist and turn, and eventually come to another T intersection. M goes left, W goes right. Turn LEFT, continuing on Highway M.
• When you see the sign where you take a right turn to stay on M and go into Rutledge, go straight instead, continuing on Route A. Take your first left turn in about 100 yards. THERE IS NO ROAD SIGN HERE BUT TURN LEFT ANYWAY. If you reach the railroad bridge (or the town of Gorin) you have gone too far.
• Go one mile and take a SHARP left turn on the first gravel road, once labeled "Woehrle" but sadly no longer labeled THERE IS NO ROAD SIGN HERE BUT TURN LEFT ANYWAY (we're working on putting up our own signs, but we haven't gotten to it quite yet!).
• Ignore the gravel road that goes off to the right and continue on 0.8 miles and you'll see the Dancing Rabbit sign on the right.
• Turn in at the next entrance, where visitor parking is located on your left.

From the EAST and SOUTH (Quincy, St. Louis):

• From US 61 near Quincy IL, head west on Missouri 6.
• Go 32 miles to Knox City and take a right on V (there is a route V after just a few miles on Hwy 6 - DONT TAKE IT, it is the WRONG V. Each county has its own highway V – go figure).
• When you come to a tee intersection, take a left on K.
• Go a few miles and take a right (north) on M--you'll see a sign that says "Rutledge 5 miles."
• Cross the line into Scotland County and go through Rutledge on M.
• Just north of the town, M comes to a tee intersection--go right (east) on A.
• Take your first left turn in about 100 yards. This road does not have a sign. If you cross the railroad overpass/bridge you have gone too far.
• Go one mile and take a sharp left turn on the first gravel road, once labeled "Woehrle" but sadly no longer labeled (we're working on putting up our own signs, but we haven't gotten to it quite yet!).
• Ignore the gravel road that goes off to the right and continue on 0.8 miles. You'll see the Dancing Rabbit sign on the right.
• Pull into the second driveway and park in the lot on your left
• The Mercantile is the big white building with the porch.

 For an internet map follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/4xlfa7

From the SOUTH and WEST (Kirksville, Columbia, Kansas City):

• Take US 63 north to Kirksville, where it will turn into North Baltimore Street.
• Take a right on Missouri 11 (the Hyvee store is a good landmark).
• After 20 or so miles, you'll come to a stop sign--go straight, crossing over Missouri 15. At this point, 11 will turn into highway K.
• Go through Baring on K, and after a 6.5 miles on K, take a left (now heading north) onto M. You'll see a sign saying "Rutledge 5 miles"

• Follow M all the way through the town of Rutledge until in stops at a tee intersection. Just north of the town, M comes to a tee intersection--go right (east) on A.
• Take your first left turn in about 100 yards. This road does not have a sign. If you cross the railroad overpass/bridge or reach the town of Gorin, you have gone too far.
• Go one mile and take a sharp left turn on the first gravel road, once labeled "Woehrle" but sadly no longer labeled (we're working on putting up our own signs, but we haven't gotten to it quite yet!).
• Ignore the gravel road that goes off to the right and continue on 0.8 miles and you'll see our sign on the right.
• Pull into the second driveway and park in the lot on your left
• The Mercantile is the big white building with the porch.

For an internet map follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/6yf7as

From Chicago

• 80 West towards Iowa (approximately 116 miles)
• Merge onto I-74 E/IL-110 W/CHICAGO-KANSAS CITY EXPY toward PEORIA. 31 miles
• Merge onto US-34 W/IL-110 W/CHICAGO-KANSAS CITY EXPY via EXIT 46A toward MONMOUTH. 21.7 miles
• Merge onto US-34 W toward BURLINGTON (Crossing into IOWA). 28 miles
• Take the US-61/ROOSEVELT AVE exit, EXIT 261, toward FT MADISON. Continue to follow US-61 South  18 miles
• In Ft. Madison Turn RIGHT onto US-61/AVENUE L/IA-2. Continue to follow US-61/IA-2. 3.3 miles
• Turn slight right onto IA-2W 0.2 mi
• Turn slight right onto IA-2W  8.7 miles
• Turn LEFT to take the US-218 S/IA-27 S ramp.  0.3
• Merge onto AVENUE OF THE SAINTS (Crossing into MISSOURI).
• Take the US-136 ramp toward WAYLAND/KAHOKA. Turn RIGHT onto US-136.  26 miles
• After going 26 miles, turn LEFT onto MO-A. DO NOT TURN ON THE FIRST MO-A THAT YOU SEE – IT IS THE WRONG ROAD (each county has its own highway A – go figure). 6.5 miles
• In south Gorin cross over the railroad tracks and continue south on MO-A. Watch the mileage – approximately 6.8 miles
• When you have covered approximately 8-7 miles you will cross a small overpass bridge that goes over the railroad tracks. Immediately after this is a paved road on your right. This is Old Highway Y. There is not a road sign here. Turn right. (If you get to MO-M you’ve gone about .2 miles too far).
• Go one mile and take a sharp left turn on the first gravel road, once labeled "Woehrle" but sadly no longer labeled (we're working on putting up our own signs, but we haven't gotten to it quite yet!).
• Ignore the gravel road that goes off to the right and continue on 0.8 miles and you'll see our sign on the right.
• Pull into the second driveway and park in the lot on your left

The Wind Turbine Goes Up! And Then, Comes Down...

This is the tower arriving way back in February 2010. It was very cold that day.

Here's Kurt unloading the tower. He has a good time no matter what he's doing. I like that in a guy.

On July 13, 2011, after a two years of planning (we tend to multi-task so stuff takes a while - see photos, above), we finally raised our wind turbine. It was an amazing, exciting, eagerly awaited event – those in the community who weren’t helping were watching, which was easy to do, as it went on for several days.

We purchased a 100’ tower, which in its previous life was a radio tower at the local hospital. While the tower came with a gin pole (essentially a lever designed to help raise the tower) we still had to figure out how to get the whole thing to work.

Everything at DR is essentially an experiment – when it came time to raise the tower the crew found that there wasn’t quite enough cable to raise it. So with the gin pole alllllllllmmmmmost there, a series of cable extensions were added. It was quite a show.

Below are a few picture with details. I realize that is it not a very comprehensive explanation of how to raise a tower, but it's the best I've got.

The 100' tower rests on the ground. The gin pole is that thing sticking straight up in the air. Welded to the tower at a 45-degree angle, it is used as a lever to raise the tower. At the far end, in the DR driveway, the turbine is being installed.

Robby and Tom work on attaching the blades of the 3,000 watt turbine. Tamer and Armand, visiting while making a documentary on communities, film it all.

This sucker is BIG. At least for us. And no matter what they say, size DOES matter.

Lots of folks took turns ratcheting the tower up. No wimpy fuel-powered winches for us, no sir-eee! Here Robby demonstrates his manliness.

Slowly the tower went up and up and up. It was very cool to watch. And then, it stopped.

We had run out of cable.

By now the gin pole was really high, and pretty much out of reach. The Mercantile Tower Brain Trust went to work. How to get someone up high enough to attach more cable? Hmmmm. What if we brought out the tractor and put Tom on the bucket? FANTASTIC idea!

Thomas and Kurt providing ballast while Tom climbs.

Tom, defying death at every turn, perches (happily) on the tractor bucket to add yet another length of cable. The gin pole is to his upper right, and soooooooo close to the ground.

I secretly think that they (Tom, Thomas, Kurt, et. al) LIKE the drama of projects like this - finding ways to make seemingly impossible situations work out just dandy. They were psyched, and having a good time.

The crowd looks on anxiously. L-R Kristen, Claire, Haley, Meghan, Armand.

They scrounged up more cable and attached it. We continued to ratchet up the tower. And we ran out of cable. Again.

So they attached more.

Dave and Thomas connecting the cable extension.

After fiddling around a bit, the tower was up, the blades were turning in the breeze and power was being collected. It felt like a freaking miracle.

It was an incredible high to look up and see those blades turning, generating power (remember, we don't have TV and so tend to be quite easily amused). We designed the Mercantile's power system to run on both solar and wind - in tandem they are a great duo. Where we are located in Northeastern Missouri it is almost always windy when it isn't sunny. Because the system is fairly large (we have 28 batteries to fill) the power grew incrementally - at first we weren't even sure that the system was working. But it was, and slowly the batteries filled up.

And then came a big storm. On July 28th, the wind blew over the top portion of the wind turbine. Normally we would have been devastated, or at least tremendously bummed. But that morning when we woke up we realized that Baloo was dying, and the wind turbine seemed a lot less important. It was a good lesson in priorities. And also a lesson in the need to make sure the tower one uses is strong enough to hold the turbine placed on top.

Don't let this happen to you.

So now, a few weeks later we're making the time to work on the turbine yet again. We ordered more blades (to the tune of $2,090 - eek!) and they're waiting to be installed. I'm not quite sure how the crew plans on taking down and putting up the whole thing again. But they'll think of something, and it will definitely be entertaining. I'll keep you updated!

Back from the Black Abyss - Life off the Grid

After two dark, wind-free weeks, the batteries storing the last of our solar and wind power were finally tapped out, and we were left in the dark. It is not unusual for us to have a day or so where we have to be aware of our power usage, but two weeks felt oppressive. Kurt and I have been carefully alternating between our cottage and the Mercantile; we would do vital things (like grind coffee beans!) in whichever had a smidge more power.

But by last Saturday, the entire village was on “black power.” Green power is when the batteries are full, and electricity is plentiful. From there it goes to yellow, to orange, to red, and finally to black, when the inverter (essentially the on/off switch) is shut off. I opened the Mercantile in the dark, wrote out our monthly food order from the natural foods distributor huddled by the glass-paned front doors, and did everything I could think of while there was still weak daylight. By 5:00 p.m. we had the candles lit.

We’ve learned many tricks to living without power and by candle light – taller tapers are much better to read by than pillars, for example. Three tapers surrounding one’s book on the table (one on each side, one at the top) provides plentiful illumination. But we both find ourselves getting sleepy earlier, and are often in bed by 8:30. (Oh, how they party at the Ecovillage, she says sarcastically!). Additionally, we've got spots of wax everywhere - all over the table cloth, on books, on end tables, even on our shoes (carrying a taper in an elegant glass candleholder to the bathroom and back is often hazardous to one's footwear). Ack!

More problematic are things like the water pump – we have plenty of water in the cistern, but it takes electricity to get it from there up through the filter and into the faucet. Things we take for granted suddenly became things we were forced to consider.

I went to Rutledge and bought three blocks of ice. One went into the fridge in our house (which we had turned off), turning it into an old fashioned “ice box.” The other two went into the Mercantile freezer, which was the only thing plugged in over there.

For dinner, and for potlucks, I made items that did not require a mixer, a blender or a food processor. I had memories of my grandmother who always baked from scratch and never used a mixer – she beat the butter and sugar together BY HAND, and then added eggs and beat them in BY HAND. Whooeeee. I never knew what a powerhouse of an arm she must have had! I tried it for a batch of no-knead bread and it was just about all I could do – I was worn out.

When we moved here, I did not sign up for a Little House on the Prairie life. I am not looking to create a "simpler" time with no power. I'm more into being comfortable in a way that feels more sustainable than how I lived in a city. I enjoy lights, computers, and my KitchenAid mixer.

And then the winds came. Like the ancient Israelites wandering in the wilderness receiving manna, or the pioneer Mormons welcoming the seagulls to eat the crickets devouring their crops, the bit of sun and fierce, blustery wind have come to save us. For two days now the wind has been raging, sending our wind turbine into paroxysms of activity. We gleefully watch the numbers on the trimetric box (which shows the percentage of fullness of batteries, and the amps coming in to the system) climb higher and higher – we are currently at 87%.

So we are grateful. And humble.

That’s it for now – I’m going to go jump up and down outside in the sunshine and wind!