Coast to Coast: Dancing So Hard

That's what we did last night. Whew!! We're visiting Tim (Christy's brother) and Maggie (Christy's BFF) in Charlottesville for a few days. Maggie took us to a contradance of sorts "on grounds" last night, and we had so much fun learning all kinds of group dances from Appalachian to French Canadian, from Russian to Jewish.

Let's back up for a minute.

We ended up spending a full week at the Acorn Community, leaving last Tuesday for Charlottesville. Working at Acorn allowed us to participate in a wide range of tasks associated with seed-saving and food preservation. We spent countless hours cleaning, sorting, and packaging aliums (plants in the family which includes onions, garlic, and shallots). It's the right time of year to plant alium crops, so Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is hard at working satisfying a multitude of expectant customers.

Besides working each day, we had a chance to get to know most of the interesting and knowledgeable members of the Acorn Community. A large part of the day's work at Acorn is preparing meals for the 20+ inhabitants. Christy got the chance to help Acorn member Ashley make a wonderful lunch one day, one of many delicious meals we enjoyed during our stay. On Friday night, Acorn threw a great party on the lawn, with beautiful decorations and a solid house band. Friends from nearby Twin Oaks Community came over to enjoy the potluck feast, Hank Williams covers, and XXX watermelon punch.

On Tuesday afternoon we drove into Charlottesville, where we've been exploring, relaxing, and planning our next move for the past few days. We'll be in this area until Sunday, and then it's on to North Carolina!

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