Well, I'm still not sure how I want to document my move to DR, but I'm just going to start using blogger. At some point, I'll probably want to add it to a larger, comprehensive website. But I may as well do that this winter, when I'll have ample time.

So here it is. The first post. Things are going well! Lots of things to go over, but I'm going to start with a brief intro about where I am and why I'm here.

Earlier this summer I spent three weeks on a visitor program at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. DR is a village of about 50 people who live off the grid and are committed to experimental sustainable living. Everything here is organic, most construction projects use recycled materials, and personal vehicles are not allowed. I had been here before, so I had some idea of what to expect, but at the beginning of my time here didn't really know how DR could practically fit into my life. Well, after the second week, I had made up my mind-- DR was the place for me.

So I took the first step toward becoming a member-- applying for residency. Residency is a six month period where you have to live at DR before you can gain the status of a full fledged member. Members can build and vote, residents cannot. Because building my own house is a pretty huge deal for me, I wanted to get started on my residency right away. So when the visitor period ended, I went home, gathered what I needed, and on Monday, August 16, 2010, I became a Resident of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

Most people who are visitors/interns/residents live in tents. Now, I've nothing against tents. But I've always found them fairly uncomfortable. The low clearance gets to me. It just bugs me how you have to crawl around. And how the sides are always sagging in around your head. So my solution? Live in a van! A 1989 Chevy cargo van, nicknamed, "the Mothership." I'm using four milk crates, a door, and about fifteen blankets for a bed. I've got a dresser, nightstand, and coffee table for furniture. I figured out I could spin my two bucket seats around, so they serve as quite comfy seating. I rigged some mosquito netting on the outside of the two front doors to keep the bugs out. I put plywood on top of the van over these two windows and secured it with rocks. This way, I can keep the driver and passenger windows open all the time. No bugs get in. No rain gets in. I threw a canvas tarp over the front windshield to keep out the sun. I am in the process of putting up curtains over the windows.

But the Mothership just wouldn't be complete without some high tech space age fancy gadgets. I brought a DC socket extender that turned my cigarette lighter into two DC sockets and two USB outlets. It also monitors the charge level of my battery. Seems to be working alright. I also got a DC charger for my netbook (whic