Dear friends of Dancing Rabbit,

With the turning of the year close at hand, I thought it would be a good time to look back on the last 12 months at some noteworthy happenings and ways our village and nonprofit have worked towards building resiliency while empowering folks (both villagers and visitors) to live sustainable, connected, and meaningful lives.  

If this is the kind of work you’d like to support, a great way is to donate to our nonprofit, the Center for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture (CSCC). CSCC’s programs provide people with the knowledge and tools to live sustainable, meaningful, and interconnected lives AND support Dancing Rabbit in becoming a societal model which embodies these values. 

And double your impact! Thanks to some incredible matching donors, everything up to $8,500 will be fully matched! Additionally, half of the total money raised will be used to make some crucial improvements to the Milkweed Mercantile, more on that below. 

Now, here’s some of what we’ve been up to:

We’re Growing! 

This year, we welcomed 17 new residents and children into our village, bringing our total population to around 60. This has resulted in almost all our buildings being lived in and cared for, a new homeschool co-op, our committees being properly staffed (as boring as that may sound it’s SO important!) and a general sense of liveliness. It’s a good time to be a Rabbit. Growth is actually a big part of our mission. Our current goal is to reach 100 - 150 residents and create a thriving internal economy and culture where folks can get the majority of their needs met within the village. Additionally, we expect that a village of this size would have a significant impact on our wider society.

Critter Kitchen Forges Ahead

With the roundwood timber frame up and roof on (still need to add the “living” part to the living roof), we’ve moved onto walls, floors, and built in counters/shelves. It’s truly an impressive sight which utilizes many natural building techniques, local and reclaimed materials (check out the earthen floor below). We hope to open our doors in June; serving community members, volunteers, and all manner of guests in a rustic and inspiring setting. I’ve personally put in countless hours building this thing and am so excited to start using it!

Improving Economic Accessibility

This year we have begun offering our Sustainable Living Visitor program on a sliding scale, allowing anyone to attend this educational and impactful program for as little as $297. This opened the door for an additional 25 people in 2024 to have the chance to experience a radically different, and hopeful, way of life.

Also to this end, our work exchange program was the biggest it’s been since 2012. Twenty-seven volunteers stayed for a month or more and contributed to many projects while learning valuable skills. Most notably, they revitalized an old garden space, growing an abundance of nutritious produce which fed, and continues to feed, many Rabbits and volunteers; plenty of squash and canned goods line our pantries! They also helped on various natural building projects, planted chestnut trees, removed invasive plants, and overhauled our village paths, improving accessibility and drainage.

Pioneering Perennial Staple Crops

The Agroforestry Co-op planted 250 high-potential Chinese chestnut trees. The trees were bred as part of the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry’s Chestnut Improvement Network. To date, this will be the only planting in their network using organic practices, providing an invaluable research data set. Nutritionally, chestnuts are a carbohydrate-dense food, similar to brown rice. A planting of this scale can significantly provide for the community’s nutritional needs, even in climate extremes, as tree crops are much more resilient in the face of high-impact weather and climate events, as opposed to annual staple crops like rice and wheat. This orchard also has the potential to serve as a powerful economic engine for the village. Our hope is that this orchard demonstrates the viability of chestnuts in the Midwest, and aids in the large-scale adoption of perennial and resilient food systems.

The Milkweed Mercantile Saga Continues

The Mercantile is now owned by our land trust, a.k.a. all of us. This will ensure that the building continues to serve as a community hub for generations to come, as well as a key connection point to the outside world. It also allows us to make some necessary upgrades to the heating system in order to improve the efficiency, comfort and utility of the building in winter; allowing us to finally realize its full potential. However, this will come at a significant cost, which is why half of everything raised, including matching donations, will fund these upgrades. More about the specifics next week. This year, the dairy co-op continued to utilize the commercial kitchen for its cheese and ice cream making, coffee was served just about every morning, as were many meals, a multitude of guests stayed at the inn, and many special events and programs were aided by this beloved and versatile building. 

Stewarding Field and Forest

The dense layout of our village helps ensure that about 200 of our 280 acres remains native tallgrass prairie and woodland. The Tallgrass Prairie is a highly endangered ecosystem, as so much of it has been converted to farmland. Through prescribed burns, sustainable forestry, and careful management of invasive species, we’ve been able to maintain a wildlife sanctuary in a region dominated by monoculture, feedlots, and overgrazing. 

Additionally, the 40 acres that we rotationally graze with cows, goats, pigs, chickens, and turkeys allows ample room for native flora and fauna, while building soil and providing for our community’s caloric needs.

Singing Rabbit Returns! Other Programs continue

For the first time since 2019 we held a three-day event where 59 people, including locals, regional folks, and friends from afar, came together to share songs, build connections, laugh, dance, and cry. Here’s to many more!

Other programs we hosted this year include a Founder’s Retreat (for folks founding their own community), Women's Retreat, Open House, Student group tours and two natural building workshops.

Building the Village

With growth comes new buildings! One new home was built from start to finish. Another, a straw bale timber frame with a built in worm composting toilet, is making good progress. The Hub project is also coming along nicely: the kitchen is mostly built out, there’s a lovely brick patio, and the foundation for a root cellar and utility room. We’ve also been focusing a lot on maintenance of our existing infrastructure. The Natural Building workshop continues to build a beautiful garden wall and a new cob pizza oven was built during a three-day workshop.

While these are  some highlights from the year, so much of the impact we’re having is felt in the day-to-day lives of the folks who choose to live here, come to visit, or take inspiration from what we're doing without ever setting foot in our corner of Missouri. If you resonate with the kind of world we are creating, your support, financial or otherwise, is deeply appreciated. 

Double your impact and help the Mercantile thrive! 

In community,

Eric Mease 

Villager // Land Steward // Development Lead

Center for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture at