Monthly Archive for June, 2007

Hand-Sculpted House

Published
by
Brian
on June 26, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit, Ecovillage, Life and Sustainability
. 1 Comment

I haven’t been reading quite as much these past couple of weeks, but one book I have been picking up regularly is The Hand-Sculpted House. It’s all about cob building, design, and philosophy, and it’s extremely well-written and informative. Very inspiring, too.

It’s been really interesting to read about cob and its history and to learn what people are capable of doing with just a little bit of sand, clay, water, and straw. Cob is a very accessible building medium, and the book is very encouraging because it doesn’t assume you have any building experience of any sort. There are stories of cob cottages built with only $500 and homes constructed by complete novices over the course of a single season.

I’m enjoying the book quite a bit and it’s been increasing my interest in cob as I continue to work with Ironweed in their own cob kitchen. I’ve been mulling over all of the different possibilities of cob - one of the great things about it is its elasticity and shaping abilities. The authors stress that cob homes need not be limited to squares, in fact, they argue against it in favor of more organic, rounded, and free-flowing forms. I love the idea of living in a curvy house with nooks and spaces and benches built into the walls, and the little cob home design sketches and photos in the book are really attractive. Living in the lower grain bin, I’ve come to appreciate the lack of corners in my living space.

Anyway, it’s been a great read thus far.

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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What a way to go…

Published
by
Brian
on June 23, 2007
in Civilization, Culture, Current Events, Environment, Film and Sustainability
. 1 Comment

This looks like the film I have been thinking about for a couple of years. I’ve been either wanting to somehow make it myself, or see it made, or whatever. Nevertheless, the documentary, What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire, features a theme and issues that are very important to me and I’ve always wanted to see these topics addressed in the form of a feature film.

There are plenty of books, essays, etc. on topics of civilization, climate crisis, peak oil, population overshoot, etc., and how all of these problems are connected and related to bigger issues. However, there are few films or movies that attempt to draw an overarching picture of this web of social issues that we are faced with as a globalized civilization. But What a Way to Go seems to do just that:

“If film and television have a role to play in our society, if they are capable of helping important social change, if they have a part in the transformation of human society, then T.S. Bennett and Sally Erickson have fulfilled that purpose. What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire is the culmination of the “big social issue documentary” genre of Michael Moore’s films, or An Inconvenient Truth, and particularly of the “using ironic 50’s footage” sub-genre, such as The End of Suburbia. It deals with the same issues, but follows them deeper, all the way to the root of the problem in the Agricultural Revolution. Along the way, it hits all the important points: peak oil, mass extinction, climate change, overshoot, and the stories that keep us on the path to self-destruction.”

Sounds great. It’s a very low budget and independent affair, but I hope it gains some attention. Here’s one of two trailers for the film:

Dynamic skies

Published
by
Brian
on June 22, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit, Ecovillage and Life
. 0 Comments

Yesterday was a good and active day. Well, the not-so-good part of the day came in the form of bringing down the iconic elm tree at the entrance of the Dancing Rabbit property. Unfortunately, the tree was suffering from either Dutch Elm disease or just old age. Either way, we held a nice ceremony for the tree on Wednesday, and then all of the branches were sliced off yesterday.

Between the branch cutting and burning, and the construction on the Milkweed Mercantile, the main village square was filled with human activity throughout the day. It’s great to see so many people chipping in and lending a hand, and a flurry of people getting a large amount of work done so fluidly. The sun was blazing and it was immediately noticeable just how much shade that great elm tree had once provided us.

At dinner, Tony whipped up an amazing Ethiopian dish. Folks from the Ironweed co-op joined us for the night and it was jovial and delicious and filling. Damn, I love eating here…
After the meal, we walked over to Red Earth Farms to hang out with our neighbors. Red Earth is a small homesteading-style community of five members based on 80-odd acres of land, and yesterday was their official “land day”. (The community is now two years old). There’s a lot of exciting permaculture projects going on over there, and their land is gorgeous and quite different from that of DR’s. We took a land walk at 8:00 p.m., just as dark, ominous clouds started to roll in. Over the course of the next hour, the sky had become a beautiful and dynamic spread of color and light. Each direction of the sky had morphed into a totally different hue: light blue sharply divided by a straight streak of gray sky in the east, red clouds in the east transitioning into purple and gray storm clouds to the south… It was incredible. Photos would not do that amazing sight justice.

Yea, it was a good day…

The Milkweed Mercantile

Published
by
Brian
on June 21, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit, Ecovillage and Life
. 0 Comments

After many delays, construction of the Milkweed Mercantile has finally begun at Dancing Rabbit. The Mercantile will be the first actual business at DR, featuring a four room bed and breakfast, a cafe, and a shop. It will be open to people outside of the ecovillage, and the bed and breakfast will host guests and families, “tourists”, etc. It’s expected that the shop will carry produce and products made here within the community, plus other relevant stuff, and food in the cafe will be cooked by DR members. Kurt and Alline, who are heading up the massive project, are hoping to attract individuals and groups for workshops and other events, too. The Mercantile will provide a new way to attract visitors to DR.

The Mercantile itself will be a two story straw bale building, and it’s being constructed right in the village square, next to the Common House and Skyhouse. Now that the construction has finally begun, the landscape here has instantly changed with the introduction of two large holes in the ground, and caution tape cutting off a big chunk of once-clear land. I’m happy for Kurt and Alline, because it seemed like the construction delays were going on for a long time, and it will be exciting once the pace really picks up and the building is actually complete. The Milkweed Mercantile is bound to introduce some new cultural elements to daily life here at DR.

Critical Mass Kirksville

Published
by
Brian
on June 17, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit and Life
. 0 Comments

On Friday, a group of us traveled into Kirksville for a Critical Mass bike ride. A few Dancing Rabbit people started organizing rides with some Kirksville locals a couple months ago in April. The whole concept of Critical Mass is unstated yet somewhat obvious at the same time - there is no official mission or purpose of doing the rides, there is no leader of the movement, and yet they are held in many major cities across the globe and they attract many cyclists and activists.

The idea (or perhaps an accepted interpretation, at least) of Critical Mass is to bring attention to human-powered forms of transportation, to poke at car culture, and to simply promote cycling. Kirksville has a population of something like 17,000 (sans students), and it is not a major city by any stretch of the definition, but it’s the closest “big” city to Dancing Rabbit. This most recent ride only attracted about 20 people, but that number is bound to increase once students are back in town later in the summer.

It was a nice ride and it was interesting to bike through Kirksville and get a feel for the city. I also never realized how fun it is to bike around with a bunch of people. But anyway, I think that it’s easy to generalize and stereotype the mid-west (in general), but I’ve come to appreciate that there are progressive-type folks inhabiting the greater center of the country. I think that’s encouraging. It felt good to come into contact with these people, and I became disappointed to think that I could have been doing more of this stuff while I was back in school in NJ. So it goes, I guess.

But yea… the best part of the ride was the finale, leaving the streets and then biking down a dirt trail lined with clovers to find a big, beautiful, and secluded pond to jump in:

cm1.jpg cm2.jpg

The great migration

Published
by
Brian
on June 14, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit, Ecovillage and Life
. 0 Comments

Today, we saw a giant, ancient snapping turtle moseying along one of the paths here. Coincidentally, we had been talking a couple weeks ago at dinner about a big turtle that would migrate each year between the two ponds on Dancing Rabbit’s property. Well, this must be that turtle. He/she certainly looks like it’s been around a bit.

turtle.jpg  turtle-rear.jpg  turtle-nathan.jpg    

What’s goin’ on

Published
by
Brian
on June 13, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit, Ecovillage and Life
. 2 Comments

Here’s a bit of a minor update since I haven’t written anything in a while.

So it’s June, apparently… these first couple of weeks flew by. My friend Jen left yesterday to return to New Jersey. I think it’s safe to say she had a good time. Although I guess I was being overly hopeful when I thought her visit might make her want to live here… hah! Ecovillages are not for everyone, but it’s not impossible to appreciate community living, either, yah?

In less than a month, my work exchanging with Ironweed and Bobolink ends. That means I won’t be doing natural building on the kitchen or work in the garden as regularly, but I am definitely still going to help them out. I’m hoping to have more time to check out what other folks have been up to, as well.

Recently, I have been in talks with people about starting a Dancing Rabbit video blog. So expect something soon-ish. I am going to sit down within the next couple of days to do some thinking about production. A lot of work lies ahead…

On Friday, there is a Critical Mass bike ride in Kirksville which I’ll be going to. Unfortunately, I must admit that we are driving there (laame), but at least we have something of an excuse… we need to drop off recyclables and pick up honey while we are there. I have much respect for two residents who live here, both Rory and Amanda, who are biking to Kirksville. It’s a 35 mile ride. But yea… I’m not sure if I’m up for that kind of ride just yet. Although I like to think I could do it… I’ve been feeling much more in shape lately.

I suppose that’s it for now. Things are good.

Oh, and just because… here’s an art project worth looking at: Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait: This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 426,000 cell phones retired every day. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs.

Dogs and guns and everything in-between

Published
by
Brian
on June 9, 2007
in Culture, Dancing Rabbit and Life
. 4 Comments

Where else can you buy some newborn puppies, rifles, gardening tools, old clothes, bows and arrows, knives, and big honking Texas Tators [sic]? The Rutledge Flea Market, a.k.a. the ‘Dog and Gun’.

There’s only one weekend a month when something resembling actual traffic starts to stream through Rutledge, and you can bet these vehicles are all en route to the Dog and Gun. People drive in from all over Missouri, Iowa, and elsewhere for what must be the biggest, greasiest, golf cart-crowded flea market in the midwest.

The Dog and Gun takes place in a gigantic open lot at the far end of Rutledge once a month throughout the entire summer. Many families tow their ATVs, golf carts, motorscooters, etc. so that they are not burdened with the prospect of actually walking around the market. Up and down the aisles these individuals and families drive, frequently creating mini traffic jams, the likes of which cannot be known outside of this Mid-western microcosm. It’s not uncommon to see ATVs towing trailers filled with families. And the smell of fumes must be more prevalent here than anywhere else on actual town roads.

There is a definite and very tangible mini-culture within the gates of the Dog and Gun, and all types of interesting characters are to be found wandering about. The crowd consists of lots of old farmers, burly hunters (with guns over their shoulders, no less), Mennonite families, and rural families. It’s a crowd you don’t really get to see everyday. (Or maybe you do, but I am definitely not used to it.)

The wares are many, including plenty of illegally sold dogs (owners sell the collars, and the dogs come with them), guns and rifles, chickens, goats, rusty tools, rusty cookware, clothing, old trinkets undoubtedly dug up from people’s basements and attics, elk jerky, knives… oh my!

It’s a sight to see. I went today with my friend and we marveled at the people and the goings-on. It’s a trip, no doubt. I think the Dog and Gun is deserving of some kind of cultural study.

Foreign turf

Published
by
Brian
on June 8, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit and Life
. 0 Comments

On Monday, a friend of mine from NJ arrived to visit me here at Dancing Rabbit. Since I obviously can’t speak for her, I can at least say it’s been an interesting (and fun) experience for me thus far. I say “interesting” because of the circumstances. I think my friend understood (to a certain degree) my desire to live in an ecovillage, but she herself had zero interest in the prospect. It’s safe to say we did not share a common mindset in this regard. And quite obviously, this setting and lifestyle does not always pique the interest of many folks right off the bat. Nevertheless, I was surprised to hear that she wanted to visit me after I had been here for a month.

Most people who come to DR as visitors have an interest in learning about living in an ecovillage (or more precisely, living here at Dancing Rabbit), but my friend came here without that same exact purpose. It’s been interesting for me to see how she has been responding to the day-to-day activities, culture, methods, etc. here, and how she is adapting into the scene over time with increasing curiousity. I am enjoying observing how she reacts to this new mode of living, and hearing her questions and thoughts about what it really means to live here, in both a practical and idealist sense.

Something I like about living here is witnessing people’s (visitors, guests) responses to the day-to-day lifestyle and culture at Dancing Rabbit. I think of myself and my first exposure, and how different people react uniquely or more strongly to certain elements of life here…

March Hare

Published
by
Brian
on June 7, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit, Ecovillage and Life
. 0 Comments

The new spring 2007 installment of Dancing Rabbit’s quarterly newsletter, the March Hare is now online for viewing. I particularly like Ted and Sara’s article, Ecovillage Baby, about raising a child in an ecovillage environment.

In other news… not too much to report here… yet. I am in the very early stages on planning a new project for the summer, but I don’t want to get into talking about that just yet. Other than that, a friend from NJ is visiting, so my posting has been more sporadic lately. And there’s another Dog and Gun flea market this weekend, so I’m anticipating that…

Read a book

Published
by
Brian
on June 3, 2007
in Books, Civilization, Culture, Life and Sustainability
. 1 Comment

Yesterday, I finally finished Volume 2 of Endgame. This book certainly helped to strengthen all of my convictions, if anything. Not only that, but it has helped me to question what I am doing, especially regarding the actions I want to take to make change that I see as important. But instead of getting into that, I’d like to share a list of other books that I have found particularly enlightening, inspirational, motivating, informational, and even life-altering (and yes, depressing, at times, too). I hold many of these books quite dear to me, and they have helped to shape my perspective on the world, civilization, politics, religion, sustainability, and all of that other big stuff:

…Etc.

Lone roads

Published
by
Brian
on June 2, 2007
in Dancing Rabbit, Ecovillage and Life
. 0 Comments

Today, I biked into Memphis, the nearest town to Rutledge of any significant size. (Population=2,000.) I was hoping to go this morning, but once again, it was rainy, damp, and gray, but yet again (third day in a row), the skies cleared up by mid-day and the gray clouds were replaced by white, puffy giants.

Memphis is about 14 miles away, and the total round trip distance was something like 30 miles. I felt great and the ride there was peaceful and quiet and gorgeous, with few cars riding about. I’ve never done a bicycle ride further than a few miles, so I was not sure what my stamina situation was, but I held up well. I feel much more energetic than I ever have before, and I was able to enjoy the ride without much fatigue.

The landscape was quite beautiful. I was happy to see more of Missouri’s rolling landscapes, with plenty of fields and some woodlands scattered about. As I got closer to town, I was a bit disturbed by some houses along the county road that looked like they were plucked right out of the suburbs and planted in the country, complete with too-well maintained lawns and circle driveways. It brought back visions of the masses of too-big prefab homes cropping up all over my hometown and surrounding area back in New Jersey. Anyway, other than that, the sights were pleasing and invigorating. I was happy to see some horses during my journey, but I was a bit disappointed that I could not get any closer to them when I tried.

Memphis itself was fairly uneventful, and I was a bit anxious to get back on the road after spending some time riding around the fairly dead town square. And walking through the Pamida (think mini Target or Wal-mart), and the grocery store were not totally enjoyable, either.

Nevertheless, I quickly got back on the road to Rutledge, and made my way back to Dancing Rabbit, away from all of those aisles of pre-packaged foods and cheaply manufactured imported consumables.

Despite the harsh head wind on my return trip, I managed to make good time, and when I got back, I nearly immediately jumped in the pond to cool off and relax.