Actual Victuals; Virtual Auction

Today starts the final week of the 37-day immersion Ecovillage Education training at Dancing Rabbit. 

While it seemed like forever getting here (the course started July 5, but we first began promoting it back in late 2011), and it appeared as a huge expanse of time four weeks ago; now it will be over in a blink. Time bends like that.

After our final classroom experience Wednesday morning, we'll be in wrap-up mode. The students will have the remainder of Wed to complete their student projects, Thursday morning to prepare their presentations, and that afternoon to deliver them (15-20 minutes each). Here's what we'll get to hear about:

o  Manasi has focused on what it will take to start a federation of worker cooperatives in Kerala, in the southwest corner of India, where she intends to move and carry out her plan after the course ends.

o  David & Natalia have worked with a community neighbor (Frank) to figure how to use the local waste streams to create a viable product. Frank calls it "upstreaming" (better than recycling) and our students cooked up the idea of using kiln-dried white oak scraps (from a furniture manufacturer in the county) to create musical instruments. We'll get to hear their marketing plan Thursday—as well as a performance on their prototype xylophone.

o  Josi is developing a business plan to help a Dancing Rabbit member bring an entrepreneurial idea to market. So far it's all hush hush.

o  Myung-Ja is articulating the vision statement, common values, decision-making process, and membership requirements for the senior cohousing project she intends to develop when she returns to South Korea.

o  Miguel has designed an outdoor kitchen and dining area for the newly built campground at Dancing Rabbit. He was asked to keep the budget under $1000 (for both materials and labor), to employ permaculture principles, and to work with the design parameters established by the community's Inreach Committee. 

o  Marita & Erin built a two-burner outdoor rocket stove for one of the food co-ops in the village. This required cutting and welding a metal framework for the firebox, and then making the body of the stove out of cob (a mixture of sand, clay, and straw). It's an extremely efficient burner that can be fueled entirely from wood scraps.

With Saturday set aside for an arts & celebration festival that the students will design and execute (staff isn't allowed to peek), and Sunday is reserved for a good-bye ritual and graduation ceremony, Friday is when we'll be cutting up in the kitchen.

That day the class is cooking a benefit dinner ($18/plate, or $50 for a table of four) featuring an international menu full of student favorites, including dumplings from South Korea, caprese from Italy, palak paneer and curry from India, and summer pudding from Australia. Yum! The doors open at 6:00 with dinner served at 6:30. After a leisurely four-course meal, we'll hear brief testimonials from the students, leading up to the conclusion of the EEUS Silent Auction hosted on Facebook.

The auction is live now and people can bid until 8:30 pm sharp (Central time) Friday, Aug 9. Both the dinner and auction are an excellent example of class synergy: simultaneously playing together, making a delicious meal, and at the same time raising seed money for next year's course. What's not to like? Though the EEUS program has been a resounding energetic success in its first year, we only had the minimum number of students (10), and that means there will be nothing left over after compensating staff. Friday's fun(d)raising activities are meant to refill the cistern in preparation for an even bigger and better experience next summer.

I'm looking forward to an enjoyable last week, not the least of which will be Friday's sumptuous dinner. You can help make it extra special by visiting our auction site and putting in a sumptuous bid (or two) while the rest of us are noshing on delectables and raising a glass (or two) to the future of EEUS.

Here's to high times and high bids. Bon appetit!

Dancing to the Tune or to the Coin

I had a phone conversation with Susan Frank today (see my blog of Jan 22, 2009 for more about Susan). She's a student at Prescott College doing an independent study on intentional communities, and I'm her out-of-town mentor. Mostly that means I read her blog about her visits to communities and make comments about her musings and the video clips she's posting.

Today she told a story about an event she attended the previous weekend. It was focused on Green Living (as in ecological, not Martian) and she was put off by how the event had gotten big and out-of-control in an effort to be more financially successful. Examples: it was not just sponsored by Clif Bars, it was sponsored by Budweiser and Toyota, too. For that matter, Susan said that American Spirit Tobacco was a sponsor and they were offering free cigarettes to anyone willing to answer a survey—an offer sufficiently attractive that there was a never-ending queue outside their tent of folks waiting to take the survey. Hmm.

As she told her story, I was reminded of the event I had just attended, the national cohousing conference, June 24-28 in Seattle. This national organization depends mainly on profits from events to raise money and one of the ways they accomplished that this year was by hiring a professional auctioneer to run the benefit auction during the Saturday night banquet.

On the one hand, they met their objective, tripling profits from the Live Auction, and I believe Coho/US to be a solidly worthy cause. In part that was the result of more diligent solicitation and promotion. But they achieved higher profits by also making some other choices that were not so clearly beneficial. The pursuit of money can do that to you.

The Saturday night dinner was unquestionably the social highlight of the five-day conference. Historically, it's the one solid chance folks have to sit down in a leisurely way and have that conversation with an old acquiantance or a new friend that you didn't have time for around the coffee pot between workshop sessions. This time however, entrance to the room (and access to the open bar) was choked by the requirement that everyone attending be assigned a bidding number and paddle. The line was further slowed by everyone being encouraged to give their credit card information in case they bought anything at auction—thus trading inconvenience at the front end for smoother collection at the end.

Then, when the abbreviated milling time was cut short by the call to start dinner, it turned out that before the food was served the auctioneer solitcited contributions to a scholarship fund to attend next year's conference. That was followed immediately by a request that people donate (by raising their paddles) to have additional bottles of wine appear at each table. While in past years the Live Auction didn't begin until after dinner, this year the bidding started right away, and continued at a steady pace right through dinner without pause, effectively drowning out conversation. While the auctioneer was certainly entertaining, and expert at keeping the bidding rolling, most folks were too exhausted at the end to linger—either for dancing, or the chance to have their postponed conversations. It was an interesting choice to slant the whole evening toward making money, and I will be interested to hear how the feedback runs on this.

It was rather like the difference between watching a show on TV and participating in a no-talent show run by the participants. While both can be entertaining, one is far more connecting than then other. Perhaps it's just a question of what you like to dance to. At what point does your pursuit of golden eggs place the life of the goose at risk?