Skyhouse Community

Hi friends. This is Alline writing for Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

This week can be summed up in two words: snow and retreat.

While the storm that hit the Northeast Missouri area was not nearly as dramatic as the one that Washington DC received, it felt pretty big to us. It snowed, and snowed, and then snowed some more. And then it STILL kept coming. While many Rabbits are tired of it (particularly the parents who, twice a day, have to drive the kids to the blacktop to catch the school bus) I remain completely, utterly besotted with snow. Perhaps it comes from growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where, if we wanted snow, we had to drive for four hours. Additionally, I am still slack-jawed at the beauty of each individual snowflake – as a child, carefully folding up paper and cutting “snowflakes,” I could not imagine that this was a fairly close approximation of what they really looked like. If you see me standing outside in a snowstorm staring at my arms and my hands, please remember that I have not gone ‘round the bend, I am merely appreciating snowflakes!

For the sake of our power systems and the batteries that store our electricity, I am glad to see sunshine and blue sky out my window today. The reflection of the sun off of the snow is especially powerful, and it is fun to watch the charge go up, up, up!

Hey Everyone! Dan D writing to give you your weekly update on the happenings at Dancing Rabbit. After many weeks without sunlight and the common house being on black power-meaning we were basically in a blackout- for about a week, we were happy to get a stretch of sunlight to recharge our batteries and recharge our enthusiasm for getting out of bed in the morning. We need winter activities to keep us going and though some of them are dependent on power, many are not. There is a lot of reading and planning for the season going on.

I've really been enjoying the garden club meetings we are having. It's been nice have a group of people to bounce ideas off and share gardening wisdom. It gets you thinking about spring, when the world is once again green and full of life. Many of our seed orders have already been placed and in the next few weeks some of us will be starting seeds indoors. The garden club is planning a couple of field trips for future meetings. We are planning a field trip to Sandhill's greenhouse to see what kinds of crops they are growing during the winter and what their plans are for it this spring. Also, one of these weeks Alyson from Red Earth Farms is going to show us a hands on demonstration of her use of round hay bales to sheet mulch a new garden area. And sometime soon I will be talking about seed saving basics so that gardeners can plan their seed saving efforts for this season. The idea for the club came from garden clubs that have been started in recent years in Britain to bring together “allotment” (called community gardens here) gardeners to share knowledge and build enthusiasm for gardening. Apparently with the economy in the state it's in, vegetable gardening is becoming much more popular as people try to grow more of their food themselves.

At Dancing Rabbit we have been using consensus to make decisions since our inception. In consensus, decisions must be agreed to by all members of the group, with any member being able to block a decision. In practice, we now delegate a lot of decisions to committees and managers, such that the group is only called upon to make larger policy decisions.

We are at a stage where we are considering moving away from consensus to some other form of decision making. Discussions are in the preliminary stages, but one of the desires for a new system is to allow for better delegation and more streamlined management (at least some people express this desire).

It’s gotten me thinking about delegation and management and what it means to make good decisions on behalf of the group. I’ve started to realize that their are deep questions embedded here that touch on what it means to have good governance in almost any system.

How then do we define a good decision, or good management?

In a consensus organization, I would propose that a manager makes a good decision when she or he makes a decision that is essentially in line with what the group would have made if it had used its full consensus process. Another way to say this is that, if given a review by the membership, no-one would block that decision from moving forward.

Making such decisions is not always easy. It involves not just having good judgment on the topic at hand but also a strong sense of the group’s values and how to weigh them when making a decision. In a group that is functioning well, and with a manager who engenders trust from the group, the group will generally give them the benefit of the doubt as it takes a lot of effort and spending of social capital to object to a manager’s decision. So the manager does not need to be perfect, just make sure their decisions are within the threshold of the groups tolerance and/or passivity.

This started as a comment on Jacob’s Obama post but became so long I thought it deserved its own post.

I too have been noting the left’s frustration with Obama and I too feel some frustration but I imagine it is for different reasons.

First, some background. In the general election, I voted for Obama for a number of reasons:

1. I felt he was a better choice than McCain, by far — both in terms of policies and ability to govern.

2. He was not a Republican. Some may not see much difference between Democrats and Republicans but I feel like on a million little things it makes a big difference. Look at how differently the EPA is, or who gets appointed to the Supreme Court, or things like the Global Gag Rule. The stuff might seem minor but I actually think who fills the cabinet positions and makes executive orders makes a big difference.

3. I actually like Obama and think that he and I would agree on a lot of issues (not that he’ll be able to implement them as policy though).

4. He is an amazing orator and does a great job of inspiring people. I think these are positive traits in and of themselves but I’m also saying that I too got caught up a bit in his charisma and at times had high expectations.

In some ways though, a better question is why I voted for Obama over Hillary in the primaries. Aside  from the toss up question of which was more of a cultural step, electing a woman or an African American, my main reason for voting for Obama was that his style fit my values more.

Experienced Organic Gardener Wanted at Skyhouse

Our organic vegetable gardens Do you love to grow organic food?

Do you want to garden with friends and share the fruits of your labor at every meal?

Would you like to experience community life in an off-the-grid, sustainable ecovillage?

If you answer yes to these questions, then you should be interested in this work exchange opportunity.

Come Garden with Us

Skyhouse is looking for an experienced gardener to join us in growing food for our table for the 2010 season. Our ideal person would have some experience in growing organic vegetables and interest in fermentation, dehydrating and canning. We are looking for a gardener from April to November (shorter positions may be available). Ability to work independently and collaboratively a must. We have currently been growing and storing most of our vegetables for our group of approximately 8 and hope to continue that this year.

In exchange for your work in the garden we would provide organic vegan meals, tenting accommodations, and basic expenses. You'd also help out with cooking, cleaning and other rotational chores and could of course join in with other work that interested you (food processing, natural building, etc.)

Skyhouse is a small income-sharing communal group within the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. In many ways you would be joining both communities for the duration of your stay and would be part both of our tight-knit household and our ecologically focused village. While Skyhouse is a small group now we are looking to grow so long-term membership is also an option.

For more information see http://www.dancingrabbit.org/social_change/interns-organic-gardening-sky...

For an application Contact Dancing Rabbit.

I was reading fivethirtyeight and saw this interesting graph showing how liberal and conservative the democrats and republicans were in each state legislature.  (Dems are blue and left is more liberal.)

It was interesting, but not at all surprising that where I live  in Missouri the Democrats are fairly right leaning but I was surprised to see that the Republicans were the 4th most conservative in the country.

Even more surprising is that the most conservative republicans are found in California! Talk about polarized – they have the most liberal Dems and the most conservative GOP. No wonder they can never pass a budget.

And whats up with Rhode Island where both parties are left of center and only a hairs breadth apart. There must be a story there.

There are certain times of year when I find myself more aware of the differences between how and where I choose to live and the other choices I might have made. This week was one of them.

A week at a time of cloudy weather is not terribly uncommon here, particularly in winter, and our power systems are generally sized to make it through such stretches. But two weeks straight... well, when one relies on the lack of clouds for one's power, it begins to feel a little gratuitous.

Ted here at Dancing Rabbit with this week's update. Had the sun not shone unexpectedly for much of this afternoon, this might be a slightly darker (and more brief!) report, but despite the sun we still found ourselves eating dinner with our friends by candlelight this evening. (We generally update our daily power status first thing each morning, when one gets the truest reading of the state of charge in one's battery bank). Normally I enjoy dining by candlelight. But in this case, we've already been at it for most of a week, and have in fact burned through most of the supply of candles accumulated in the Community Building supply, so that we only had one candle per table of six to eight. Makes it a little harder to see your food!

People wanting to know how to reduce their footprint would like to have data so they know what changes to make to do it. Unfortunately the data available for a lot of choice is still incredibly hard to find or inaccurate and vague.

I personally don’t do a lot of footprinting because  I don’t feel the need for exact numbers to trust that doing a few key things will reduce my footprint:

• Eating primarily vegan
• Driving fewer miles in efficient vehicles
• Having a smaller home (or sharing it)
• Using less electricity, gas, and heating oil
• Reducing long distance travel

Once you’ve done all that then you can start talking about the details: local and organic food, flying vs driving vs trains, etc.

For those interested in calculators here’s some links that might help you find the one thats best for you or that has that bit of information you were looking for. Let us know if you have a favorite or find ones that are really good.

Top Five Footprint Calculators – Just some bloggers opinion but there are some good links

The 15 best carbon Calculators – If 5 isn’t enough for you try 15.

Michael Bluejay’s Calculator – This guy didn’t like the other calculators so he wrote his own. Its very simple and well laid out. Its worth reading his opinions on the other calculators. Its also worth reading about him. I feel like I met him somewhere before.

This week at Dancing Rabbit we had weathery things like snow, ice, and slush. Burrrr and a bit o’ yuck. This is my first winter at Dancing Rabbit and it has been a learning experience (and continues to be). We had below zero weather for a few nights in a row. This weather, which I thought had to be uncharacteristic, is evidently how it used to be, "back in the day" (according to the Rutledge Renegades, locals and friends we talk to often at Zimmerman's). I have learned the fine art of chopping wood and keeping a room warm. Tereza, Alyson, and I all shared the joy of frozen pipes; not to fear, we are all well and on track again. The best part has been taking advantage of winter's abundance...of snow. Dave, Jennifer, and I trekked over to a big o hill, affectionately called Vista de la Moo, and sledded on toboggan and flimsy yet fast regular sleds. My first time sledding, it was awesome, I tried to get Thor (Bear's dog) to get on the sled, but he wasn't having it. What we also learned about too many nights of too cold weather may cause the top layer of potatoes to freeze. Sheila was trying to explain to me how the first mushy layer was usable in some way, but I couldn't really imagine it. The good news is that most of Sheila's cellared tates did well, and I'm hoping that one day Sheila will make me breakfast. Dan tried to feed his mushy taters to the chickens, they were not so interested; they are clearly hens with discerning and refined tastes. Whatever helps those yummy eggs to keep 'a coming!

Happy New Year to all of our readers! This is Alline checking in with all of the news that’s fit to print from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

As often happens around here, the big news is the weather. In a nutshell: it is COLD! It has been -9 and -11 (that is 9 and 11 degrees BELOW zero) in the mornings when we wake up…Brrrrr! People reading this in Northeastern Missouri are thinking “well, duh!” but this column also goes out electronically to all sorts of climates, and we’d like our friends in, say, Florida (hi to families of Liat, Mary Beth and Cecil!) to feel the full weight of our stoicism. Have I mentioned just how cold it is?

And still we bravely soldier on. As we run all of our appliances on renewable energy (solar panels and wind turbines) we choose not have clothes dryers – we have clothes lines. One of the most entertaining aspects of my winter is hanging clothes out to dry. Depending on just how bitterly cold it is, the clothes freeze solid within minutes – one can hold them up much like a board, which makes me laugh every time. (Clearly we do not have TV here, and are very easily entertained).

Just yesterday Nani, a native of tropical, sunny Hawaii, came by to borrow still more blankets. We are hoping that she survives the winter. The good news is that because it is so cold (at noon we are experiencing a daily high of 9 degrees F), the snow that fell on the ground over Christmas is still with us, and crunches delightfully as we walk around the village – it really is beautiful, at least to this Californian. There have been (brief but exciting) sledding runs down the hill across the road, exuberant games of broom ball and a group of Rabbits went over to Sandhill to play a game of ice hockey. I’m pleased to report that all came home with all of their teeth. The rest of us are staying home by the fire and reading seed catalogs, dreaming of warm sunshine and fresh tomatoes.

Sandhill Farm, home to friends of Dancing Rabbit, is a small neighboring intentional community here in northeastern Missouri.

Sandhill has been practicing organic agriculture and gardening since 1974 on 135 acres, and the community provides most of its own food, including vegetables, fruits, herbs, sorghum syrup, honey, chickens, and turkeys. This video gives us a glimpse into how members of the community actually grow their own food, and how this lifestyle is central to community life at Sandhill Farm.

Hopefully this is the first of future DRTV: Neighbors videos!

Hello! This is Danielle from Dancing Rabbit with praise for the changing of seasons, the quiet reflection of the winter months and a small brewing twinkle of next spring’s plans and schemes. I’m feeling rather poetic having just come from an early morning solstice celebration in Skyhouse, where we gathered this morning at 6:30 am for coffee, tea, cranberry orange muffins, corn muffins, Sheila’s sourdough pancakes and delicious eggs from our own Dan Durica’s lovely chickens (who are currently in the loving care of Dennis who it turns out makes the best scrambled eggs in the world). As the sun rose through the clouds and brightened a fresh cover of snow, we sat inside and sang old and new songs about the return of light in the sky. Last Night is when the celebration actually began; so let me back up a bit…

At dusk, we gathered with candles as Sharon treated us to a brief lesson on the meaning (scientific and spiritual) of the winter solstice. Scientifically, the solstice marks the moment in time when the earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun. In other words, when the sun reaches its lowest point in our horizon, thus beginning its ascent again, marking the last and longest night of the winter. For many people, this is a time to celebrate the change from darkness to light, the slipping away of the still winter and the sneaking in of an abundant, alive and promising spring. For us, it was a time to reflect on what darkness means for us, how we feel during the winter, what we experience and learn from the season of rest and stillness.

Dear Dancing Rabbit Friend,

It's finally making headlines! Everywhere you turn, a simple message is repeated: Don't Hurt the Earth!

Sounds like such a simple concept!

But you know it's not as simple as that. We all do. You may have heard about No Impact Man, who spent a year working towards zero environmental impact while living in New York City. He gets the media coverage he does because the truth is that aiming for zero impact is not simple. It's a radical departure from the current way of doing things. Our entire way of life has been built around convenience and ease for humans, with little regard to the ecological systems around us.

No Impact Man, village scale?

You know we're on the right path by looking at our track record: we receive support and encouragement from folks across the globe, including No Impact Man himself. No Impact Man writes:

“We need to change our culture so that living sustainably doesn't mean swimming upstream. Dancing Rabbit has created a village where living sustainably means going with the flow. We need more of that! Please support this community; it is making a big difference!”

Dan D. here, writing another column for our local paper updating you all on life in our village. I've been kind of busy this week getting ready for my annual winter vacation. It was the week when we felt the first real bitter cold front of the season. I picked the last heads of my broccoli and pulled the last of my carrots just before the temperatures plummeted. It's so nice to still be getting fresh garden produce in December. Hopefully, I'll be reporting the same thing in January and February when I'm pulling carrots, beets, and leeks from my root barrel.

I opened the door to the chicken coop the morning after it got down below zero and the chickens seemed struck by the world outside and turned right around again. The Ironweed coop seems to be working well to keep them at least somewhat warmer than the outdoors. They also benefited from the freezing of the broccoli plants. I threw the plants into their pen and they picked them clean of their leaves.

This last weekend the Milkweed's Mercantile hosted a showing of the documentary No Impact Man, about Colin Beavan, a guy in Manhattan who lived an eco-friendly lifestyle for a year. I think Alline talked about the movie last week so I won't give too much detail. Many rabbits and neighbors attended the showings and discussed the movie afterwards. It's been nice to see the lights on and activity in the Mercantile in the evenings. We hope to attend many more fun events there in the coming months and hope that our neighbors will feel welcome to attend.

Hi all. This is Alline with the latest news from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

Things here at Dancing Rabbit are pretty much the same – folks coming home from holiday travel, others leaving for trips. Gatherings, dinners, and our first snowfall of the year – yay!

But what has been on my mind most lately is movies. Last night we watched the documentary “Food, Inc.” It features two of my personal heroes; Michael Pollan, the author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” (http://www.michaelpollan.com/), and Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms (http://www.polyfacefarms.com/). Among other things it focuses on the importance of small local farms, of being aware of where our food comes from, and just exactly what it in it.

I also previewed the documentary film “No-Impact Man” in preparation for this weekend’s free public screenings at the Milkweed Mercantile. I wasn’t sure what to expect – the film is billed as “Colin Beavan and his family turn their small Manhattan apartment into the site of an experiment in radical non-consumption.” They go off the grid for a full year—while still living in New York City—to see if it’s possible to make no net impact on the environment.

Zip zip zip goes the time, just flying by…where does it go?

It was Thanksgiving, now it’s December; who can keep up? I’m still trying to find a place to store the tomatoes I canned three months ago…

Hi all, this is Alline with this week’s adventures from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

It was a quiet but fun-filled week. Lots of folks are traveling for the holidays – Ted, Sara & Aurelia went east; Bear, Alyssa and Zane went west. Nani, Elle and Dave went south, then north; Brian went to Ohio, Liat was dog-sitting over at Red Earth Farms… And humans weren’t the only ones on the move – Dan and Mary Beth’s chickens took up residence in the “chicken TV” in the Ironweed kitchen.

We missed submitting a column last week – assigned author Jen had a painful run-in with lime plaster while working on Maikwe’s home. She accidently got a blob of it in her eye; as lime is extremely caustic it was very painful and rather terrifying, for all involved. Quick thinking on the jobsite got Jen’s eye flushed (and flushed and flushed) with saline solution, followed by a trip to the Memphis Emergency room where she received excellent care. After an uncomfortable and painful week, Jen is now doing well, as is her vision. Whew!

Dan D. here writing another column to update you all on what we were up to at Dancing Rabbit this week. It's been a stretch of unusually good weather lately. We got the October (or even September) we never actually got in October. I was able to finish the scratch coat of plaster on the house and make more progress on the light clay straw insulation on the South wall this past week.

I wasn't alone in getting some good work in during the late season warm front. Luke Zimmerman was doing more excavating the foundation for Bear and Alyssa's new house. The Ironweed kitchen has been transforming lately as Travis and Ted have been putting some finishing touches on it. I say finishing touches, but I guess the work adds up to a lot more than touches. The loft was finished so that Travis could sleep there during his stay. The greenhouse on the south side has been almost entirely enclosed. Boone put a door on the chicken coop and earthen floor was laid to prep the coop for the new tenants--my chickens. At our meeting today Ted talked of having a kitchen warming party soon.

Speaking of chickens, I was able to eat the first chicken from my flock this last week. I've got about 4 roosters and only 7 hens, so I plan to eat a couple more roosters before long. Mary Beth and I made delicious chicken soup in which the only ingredients not grown by us were salt and pepper. Then this morning I went out for the morning feeding and found my first egg. I brought it back home and fried it up right away. It was delicious, and the yolk had a deep orange color as only the freshest and healthiest eggs have.

Greetings from Dancing Rabbit!

It is awfully warm and balmy for November don’t you think? I suppose I am still adjusting to the whimsical nature of, well nature and weather and rain, and not rain etc. It is likely that by the time you read this we will all be huddled up indoors all cozy to avoid the bitter cold!

Hi! My name is Danielle and I am a new resident at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. I am originally from Northern California so you can imagine my surprise almost everyday when I wake up and greet the vastness of the horizon and sky not to mention the unpredictability of the weather. It has been so incredible becoming acquainted with the landscape and climate here. My partner, Boone, a Kansan, makes fun of me for being so utterly taken by all the different kinds of clouds. But I can’t help it, the sky has replaced the ocean for me and it is a never-ending source of awe. I do believe it is how I fell in love with this little corner of Northeastern Missouri. Since we (Boone and I) are fairly new residents, our time here at Dancing Rabbit so far has consisted of a lot of observing and absorbing. It is one thing to make the huge leap of faith it takes to move from a major metropolitan area to a rural environment with the intention of building a sustainable life for yourself, your family and your community, but to actually be here and experience the day- to -day reality of this experiment is humbling, beautiful and quite profound.

Hi all. This is Alline with the latest news from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

As this column appears in the local Northeastern newspapers and is sent to readers via email, we column writers do double-duty. The locals already know about the weather, but folks reading this in, say, Sarasota, Florida might not remember what a chilly, windy autumn day is like!

So with that caveat, we begin with the weather: The constant, driving, Noah-esque rain has finally abated and we’ve been receiving the wild winds for which the Midwest prairies are famous. Sometimes we wonder if we’re going to wake up in Illinois instead of here in Missouri. The leaves on the trees are all turning scrumptious shades of red, gold and brown, and are providing a gorgeous contrast to the bright green grass that still lingers. Fall crops are being harvested and eaten with gusto – chard and kale are still quite happy in the chilly fall air.

Halloween (or, as we call it around here: “Holler-ween”) is a big annual event here at Dancing Rabbit, rich in traditions which are being added upon each year. Preparation for the big day began early in the week with not one but two pumpkin carving parties. In addition, Bear crafted a jack-o-lantern with a skid-steer loader for Zane, a fan of all heavy equipment.

Saturday itself was filled with lots of planning and plotting for costumes and our annual Progressive Fiasco. Much like a progressive dinner, we dress up and go from home to home, where we are fed and entertained. In preparation for the stop his family was hosting, Cob came into the Milkweed Mercantile in the afternoon and asked for “a quarter pound of maggots.” In the spirit of the holiday, I filled his order with some delicious, organic jelly beans. Viewed in the right light, I guess they do look a bit larval…

Hello from Ted at Dancing Rabbit with this week's update.

I'm just now well recovered from a back strain a couple weeks ago, and so was glad to be getting back to work this week. Travis, our excellent work exchanger from last year, has returned for a month or so to help work on getting Ironweed kitchen work wrapped up after five years. It feels close, and yet the list of work to do is long... so we keep plugging away. Travis stomped some cob and got to work on cobbing the bench inside that will complete the downstairs seating area, while I framed up some of the greenhouse walls in preparation for installing the various windows and greenhouse material we'll use for glazing the attached structure. Once that's in, we'll start harvesting lots of free heat from the sun, and also have a place to keep buckets of slaking clay warmer on cold nights. Cold clay makes cob stomping far less pleasant.

Boone has started putting in some work on the kitchen as well, installing the exterior door to the chicken coop on Friday That makes us close to ready for Dan's chickens to be the first inhabitants of our kitchen's chicken coop and bring "chicken TV" alive. There is a large round window installed in the interior wall that separates the kitchen from the coop, so soon we'll be able to watch the chickens at work from our comfortable sitting spot on the battery bench.

We're most of the way through garlic planting now, with just a few varieties left to put in the ground. The anchor varieties are already spreading new roots under the thick mulch, prompted by the cool Autumn rain we've seen so much of lately. As the cold of winter comes on, they'll go dormant, ready to get growing come Spring with the help of all the roots they're setting right now.