This week, I’ve been enjoying the moment but also looking forward to things coming--some exciting and some less so. Benji here, struggling to stay present while also planning, excitedly or worriedly, about things coming up for me and our little village.

Another group of participants arrived this week for the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage Visitor Program. They’re friendly, engaged, and quite musically inclined. I’ve had enjoyable conversations with many of them and have enjoyed hearing their music on a daily basis. They even hosted a jam session, inviting Rabbits to join them in making music, dancing, and singing. I didn’t attend, but others said they had a good time and I really liked hearing the voices and instruments as I sat across the courtyard in Skyhouse.

I sat in bed the other evening and listened as a steady, soaking rain fell outside my bedroom window. My spirits were lifted hearing millions of raindrops falling onto a handful of metal roofs, a melodic tick-tock rhythm lifting my heart and helping to quench the parched earth. That same evening, and a few other evenings this week, I found myself feeling rather chilly in the cool night air. I hope that cool hangs around and more rain falls in all those places where rain is so desperately needed. Daytime highs have been very mild and the lows have been dipping into the 50s. The cool, rainy weather feels a bit like fall, which has me thinking ahead to all the fall things I have planned.

One fall thing I’m feeling a bit anxious about is a surgery I have scheduled. I will be having a full hip replacement, which isn’t as bad as it might sound but it does give me a little something to worry about. I’ve been experiencing mobility-reducing hip pain for some time, so I am definitely looking forward to increased mobility and decreased pain. I’m not looking forward to going through surgery and the recovery that follows, although it is a small price to pay to regain the ability to go about my normal everyday without pain.

The other big fall thing that’s on my mind is attending the Permaculture Design Course, right here at Dancing Rabbit! On September 21, I will begin an intense, nine-day course about integrating permaculture into not only my food-growing practices, but the rest of my life as well. I have been passionate about permaculture for more than a decade, researching and putting everything I could into practice. So, I’m very excited to have the opportunity to get in-depth instruction about something I love and something that seems very important to the future of human existence on this planet.

I really hope that you and maybe some of your friends can join me for this course! I would love to share this wonderful experience and be there with you when you receive the much-coveted Permaculture Design Certificate. I’ve been looking forward to this since last year, when I was unable to attend the annual Permaculture Design Course. I can’t wait for this exciting opportunity. If you, too, feel passionate about finding solutions to the issues we face today and are looking for an inspiring, life-changing experience, sign up now as spots are limited.

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Want to see what living cooperatively is really like? Come visit us this year to get a glimpse into how we live and how you can incorporate these practices into your own life. There is one Sustainable Living Visitor Program session left and several more workshops happening between now and October, how will you choose to get involved?

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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.