This first week of visiting Dancing Rabbit has been very busy thus far, with activities scheduled throughout the course of the day. There has always been something to see or do and learn about. The residents have been busy giving us tours of the land and the buildings and demonstrating all sorts of nifty things. Last night was particlarly enjoyable with the community potluck taking place. Neighboring ecovillage members (Red Earth and Sandhill Farms) came over and brought different foods, and later in the evening was a meet-and-greet. Good times. Super-friendly peoples. Later today we’ll be given a “hisory lesson” about DR and some vegan cooking lessons. Should be good. (The food is quite awesome, speaking of which.)
Hopefully once their is more downtime, I will go into more depth about DR itself.
Note: Please find all of my cob building related content at my new blog, The Year of Mud: Building a cob house. Thanks! See you there!
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Well, we (the visitors) are starting to get fully acquainted with the goings-on here at Dancing Rabbit. The day started off with a tour of the village, and the full scope of what the individuals here are trying to (and already have) accomplish struck me as overwhelming while walking about the territory. Overwhelming in a very positive sense, however. For example, while we walked through the land and scoped out the various homes people have built/are building, the people’s level of dedication and determination clearly stuck out. It’s quite amazing to see. Their homes and buildings themselves are extremely impressive, most built using strawbales for insulation and other natural, earthen materials. I would like to go more in-depth, but for now you can take a look at some photos of the structures:
The Common House: this is where one of the sub-co-ops does their cooking and eating. Hanging out can be had here, as well.
Skyhouse: Skyhouse is a small sub-community within DR, and this is their HQ. This is a really beautiful building with an amazing interior. Six bedrooms are located within. Very homely.
The grain bin: One of the more ingenious homes, the grain bin is a two-story home where two individuals live (bottom floor and top floor). You can see the backside of the solar panel to the left.
I hope to get plenty more photos as time progresses… But this is all the time I have for now.
Whew… I am finally here at Dacing Rabbit, after three days of driving. I don’t have much time for writing, but it’s great thus far. It’s a bit like I imagined, but very different at the same time. I’m very anxious to see what lies ahead…
Stick around!
I’ve driven 800 miles in the past two days, and honestly, it hasn’t been all that bad. Sure, it gets a bit lonely out there on the road at times, but the change of landscape is refreshing. The trip through Ohio and Indiana have been filled with nothing but farmlands. A lot of the farm buildings are very old, and many looked to be adandoned. Many would make for some nice photo opportunities, but everything is fenced off, of course. And significantly far off the highway, obviously. Not to mention, the grass is quite high and difficult to walk through. Of course, I had to try getting close to this watering equipment at least once, but I couldn’t quite get close enough…
300 miles until I reach Dancing Rabbit. Not bad.
Tomorrow marks the start of the 1,000+ mile drive to Dancing Rabbit in Missouri. The entire drive should take 20ish total hours, which I am splitting up over the course of 2.5 days. I will have to spend Saturday and Sunday night in a hotel somewhere along the way, wherever that might be.
I’m not much of a fan of long car trips, so the driving will be an experience unto itself. But I’m not too concerned… there’s no rush.
NewFilmmakers is a year-round series that screens films every Wednesday night at the Anthology Film Archives (a wholly badass venue). My short THE IMMORTALITY OF MAN was just accepted, and will play on September 20, 2006 during the shorts screening. (Coincidentally, the video screened at Antholgy during NYSSFF over the weekend.)
NYSSFF was well-organized, not to mention. The range of films was nice, and the panels were informative. (However, the video panel guys were slightly biased towards film, which kinda goes against the low-budget mentality I thought would be prevelant.) Apparently NYSSFF plans on hosting panels and other events throughout the year, and they also hope to take the festival to other cities. Should be swell if so.
On Piracy: On Piracy, Radio, & Walmarts: A super-low budget documentary covering the causes of effects of piracy, to be released online. (I wish the title was not quite so awkward…) [Thanks BUTS!]
Recent links of reading interest, pertaining to social thinking, civilizational theory, collapse, etc. That sort of thing.
“Carbon dioxide. They call it pollution. We call it life.”: Blazingly idiotic CEI ads intended to downplay global warming. I feel ill.
Fast Food Nation: movie trailer: Slightly off-topic, but it’s funny that a YouTube-version video is the only format available… how things change…
Anxiety Culture: “A web magazine with a wealth of ideas & gimmicks for navigating the crazy, paranoid, work-obsessed, media-crapulent times we live in.”
In ten days, I will start the 1,000 mile drive from New Jersey to Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri. I will be visiting DR for three solid weeks. If you are not familiar with DR, they are an intentional community with an emphasis on sustainability and a simple, cooperative lifestyle. That means they grow their own food, they are off-the-grid (they use solar power), they share responsibilites (cooking, cleaning), etc.
Anyway, if you are at all interested in learning more about DR… I hope you will stick around and watch this site over the next month+, because I intend to heavily document the experience. Photos, writing… and very hopefully, video as well.
I will post more information as the departure date (May 27) gets closer.
