We just got back after a three-week visit to see family and friends in New England, so it feels like we’re still playing catch up (especially with the laundry). It was great to visit the outside world, but I do appreciate all the benefits of living here, some of which I hadn’t even realized I missed so much.
Christina here, filling you in on what’s been going on this week in my little corner of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.
As soon as we parked the rental car and unloaded blankets, banana peels, travel bags, pillows, and one sleeping kid, I ran to check out our various gardens. In the three weeks we were gone, we finally got some rain here in NeMo, so the gardens were like mini jungles. The tomato plants that had not topped twelve inches three weeks earlier were now pushing five feet tall (or actually, five feet long, since they were mostly all over the ground). The cabbages were ready for harvesting, and the kale leaves were as big as my head.
The next morning, I got to cleaning the house and putting things away—these cob houses get dusty when they’re not in use! As soon as I could, I went out to harvest greens and cherry tomatoes, saving the big stuff for another day.
We slowly got back in to life here, filling our water jugs and carrying water back to the house, doing most of our physical activity in the morning, and stopping to give hugs and hear “Welcome home!” wherever we went on the path. The kids, of course, jumped right back into their routines by running to find friends and show off the new Playmobil they had earned money to buy while staying at Grandma’s house.
Trips to the pond every morning and afternoon to cool off, berry picking, morning games of Ultimate frisbee, Wednesday night song circle, and a beer at the Mercantile all helped to bring us back to our lives here. As did co-op kitchen lunches and dinners and community meals, where we got the chance to catch up some more with new friends.
Once we were settled with our own lives, we got time to talk more with the visitors. The third visitor session of the year is finishing up, and as always it is so great to meet like-minded people. Sharing a meal and talking about why we are dissatisfied with mainstream life never gets old. Of course, the kids had beat us to that as well, and have already ridden bikes and played multiple games of Uno with the visitor kids.
Speaking of meals, I pulled somewhere around twenty-five pounds of tomatoes out of the garden this week. I have since learned that mice like to eat tomatoes, that I can and will eat tomatoes breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the foreseeable future, and that tomatoes are even more delicious when you grow them yourself.
I don’t think that we’ll cover all of our produce needs in our own gardens this year, but we are freezing kale, chard, and peaches (not together, though they do combine for great smoothies), fermenting some of those big heavy cabbages, and talking about making tomato sauce very soon. Sharing the work with fellow co-op members makes it all more enjoyable and more manageable.
When we were visiting friends and family, I got a few questions about retirement—how we’ll save enough money, what we’ll do when we get older. We don’t have those answers yet, but I do know that I have started to think differently about the concept of security. In many ways, having a source for water and food and even electricity that doesn’t depend on the outside world seems like a much safer plan than putting lots of money in a bank somewhere.
In any case, we have a good stash of plum jam that will get us through some cold winter mornings.
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Two quick announcements!
First is letting folks know that Dancing Rabbit’s annual Open House will be happening on Saturday Sept 10th, 1-4 pm! If you’re nearby we’d love to see you, and if not, please spread the word to folks you know who might be interested. Check out our Open House web page for details!
Second, don’t forget the Permaculture Design Course, happening right here at Dancing Rabbit Sept 17-25! It’s gonna be amazing! Check out the cool video, find out more, and register now!
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Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and nonprofit outside Rutledge, in northeast Missouri, focused on demonstrating sustainable living possibilities. Find out more about us by visiting our website, reading our blog, or emailing us.