Fall is the season of goodbyes, with a blustery lull before winter weather arrives. The weather here in Northeast Missouri lurches between warm and cold, and brown, brittle leaves cover the ground and blow into crannies around buildings. I feel like I’m holding my breath, waiting for winter weather to arrive. Liz here, writing about the latest at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

Two weeks ago we said goodbye to the last visitors from our two-week visitor programs that run from April to October. Last week we hosted our board of directors for a three-day, on-farm, state-of-the-village gathering, with activities to encourage board members and Rabbits to mix and mingle, such as morning coffee group, dinners and several breakfast gatherings. There were presentations from DR committees, and summaries of what we’ve accomplished this year. It did me good to hear these summaries, and to talk to board members and hear from their perspectives how we are doing and their suggestions for how to move forward to where we want to go as a community. When there are a lot of visitors and lots to do to support their stay here, I start to look forward to the end of the hustle and bustle. Then, when it’s quiet in the village, almost deserted, it feels too quiet.

After working inside SubHub in September on the earthen living room floor, sheltered from the hot weather in the cool of clay plastered walls, I started working outside with the crew on adding utility and pantry rooms on the north side of SubHub. The pantry will double as a tornado shelter, as it is sunk three feet down from SubHub’s main floor with a cinder block foundation  (hence its nickname “the panic room”).

For the last month we arrive bundled in coats and within an hour or so of mixing mortar and lifting cinder blocks in place, we are all usually in t-shirts. Thanks to patient crew member Kyle, we have all got the hang of mortaring blocks in place, mixing batch after batch of mortar and cutting rebar. I don’t know if there is any getting used to shoveling gravel, but backfilling trenches and then the foundation is very satisfying!

The utility room will house SubHub’s water system: water tanks, filters, pumps, pressure bladder tank and manifold to control the radiant floor circulating system, and the kitchen and shower hot water. I’ve studied up on these things, I’ve envisioned our systems in place, and now it’s becoming a reality! We plan to heat water with a solar water heater on the roof in the summer and run water through our masonry heater in the winter. We will continue to build both rooms this winter, weaving through winter weather conditions as we have for the last three winters. 

Last weekend, at the end of the board of directors gathering, DR continued its traditional Halloween celebration with what we call a Progressive Fiasco. Households sign up to host wandering, costumed villagers for 15 minutes or so at a time for festive events, such as bobbing for donuts (hung on a clothesline). This year’s highlight was a scene reenactment from Moby Dick, hosted by Alis, called The White Whale. Hearsay and Facebook videos show an operatic performance, complete with live music and village actors in a large white whale costume pursuing Alis in his Captain Ahab garb around a large bonfire.

Jen and Kim joined in the Fiasco festivities as a forest spirit and an insectoid critter.

Five weeks ago, new resident Lesley and I started hosting a meditation group in the Casa building every morning, which has been regularly well attended. I want to thank Lesley for preparing the room every morning and starting a fire so that by the time we all get there, the space is warm and inviting! I love arriving to meditate in the dark and seeing the sun rising bit by bit, and then returning home in daylight. It is a lovely way to start each day.

The earthen floor in the living room at SubHub is dry and oiled. Putting multiple coats of oil (in this case, a mix of linseed and tung oils, with beeswax and Citra Solv) on the floor dries to a hard finish, allowing the floor to be swept and mopped. I knew I wanted to oil the floor in one go (three coats), so I picked a Sunday morning when the crew was gone, and started in. About eight hours later, I realized I forgot to eat lunch, so I stopped for half an hour to eat something. The whole time I worried I hadn’t ordered enough oil, which would take four or so days to order if I ran out, and by then the other coats would dry. I started talking out loud to myself after a while, encouraging myself to keep going. Then I started singing. Then I thought about sending out an email to the community, asking people to drop by and keep me company. I decided that was too distracting, so I kept going. And finally, at 9 p.m., it was done!

I elected not to top the oil with wax, which is often done for an extra shine, kind of like marble. The shine seemed too formal for the space we are creating, and I worried that the sunlight coming into the room in the morning would be blinding if it was bouncing off of a shiny floor. Next comes getting up the courage to actually use the floor, but I’m not there yet. So for now the room remains blocked off.

Daniel started building a community sauna down by the pond this summer, and rumor has it that it will be usable by the first snowfall. Christina hosted a village-wide game of capture the flag for her birthday. A team of Ultimate Frisbee players challenged DR to a game, which we lost. Nurses from a nearby hospital came to DR and administered 24 COVID booster shots. DR member Jason came for his quarterly visit and hosted morning coffee in his yurt with some excellent Colorado coffee, as he usually does, but I couldn’t go because I was hosting morning coffee for the visitor session.

And just when some of us were thinking that life here was getting pretty cushy, Alis published a photo of the carcass of a woodchuck that he had caught. Another photo he published later showed the animal skinned, seasoned with some sort of tomato-based sauce and squeezed into a frying pan. I’m a former professional cook, so I feel like I’m in touch with where my meat comes from, and I applaud Alis for his foraging. We have had an influx of woodchucks this summer that has been unsettling. They are large, not easily scared off, noisy, they dig big holes under buildings, and frankly, they are kind of sassy. So now there is one less of them. At coffee group, we had a discussion about the effects we’ve had on local wildlife. When we had a few free roaming dogs, we had fewer rabbits, raccoons, opossums and woodchucks. Since deciding as a community not to have dogs allowed to roam off leash, we have seen an increase in wildlife taking advantage of the relative safety of the village to make their homes here.

And just in time for the midterm elections, let me share a quote from Rebecca Solnit, a writer of societal commentary:

"Consumers define themselves by what they buy, own, watch - or don’t. Citizens see themselves as part of civil society, as actors in the political system. In my own case, some of what I could tout as personal virtue is only possible because of collective action."