As an acupuncturist, I follow the basic way of life advocated by Chinese medicine, which encourages making adjustments in all parts of your life for the different seasons and for weather. Fall is the season of grief and letting go, the weather and plant life affecting our lungs and gut, and as the season shifts from summer to fall, and the days shorten and the daylight takes on a harsher quality, I try to accept that the wheel of time is turning once again, and once again I make adjustments in my life in response. I’m also trying to accept that we are running out of time to do warm weather building tasks at the straw bale building project that we call The Hub (formerly known as SubHub).

Liz here, ready to acknowledge that the weather, after a few heat waves that went on far too long, is finally settling into fall. My brave little straw bale cottage made a valiant effort to keep me cool-ish during these heat waves, but the longer a heat wave goes on for, and the longer the nights don’t cool off the building, the less it can compensate, and it’s just plain hot. And just as quickly, as if I was never trying everything to keep cool, I’m having to wear an extra layer against a chill in the air during my morning and evening walks.

I’ve been going to the local gym for eight months now. It’s a source of joy, three times a week, and, along with the joy I feel (most days) working at The Hub, I feel I’m doing a decent job of cultivating that emotion. The gym I go to is a large, state-of-the-art facility about 25 minutes away, and there’s never more than a handful of people using it at any given time. And in true DR fashion, I share the rides there most days with fellow Rabbits. I’ve been enjoying getting to know several of the teenagers that go to the gym with us, and the Gil family. As I’ve noticed in the past, Christina and I have an effect on each other as accountability buddies, and this effect, along with the ride shares, are what keep me going when my motivation runs low.

This spring we began constructing a patio with a living roof on the west side of the building. We wanted to use tree poles (round logs), for roof rafters. Six of us gathered and headed off into the woods with a chainsaw and a list of the different lengths for each rafter. Each rafter needed to be eight to nine inches at one end so that it would be large enough in diameter as it tapered toward the other end, and large enough in diameter once we removed the bark. That meant very, very heavy logs! We made three slings, each from a 2×4 and a tied strap, with each person hoisting an end of the 2×4. We carried each log down out of the woods and up into the truck, and then down off the truck and down the path to our building site for de-barking. That week we had a returning volunteer, Dani, who showed up with her own tools and chainsaw (awesome!) and a can-do cheerfulness that never flagged (priceless!), even in the record heat. Although it was a record heat wave, I decided we had to get this done while Dani was there to help. So we left an hour earlier than our usual start time, and over the course of two days, we managed to get our seven primary rafters!

This year so far has been pretty productive on The Hub project. We completed a 12×28-foot shed with a tool workshop and a room with racks for lumber storage (we call this shed “the tool palace”). We built the stem wall for a straw bale sitting wall around the west patio (partially built by students of a natural building workshop in June) and hoisted six posts for the roof. We finished putting the base coat of cob plaster on the straw bales of the sitting wall, to protect the bales from rodents, insects and rain. We are one layer away from finishing a concrete block wall that forms the north side of an addition we are adding to The Hub for a utility room and a pantry/storm shelter. I have started teaching the natural building classes during visitor programs and I was one of four instructors in our June natural building workshop. We have included seven different work exchange people for various parts of the build for a few days up to a few weeks at a time, ending up hiring two of them for longer periods of paid work on our project.

But the really big news is that coffee group in the morning is back on for every day! I host coffee group during visitor program and ecovillage weekend, women’s retreat and the natural building workshop and Sparky is currently holding down the coffee host role in between those events so that Rabbits can enjoy the camaraderie of a cuppa each day. Thanks Sparky! It feels good to return a tradition to the village that was suspended during COVID.

Other activities that are making regular appearances are karaoke night, maker’s mornings and contra dances. Maker’s morning is a gathering of people who do crafts of different sorts, from knitting, to drawing, to quilting. At the last maker’s morning, a visitor opened a big bin of beanie hats that she had knitted in all sorts of styles and colors, and let everyone take a look at them (if you’re a yarn person, you’ll understand what fun this is).

The Hub is hosting a very special guest for two weeks, who came initially as a visitor in the first visitor program. Paula Clayton is a renowned muralist who will be painting a mural at The Hub. She will be our guest for several weeks while she creates her art. We’re very excited to have her here!

Yesterday I was doing repairs on a little cottage close to the center of town and I saw people gathering for what turned out to be a game of capture the flag that Christina had organized to celebrate her birthday. At the end of the day her family hosted a cocktail party for Rabbits, with everyone encouraged to show up in their cocktail attire.

Today marks the end of an era at The Hub. Prairie has been working on our project for almost three years now, starting as a complete novice with tools and knowledge of building, and ending with confidence and so much competence for using tools and building things. She leaves today for Chicago, for a training program in carpentry. We (I) wish her well, as she goes on to bigger things out in the world, as a young person must. We (I) love you Prairie and know that you will take your experience at Dancing Rabbit and make us proud!

 

If you want to experience living sustainably in community for one to two weeks this year, consider joining our last visitor program of 2023, starting October 6. If you yearn for life-changing adventure and to meet inspiring people, come join us! More information about Dancing Rabbit ecovillage and our visitor programs can be found on our website: https://www.dancingrabbit.org/visit/.

Liz Hackney is the editor of this newsletter. But more importantly, she is the host of coffee group in the morning during visitor sessions. Good coffee, good music, and stimulating, freewheeling conversations! And as a former resident of the People’s Republic of Berkeley, she darn well knows how to create the ambiance of a coffee house.