DR PICTURE POST!!!

By popular demand!!!  Actually, none of these are mine, they were all taken by Tom.

PS - We had an amazing anniversary.  Tom gave us a beautiful Vedic verse, some incense and two bracelets made of broken prayer beads.  The beads have been to monasteries all over the world.  They have history.  Alline and Kurt set us up a little table with candles and put black olives in a heart shape on our pizza.  :)  It was super-duper sweet.  So, on to the pics!!

Our Anniversary at DR

Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary.  I'm actually very excited to be celebrating a milestone in such a place.  We've both spent the last week asking some of the couples what they do when they want a date.  Some of the answers - play music at the pond, walk into Rutledge (which we did this morning for a delicious non veggie breakfast.  It's a shame the Mennonites who run Zimmerman's have an aversion to selling tobacco) or catch a ride to Kirksville for a movie.  Tom the Monk took over Iz duties for our breakfast hike, and him and a wexer named Julia are going to split the evening between them while we have beer and pizza at the Milkweed. 

I guess I haven't told anyone...anything, really, in about 6 days.  I guess I should bring you up to speed. 

Loving everything but the weather

I'm finding it difficult to update everyone.  We've had some pretty dreary, cold weather this entire week, so we've had to be super conservative with our power use.  We got to charge for a few minutes in Skyhouse last night, but until we get some sun we're gonna be sporadic.

Our first 48 hours at Dancing Rabbit.

Our journey has begun!
   We started off on Sunday morning on a Greyhound Bus in Mobile, AL with hearts filled with hope, minds filled with questions, and luggage filled with clothes, tents, and camping gear.  Unfortunately, Greyhound was only able to get our hearts and minds to the destination on time.  The luggage went on a bit longer of a trip apparently.   What could have been a really bad situation has turned into an excellent opportunity for the folks here at Dancing Rabbit to show us how a community comes together to help each other out.  Before we had even made it to the village from the bus station,  arrangements were made for us to stay in the home of a member who is away visiting family.   A family here who has a son close to Izzy's age came to the rescue with some pajamas for Izzy,  and another rabbit with the same shoe size as Jenny was able to lend her some boots.  As word of the visitors with lost luggage got around, we heard the question, "Is there anything you guys need" more times than I can count.   As total strangers, we've been instantly taken in and treated as family, and I have been floored with the outpouring of compassion that we have received from the community so far.
     During our first afternoon here we met dozens of people, both members of DR and fellow visitors like ourselves, and then shared our first community meal together.   Black bean burgers cooked on the grill, wheat buns, french fries, and a salad with carrots and kale.   Pretty far from the diet I'm used to,  but we got fed, and the dinner conversation more than made up for the lack of meat on the plate.   It was great hearing all of the different stories from visitors about their reasons for considering Dancing Rabbit as home,  and what they expected out of their visit.   Most have similar reasons to our own even though they come from different places and backgrounds.
   The home that we are staying in until our tent arrives is a beautiful cob home with a wooden stove for warmth.   After a quick tutorial on how to operate the stove, we had a fire and a roof over our heads and were then able to get some much needed sleep.
    Day two began with orientation and continued on with a full slate of activities including a tour of the village, a Dancing Rabbit history lesson, and a really fun meet and greet filled with some fun games to help learn names.  Day two also helped me to alleviate two of my biggest fears about being able to transisition to life at DR.  First off ,  I pooped in a bucket, and ya' know what? It's really not that different.  Kind of more of a thud than a plop,  but other than that,  not such a big deal.  My other big fear was that I wouldn't be able to deal with the vegetarian diet,  but after dinner tonight that fear is all but gone.  The Wabi Sabi food co-operative took their turn tonight cooking for the visitors and blew my taste buds away with some great rice and bean burritos.  I even had seconds.  Talking with members here it also seems that meat is more prevalent than I had originally thought.  There is a cafe within biking distance that serves burgers and the like,  and occasionally some meat is even served out of DR kitchens.    
     We have only been here for a couple of days, and so I don't really want to post here that we love it or hate it.  I don't think we've really had the time to make those kind of statements yet.  We have lots more questions to ask,  meals to eat, and work to do before we'll know if this is a place that we'd like to call home,  but already I think we've fallen in love with the people here.   People here have smiles that radiate and infect those around them, and although it's cold, wet, and we're still wearing the same clothes from our bus ride - I'm smiling.  :)

What's an ecovillage?

So…what is an ecovillage?  Is it a commune? Some type of separatist cult? A bunch of militia survivalists? What do residents of Dancing Rabbit (or other ecovillages) believe? Why do they live the way they do?  What makes an ecovillage different from a farm?

The idea of ecovillages grew out of communal living movement of the 1960's and 70's.  In the 1980's a shift towards ecologically proper living, as opposed to simply living in community, began.  In 1991, Robert and Diane Gilman co-authored a study called "Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities" for Gaia Trust.  In the study, the Gilmans defined an ecovillage as a human scale, full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future. 

Ecovillages can be rural or urban communities who strive to integrate a supportive social environment with a low-impact way of life.  While there is no single right way to realize this goal, certain practices and philosophies are shared among many communities.  Various aspects of ecological design: sustainable building using materials like cob, strawbale, and reclaimed lumber and concrete, alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind and biofuels, permaculture and low- or no-impact manufacturing/production, are integrated with daily practices:  communal vehicles, restricting trade and purchasing to their closest neighbors to minimize the impact of transporting goods, and organic farming, to minimize the ecological footprint of the community.  Many ecovillages strive for the greatest possible measure of independence from the the existing, unsustainable (not to mention immoral and exploitative) infrastructure.

Many ecovillages are egalitarian communities - all residents having equal access to resources and decision making power.  I would say that Dancing Rabbit, because it is not entirely an income sharing community, is less egalitarian than some, but still uses a consensus model of governance.  The consensus process has roots with the Quakers and Native Americans, and at it's most basic means that a decision isn't made unless everyone can live with it.  It doesn't mean that everyone gets what they want, or that everything is perfect for everyone, but it does mean that no one has to accept a decision that they can't live with.  This is what makes it different from a democratic system, where one side wins, and the other side may wind up having to accept a decision that they are very unhappy with.   Central to the success of a consensus governance system is the understanding that every person has a piece of the truth. This means that every person has the opportunity to speak, and every person has the opportunity to truly hear and listen for the truth in what each person brings to the table.  It is predicated on compassion and respect, and empowers everyone in the decisions that affect their lives.

So, what does all this mean for us?  I'm not entirely sure yet, but I think it means that we will live in a way that makes sense, both for us now, and for our future, and it means that we will live in a society that recognizes the worth of each individual.  It means that we will give up a lot of creature comforts - television, consumer goods, a great many modern conveniences, but I believe that we will gain so much more.

Tomorrow is the big day.  We will get on a bus at 10:20, and for 24 hours we will ride.  I am so excited...but also a little nervous.  That's a LONG time with an extremely active toddler.  It will be what my mom used to call 'a character building exercise'.

Jenny's pre-trip thoughts

It's Wednesday night, almost Thursday.  Just over three days left.  I've been trying to get some thoughts in order so I could post something...I'm just not very good at this.  Bear with me...(Bare with me?  Neither makes any sense) while I stumble my way into this blogging thing.

My birthday wish is for you to read this -

For those of you who are not aware,  My small family is taking a big step into uncharted territory this weekend as we leave for our month long adventure.  We are visiting two different intentional communities as visitors and as potential residents.

 The first community,Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, is in Northeast Missouri and as the name implies, they put a large focus on environmental sustainability.  The community is entirely separated from the electrical grid and their electrical power is all produced with solar and wind technology. The group is committed toward a non violent consensus government, and from what I can see from afar. they have an established track record of keeping the peace, and creating a healthy social environment, especially for children.

After a 3 week stay at Dancing Rabbit we'll travel to the Missouri - Arkansas border to visit our second community of the tour - East Wind Community  where we'll stay for a week.  East Wind is also an intentional community with a non violent consensus form of government, but with a vastly different economic model than Dancing Rabbit.  East Wind operates as an income sharing community, where all members finances are more or less collective. They operate a successful organic peanut butter factory and it's revenues provide for the needs of the community - food, shelter, medical insurance, and even a monthly stipend.  In return, members are required to each work about 40 hours a week with jobs not limited to the factory, but include things like cooking meals,  child care, and education.

 There's no way I can tell you everything there is to know about these two communites, but I'm including links where you can check them out for yourself.  Although the websites are not as up to date as facebook might be, we feel like we've chosen places that have shown themselves to be open and up front about how they operate. The by-laws and membership agreements for both Dancing Rabbit and East Wind can be found at thefec.org - the website for the Federation of Egalitarian Communites.   

I'm probably painting too rosy of a picture.  In reality - these are small rural villages, where people poop in buckets to recycle "humanure", use manual labor to work the land for their supper, and eat a lot less meat than this southern boy is used to.  So let me tell you why my family and I have made this decision to test the waters and experiment with a radically different way of life than we are used to.  Perhaps there is something in this story that you can relate to,  and then perhaps begin to understand why I think this may be the smartest thing I will ever do.

Late last summer, a good friend gave me a book; Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.   In this book the young Christian narrarator expresses his frustation with the modern church and with society in general.  The lack of hypocrisy from this young Christian is what first hit me. He actually quit participating in the money system, and is living in the way he believes Jesus taught.  With shared in common possessions, he and his small group spread their message through their actions, and through their example in their local community.  Shane lives in an urban intentional community in Pennsylavania and as he described his living situation and the community that he was surrounded with , I knew that I needed to find something like that for my family.  

I passed the book on to Jenny, my loving wife, and she burned through it in about 24 hours coming away with much the same feeling.  We each come from very different religious backgrounds, but this book was an excellent conversation starter, highlighting much of the common ground that we've always shared.  Non violence - Respect, Love, and Compassion for our fellow man - Our current economic system being viscously immoral - and most importantly that ....

there is another way.

That was the eye opener and the spark - This young man had found a way to successfully remove himself and the efforts of his labor from the system,  and although not as materially "well-off" as your average evangelist, he is happy,  his needs are met , and his example looked pretty appealing to Jenny and I. At least enough to put the words "intentional community" into Google.

It's fairly obvious to most that we are in the middle of a tremendous shift.  Our economies, our environment, and our social systems themselves are all on the verge of transforming into something quite different.  Our current system is simply unable to sustain itself, and as it begins to crumble away,  the models of the future, which make today's models obsolete,  will begin to show themselves.  I believe places like Dancing Rabbit and East Wind are grand and ambitious experiments into creating those future models.  The successes and failures of these alternative societies will be what we look to as the current system collapses.    

I don't want to be a fear-monger because I don't think the transition out of our system has to be scary.  However, it is more and more evident that prices for food and everything else tied to oil are going up.  As a father, the ability to provide locally grown food for my family is something that is definitely on my mind, and I'm eager to put some seeds in the ground.  If we are able to somehow miraculously change our food distribution networks over to some type of renewable fuel before oil prices go out of control, and no crisis ever occurs,  I'll still feel better about feeding Izzy something healthy that I had a hand in growing.   And that brings me to the most important point of all.  

Isaiah

Our adventure over the next month, and the decisions about how and where we want to live once the trip is over, will be largely guided by a three year old.  (sounded smart till about right there huh?)   There has been nothing in life that has made me as proud or as happy as our son.  Surely nothing else has changed my thinking more than him.   More than anything else, I want to make sure that Izzy is able to have a happy and healthy childhood, with a good education, healthy food and enough of it, and surrounded by people who love and respect him and encourage him to do the same for others.  As I look around at today's consumer culture, where compassion is minimized and competition maximized, that is not what I see.  Hi-tech advertisers who have test marketed and focus grouped the colors in their commercial to maximize their ability to gain a ' mind-share ' of their future consumer, are  almost unavoidable today.  Branding is everywhere from the mall to the library encouraging younger and younger children to equate their social worth to their amount of possessions.   This is not a problem that Congress or some other government agency can just pass a law and fix either.  This is a symptom of an off course society with fundamental problems at the root of it's existence.   

I do not know the answers.  

I wish I did.

In the communities that we are going to visit,  these concerns are at least addressed.  There are happy healthy children who are Izzy's age at both.  They eat locally grown organic food.  They are educated, some at public school and some at home.  They are an important part of a community, even as children,  and the love and respect that comes with that is hard to find.   Isaiah and his feelings will be a huge part of the decision process once this trip is over and we contemplate a permanent move.  My bet is that these are going to be places that our adventurous toddler is going to fall in love with immediately.   Both are on large pieces of land with plenty of room to run, explore, and make mischief.

We leave next Sunday , the 17th, and so we ask for all of your thoughts and prayers for a safe trip.  We'll be keeping a video blog of our travels to share in the future.  Wish us Luck!

Credit to Jeff Lion Forbes at East Wind for the inspiring image here. 

Mac McNulty