small-scale: life in an ecovillage

Something that has been almost immediately apparent after relocating here to Dancing Rabbit is the dramatic shift in my sense of time. Others have noted experiencing the same thing, so it must indeed be some sort of mini “DR phenomenon”.

That is, time goes much more slowly. Last week… no wait, a few days ago (see what I mean?), I was thinking back on how many days I’ve been here. “Two and a half weeks, yep… Oh no, wait… one and a half… That’s it?!” Really though, someone might tell me a month has passed and I would probably believe it.

And the other half of the equation? Well, it’s almost May already, and that doesn’t seem quite right either. Is May starting a few days early this year?

The time seems to be a bit twisted… I’m not really sure what to attribute that to, and it’s not really a good/bad thing, either… it just is, I guess. Well, that’s something of a lie… I know it’s the shift in environment that is mostly responsible for the difference in a sense of time.

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Well, the past couple of days have been fairly low key thanks to consistent rain and gray skies. Yesterday, I only spent about three minutes on the computer because the power levels were too low from a long(ish) lack of sunlight, and it was not worth the risk of depleting the batteries (connected to the solar panels).

Nevertheless, on Wednesday I did some cobbing with the visitors on the Ironweed kitchen, stomping some sand, clay, and straw with my bare feet to make the cob itself, despite the less than ideal weather conditions. Soggy, but still fun. Then I helped do some actual cobbing in the kitchen interior, on a wall that seems almost nearly done. The kitchen has come a long way since I visited last year, and I will be excited to see the final product, which has been four years in the making so far. Dang. That’s a long time. In the evening, we watched 30 Days with the visitors. I guess this was the now the third time I’ve seen it, and it’s funny to me how little of the actual ecovillage itself that you see during the show. You don’t really get a sense of what the community actually looks like, I think. Too much time spent on b.s. reality show-type drama.

Yesterday was quiet and cold, and I mostly did some more reading and talking with folks, and overall it was a long and lazy day. For dinner, we had Tony’s vegan pizza, and it was as amazing as I can remember from last year.

Speaking of food… these first two weeks, I am eating free of charge with the Bobolink co-op, but next week that trial run will end. The current plan is that I will give the Sunflower co-op a shot (for a month?) after the trial period is over. Bobolink is vegan and currently has about four or five members. Sunflower is vegetarian and much larger, with about twelve members. Sunflower is also responsbile for feeding visitors for the majority of their visit throughout the summer, so it’s much more “open” and susceptible to change than Bobolink. Each co-op has a pretty unique vibe, so I’ll have to see which one I prefer in the long run. It’s too early to tell for the moment.

Anyway…. thankfully, today is sunny again, and hopefully some of the muddy paths will have a chance to finally dry up.

Yesterday, we ate vegan-style Indian food at Bobolink, which was dang tasty, as are most meals here. I can’t remember the name of anything, but it was really good. My father left early this morning, and later I took a bike ride into town to drop off mail, but I felt really tired for some reason, and I later realized I was in the process of getting sick. I was hoping to bike down the road to get some raw milk, but I scratched that idea. This afternoon, I slept for an hour on the grass outside, and two additional hours inside the lower grain bin because I was feeling sore.

Other than that, I now have internet access in the grain bin, which is pretty nice.

There is a cattle farm across the road from DR. Sometimes, the cattle are very near to the road, like yesterday. It’s mesmerizing to stare at them. They are very curious and will sometimes approach you very slowly. If you move too quickly, they frequently get scared and run a few feet away. They will continue to stare at you until you are out of sight. I could probably stare at them for hours. I think they are hypnotic.

Anyway, here are some photos of the interior of the lower grain bin. It’s actually pretty cool in here for the moment, but that will definitely change over the next few months as the summer heat kicks in.

Otherwise, things are good thus far.

Northeastern NJ vs. northeastern MO.