Visiting Dancing Rabbit

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Welcome! We're happy you're coming here! Now that we've worked out dates for your visit, there's one more logistical detail to get out of the way. If you haven't already done so, please send your $25 reservation fee (check or money order payable to Dancing Rabbit) to: Dancing Rabbit Visitor Team, 1 Dancing Rabbit Lane, Rutledge, MO 63563-9757.

Now, we'd like to tell you a bit more about what to expect during your visit.

--Structure--

We offer one visitor session each month for up to 12 participants. We try to balance each group by gender, age, interests etc. The first week of the program is open to any visitors who are interested in learning about Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Visitors who are potentially interested in membership at Dancing Rabbit stay an additional two weeks. So, you can expect a fairly large group to be there for the first week and a smaller group who will stay on for the full three weeks. During the first week we will host workshops, seminars, extensive tours of our land and facilities, and plenty of social events between visitors and members. The following two weeks will be less structured and more organic in terms of projects and events.

--Food-- The food here may or may not resemble what you are used to eating at home. DR is made up of different individual and group eating entities, all of whom make different choices about what to buy and eat. You will experience a wide range of cooking styles but in general meals are likely to be vegan, organic, local (often from our own gardens) and/or in season foods. Expect to eat beans and whole grains at least once during your visit ;-) We may have lots of one kind of vegetable, and none of another. We may have canned produce, but we may not. Many visitors have said that the wonderful food here is one of the best parts of their stay. Relying primarily on bulk foods and home-grown produce makes for very creative, wholesome, and tasty cuisine, but again, if you are not used to it, it may be strange at first.

--Breakfast Options-- You will be making and eating your breakfast in the community building kitchen on your own schedule. We provide bulk staples such as oats, flour, oil, raisins, sorghum (a molasses-like sweetener made by our neighbors at Sandhill), peanut butter, herbal tea, baking soda and salt. You never know when some magic fairy may have made granola or bread for visitor breakfasts, but you should expect to usually fend for yourself. Oatmeal, pancakes, biscuits, homemade granola, and raisins and peanut butter are common breakfast choices. We do not generally provide processed foods (like pre-packagedbreakfast cereal), dairy products (such as cheese, eggs or cow milk), soymilk, coffee, sugar or fresh fruit for visitor breakfasts.

You can purchase these items locally at a small Mennonite-run general store a few miles away. Note that the store is not open on Sundays, or after 5pm, and the coffee snobs here want you to know that you probably want to bring your own coffee if a certain quality level is an issue for you and you can't do without.

--Other Meals-- You will eat lunch (usually at noon) and dinner (usually at 6:30) in the common house. We will have a rotation of people who will take turns cooking meals for the visitor group. The cook may ask for a couple of helpers for each meal. Tuesday night is a potluck dinner with Sandhill and Red Earth Farms, and the location alternates between Sandhill and DR. Friday night is DR community dinner and is held in the community building. It's not a potluck, just a chance for folks to get together informally and hang out while eating the dinner they have brought. Again, if you have any special dietary needs, please let us know before your visit. If we can't meet your food needs, you may need to bring your own food.

--What to bring-- The following list is not meant to be exhaustive, nor is every item on it essential. Much depends on the weather, activities that may or may not happen while you're here, and your own personal comfort level.

--Camping Equipment-- A high quality, well-sealed tent with rainfly is essential if you are camping, and you might be very glad you brought an extra tarp, big enough to cover your whole tent, and ropes to secure it (to use as sunshade and extra rain protection -- the storms here can be intense!), as well as a sleeping bag, sleeping pad and pillow.

--Other stuff to bring-- Also consider bringing a big sun hat; sunscreen; weather-appropriate clothing (remembering that the weather here is very changeable-summer nights can be very chilly, or hot and muggy, and when it rains it gets quite muddy); work clothes and footgear (stuff you don't mind getting VERY dirty); a flashlight; biodegradable toiletries (we provide toothpaste, soap, and towels); a water bottle or two; work gloves (though we do have some for visitor use and some for sale here); at least one pair of light-colored, lightweight long pants (for sun and/or tick protection--we recommend cotton); at least one light-colored, lightweight long sleeve shirt (ditto); a set of clean/more conservative clothes you can wear to town; fun/costume-y clothes for parties; clothing and footgear (cleats if you have them) for Ultimate Frisbee or other sports; musical instruments and/or sheet music.

--Social scene-- Our ideal picture of the perfect Dancing Rabbit visit would be you having the best time of your life. You'd get a chance to do satisfying, enjoyable labor, eat delicious food, and recreate with a bunch of new friends. Sound good? Of course! Nevertheless, sometimes life doesn't happen just as we'd like it to. While you're here the weather might not cooperate, or finding things to do for visitors might be hard...or someone might burn the chili...or some folks might be too busy or stressed out to be as friendly as they'd ideally like to be. These are the realities of building an ecovillage, but we want you to be encouraged, not discouraged! We will do our best to help you have a good visit here. There will be one or more members of the village assigned to liason you who will help you find a campsite, give you a tour, and be available to answer any questions.

At the least, we'd like to give you a chance to participate in our daily life, and get a sense of who we are as individuals and as a group. We try to arrange for visitors to work alongside others here at Dancing Rabbit, as that can be a great way to get to know people. If you're not happy with what you're doing, please bring it up with your liaison and we'll see what we can do. It might happen that sometimes there isn't good work available for visitors to do, or no one is available to coordinate it. If that's the case during your visit, it's no big deal--relax, read a book from our bookshelf, take a walk, swim in the pond, or hang out with someone. We greatly appreciate visitors' helping out, but it's not necessary to work every moment you're here (we don't work all the time, either!). So enjoy your "down time" as it comes.

Please feel free to approach us, ask questions, and be social. In return, please be gentle with us if someone has to say, "Sorry, I can't talk right now!" We are doing our best to balance helping visitors have a good time here with all the other things we need to do to keep the ecovillage going so that there's an exciting place in northeast Missouri for people to visit.

--A few other choice tidbits-- We'd like to know in advance who's coming, so please don't bring any guests without talking to us first. During the warmer months, you may encounter nudity, especially around the pond. This does not mean you must participate, but please let us know if it makes you uncomfortable. In this area of the country, we get a lot of ticks. For the most part, we have dog ticks, which don't carry Lyme disease. Ticks can be much less annoying than mosquitos, but might take some getting used to. Finally, please, if for any reason your plans change, do email or call and let us know. Our phone number is (660) 883-5511. We do make preparations for your visit and we often have had to turn down other people who wanted to visit at the same time and we need to know if you won't be coming or will be arriving later or earlier than expected.

We look forward to meeting you!

Sincerely, Dancing Rabbit Visitor Team