March 27th :
Now that we have arrived at the Northwoods Stewardship
Center, we can ease back into our basecamp rhythm. Over the course of the next
few days we will be transitioning out of winter and preparing for spring,
leaving behind anything that we will no longer need. While helping out with
service around campus, we also began taking our Wilderness First Aid (WFA)
Course. As we feel winter slowly loosening her grip, we will shed most of the equipment
that we used for the last three months including skis, the winter stove
(lovingly named Princess), and our big Osprey backpacks.
April 3rd:
We successfully completed the Wilderness First Aid course in
two days! The weekend covered important information about how to care for others
in wilderness environments and required us to employ our acting skills.
Suddenly Laszlo was a nine year old with a rash, while Zoe and Grant aged forty
years and were demonstrating different signs of a heart attack. My personal
favorite was to have sever hypothermia and lay in the warm sun while my fellow
students gently carried me and wrapped me in a “burrito” blanket. Walking away
being certified in WFA was a real feeling of accomplishment. Most students
anticipate taking more advanced wilderness medicine courses in the future, and
continuing to learn more about the amazing capabilities of the human body.
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| [Submit your own caption to winter.semester@kroka.org- the best caption wins a prize!] |
Koviashuvik- Temple,
Maine: April 4th:
We walked down the winding snowy path, lugging our
barrels—entering the story, helping to write the next chapter of pack baskets
and craftsmanship. For the next two weeks, we will learn the art and work of
homesteading: leeching acorns, working with hides, taking care of animals,
maintaining a root cellar, starting plants in a green house, and so much more.
The Knapp family [Chris, Ashirah, Owen (age 9), and Bonnie Bee (age 6)]
welcomed us graciously and showed us the beautiful world they create living
sustainably.
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| Ila, learning to process different kinds of foods that the Knapp family grew/harvested |
Intrinsic to the Knapp family lifestyle is the reverence for
education and living with an open mind. Almost every morning we read from the
poetry of A.R. Ammons, Wendell Berry, and Wes McNair. We could count on a
different writing prompt and conversation topic every day, encouraging us to
communicate with others. The following poem was inspired from Walt Whitman’s:
I am singing a song of peace
though I am dressed for war
I am singing a song of relief
for those who only know darkness
I am singing a song of brotherhood
for the men and women who fight by my side
I am singing a song of sacrifice
for my friends and loved ones
I am singing a song of freedom
for the people that live on this beautiful land
I am singing a song of preservation
for the generations to come
-Connor
April 7th:
Today was a generally
drippy day of on and off rain. Southeast wind gave way to the call of the Queen
of the Southwest. Pushing and pulling clouds across the atmosphere, she briefly
opened the sky to a royal blue and the unmistakable sun. Only for a moment did
we bask in the glory of the sun’s rays before the clouds rolled back over,
closing the trap door. Late at night the wind picked up to a roar.
April 8th:
We awoke to the sound of
new birds and with each day the white blanket of snow melted more and more.
Spring, unveiled before our eyes.
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| Studying on the only patch of ground where there wasn't snow! |
Today marked Connor’s birthday and our chance to head into
town for a contra dance. After we were all dressed up, we drove into town and
walked into a small building alive with the energy of dance and song. Music of
the Franklin County Fiddlers filled the room while stomping feet danced in
time. The contra was a small gathering of all ages; a beautiful way to meet the
people around us.
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| Making our way to town for the contra dance |
Skirts spin and move gently like falling flower petals
Bare feet stomp and step across the wooden floor, in time with the
music,
another kind of percussion
An old woman swings me around, smiling and laughing with her
twinkling eyes
Energy bursts from the room, an explosion of happiness
You can find a special kind of love sashaying through a tunnel of
hands and smiling faces.
-Charly
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| Swing your partner... |
April 10th:
The magic of delicious
acorn pancakes begins with processing and separating the shells from their nut.
One of our morning chores involved cracking the shells off of the collected
acorns with the Dave Bilt machine. Samuel shared with the group about the
satisfaction of turning the crank of the machine, while watching the nuts and
shells pour out into the wooden box below. During our morning discussions, we
hand separated the remaining fragments of shell from the nuts.
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| Chris teaching proper acorn de-shelling methods |
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| Chris teaching us how to use a froe |
Once the acorns were no
longer attached to shells, they were run through a grinder and sifted by hand
into their size categories: Chunks, grits, and flour.
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| Pulling off any remaining bits of shell from last year's acorn crop |
After the acorns are thoroughly separated and sifted, the raw flours and chunks still needed to be leeched. By placing the nuts under a PVC pipe, a steady stream of water continually permeates and soaks the acorn, releasing the strong tannins that give the nut its sour, chalky flavor that Connor mistakenly sampled. The leaching time varies depending on the size of the acorn but the only way to tell fully if it is ready is to taste the acorn. If any of the sour flavor remains, they need to be leached for longer. After all is leached, it is time to turn this beautiful raw material into something absolutely delicious. We mixed our acorn flour with a little bit of oat flour, some raisins, and the very maple syrup we helped collect and boil. The cookies were absolutely to die for.
April 13th:
How To: Create your own pack basket
Ever see a wild Krokus
transporting their wares in beautifully woven ash baskets? Ever wanted one of
your own? Well, after sharing the following secrets of ash pounding, you can!
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| Working with the brown ash weavers |
Every basket starts with a tree. A healthy brown ash can be identified by a full crown, light caramel coloration and spongy texture of bark. In our search, we studied the grove of trees near Koviashuvik and tried to guess the age and number of growth rings of the various brown ash mixed amongst the forest. With help of a chainsaw, we felled two and brought them back to our pounding stations. In order to turn a solid log of wood into thin strips of basket material, it’s important to separate summer and winter growth rings. The separation process consists of scoring wood with Opinel knives, swinging down on the logs with metal hammers and wooden mallets, and singing songs to keep a cadence. Once the ash is pounded satisfactorily it peels off in beautiful strips, ready to be stripped and split. The ash trees we selected were well hydrated with impressively thick growth rings, adding one step to our process: splitting. In order to work with the stripped wood we had to split the growth rings in half, they were now thin enough to become future weavers for our baskets.
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| Sharon working carefully on the base of her basket |
April 15th:
This afternoon we met
Grandfather Ray, the influential mentor of Chris and Ashirah. His story is one
of education and growth, of finding what it means to live in harmony with all
things, of trusting his heart and aligning it with the heartbeat of Mother
Earth. As the student of Grandfather Joe since the age of 8, Ray shared with us
stories of woodworking, patience, and listening. Some of the lessons he left
with us that resonated with the group are as follows:
1. You
can’t do anything about anyone else. All you can work with is the person in the
mirror staring back at you.
2. Every
day you have a choice to be happy, productive, quiet, mindful…only you can
change your attitude
3. When
things aren’t working, stop. Take time to find out why. Take as much time as
you need.
Grandfather’s refreshing
wisdom expressed the hope he had for healing the relationship between people
and planet.
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| Morning class |
April 17th:
Today we left Koviashuvik
with the exciting news that we had been given a generous gift to celebrate all
the recent and upcoming birthdays. Thank you Kim Martin! Our new navigators led
the way to brick oven pizza in Gorham, NH. We ate our picnic dinner at the
grassy park in the center of town, enjoying the weather and each other’s
company. Kicking off our shoes, some started a game of Frisbee while others
explored the jungle gym.
Happy Birthday to you
all!
Charly March 28th
Samuel April 5th
Julian April 7th
Connor April 8th
Alessio April 18th
And we are now back at
Northwoods. The landscape has changed as the snow is now all melted. We now
hear the soothing sound of running water and watch the buds of spring begin to
unfold.
This final blog was a
collaborative effort of both Sharon’s work and my own. For the following blogs
to come, Sharon will be picking up the reigns and, to quote our navigator Hyim,
“riding north into the setting sun.”
Thanks for reading,
Ila and Sharon
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| The group with their beautiful baskets |
Editor’s Note: Students are now off on their spring expedition! In a few days they will be arriving at the head of Lake Champlain, after an exciting 8 days of the river. We will hear more from them as the weather warms and they make their way south!
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| Circled together, enjoying our meal |
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| Knife sharpening class with Chris |
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| Spotted through the cracks in the second floor: students hard at work! |
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