NHESP 2009 Update 3

Fall is here! The days are still warm, but the nights have been getting colder. Everyone has been enjoying the clear, beautiful weather and the brilliantly colored fall leaves. By the time you read this we will have left for Ecuador, where Michael, Thomas and the three Ecuadorian students are busy preparing for our arrival. You can almost taste the excitement in the air.

Parents weekend was a lot of fun. I enjoyed meeting everyone’s families, seeing the similarities and watching them interact. It was a little strange and very nice to have a free day to spend with my family. I was very happy to see them one more time before we leave.

Most people brought tents and camped out, and that night we had the first hard frost. When we woke up (at our usual time of 5:30am), every blade of grass and flower and fern was coated in sparkling white frost, and there was ice on the water buckets. But by midday it was up in the 70s. We had a work party day with all our family members. Some people worked in the woods, cutting and splitting firewood and hauling brush. I think we got close to 3½ cords, for which the Vermont Semester students will be very grateful. Other people went to Orchard Hill and picked apples, then made them into delicious cider and applesauce, while another team worked on the woodshed. We were lucky to have Tobias’ dad, who is a carpenter, help us start on the slate roof. I didn’t think we would be able to finish it before we left for Ecuador. I was afraid it would turn into the whole backpack thing over again. Imagine it: we get to Ecuador, and Thomas says: “You didn’t finish the woodshed? Haven’t you learned yet about finishing projects? Get back on the plane.” Just kidding. Ross and Kuza (a friend of Misha’s) have been working on it all morning, and it looks like it will get finished after all!

Yesterday, those of us who weren’t working on the woodshed spent the morning putting the garden to bed and planting sugar maples along the driveway. Maybe in 20 years, our kids will come to Kroka, and we will be able to park our cars in the shade of the maples trees we planted. That would be cool.

After lunch, Kroka staff member Nathan Lyczak came and taught a communication workshop. We learned about good communication skills and did exercises to practice them. We got to talk one on one with each member of the group. At first it was awkward, but it turned out to be really fun. Afterward, everyone felt closer and the whole atmosphere of the group felt lighter and clearer. We are ready for the next leg of our journey.

One day last week Misha came back to teach us how to make birch bark baskets. Wednesday evening Hans Mayer, VSP '06 alumnus and present Kroka teacher, brought maple syrup. We attempted to make maple candy. Yumm!!!! They were fun and relaxing projects and good breaks from all the physical work we have been doing.

Right now everyone is rushing around packing stuff and cleaning up. There is so much to do! I am really glad that we took some time this morning to just sit by ourselves in the woods. I rarely take the time to meditate, especially when things are busy and a little hectic, but it really helps me to focus for the rest of the day. I think everyone here appreciates that solo time. Especially today, since it was our last chance to spend time in the NH woods for three months.

Today marks the end of the first stage of our journey. I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has helped us get here.

For the NH- Ecuador emester, this is April, the Scribe

p.s. Happy Birthday Jascha!

Just a few images to show our progress in the woodshed project. Wait for the next update and you will see the beautiful finished product!

NHESP 2009 Update 2

Well, we survived the bike trip! 83 miles, 4 farms and a whole lot of hills later, here we are back at Kroka.

Our trip was supposed to be 5 days long. However, the day we left, most people had still not finished sewing their backpacks. So we biked all the way to Westmoreland, worked and camped at Hillside Springs farm as we’d promised we would, and the next day, instead of continuing on to the next farm, we biked all the way back to Kroka. It was many miles uphill and out of our way, but I’m glad we did it. We finished our backpacks and set out again free from the weight of uncompleted projects.

The first night that we set up camp, everyone worked together, things went smoothly and everything got done. Sitting around a crackling fire, listening to the sounds of the night, talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company, we felt a real sense of accomplishment. It was very satisfying. There was only one small problem. Bryson had forgotten to pack our bowls, so we had to eat dinner out of pots and pans. Another thing that happened with Bryson, we lost him. We had all arrived at Harlow Farm just as it was getting dark. But where was Bryson? He had missed the last turn, and we had to send out a rescue party.The rest of the trip went really well. It was the most biking I’ve ever done in my life. I know it was a huge challenge for a lot of people, but we all did it, and it felt awesome.

Each farm we visited was very different, and we learned something from each of them. My favorite was Major Farm in Putney, VT. They milk 200 sheep and make the best sheep cheese I’ve ever tasted. We got to help out in the cheese cave, in the pastures, and with milking. David Major has the biggest grin I’ve ever seen and he clearly loves what he does.

That was one thing we noticed about all the farmers, from Frank and Kim, the couple in Westmoreland, NH who run a small CSA to Paul Harlow, who manages 1,200 acres; they are all in love with their farms.

Harlow’s farm was by far the biggest farm we visited. It is pretty fast-paced. Everything is designed for efficiency, and everyone is super hard working. Paul Harlow gets up at 3:30 every morning to organize for the day. (And we thought 5:30 was early!) It was fun and interesting working with the Jamaicans who come up and work for the summer. Some of them have been working there for 10 years. We split up into two groups. Some of us harvested kale and lettuce, running to try and keep up with the conveyer belt, while others of us slaughtered chickens.

We feasted that night on food we had harvested and killed ourselves. I think everyone has a new appreciation of food now, after experiencing first hand all the work and dedication that it takes to produce it.

Thank you farmers, for welcoming us and sharing your love for farming with us.

Since we’ve been back, we’ve been doing a lot of academic work. We had our last science class with Marina, where we took samples and tested different sources of water. Most of the water around here is clean, but it will be interesting to do some more water testing when we get to Ecuador.

Everyone has been busy working on their main lesson pages. For each class we have or every project we do or farm we visit, we assign two people to write a page about it. At the end of the semester we will compile all the pages into one book.

But it hasn’t been all work. There has been plenty of song and laughter. We had two more birthdays this week. Susanna turned 16 and Hannah Miller turned 18. Melody and Trina made a honey-apple birthday cake, which we ate with fresh cream from one of the farms we visited.Today we are diving head long into the woodshed project. Hugh Landis, a local builder and woodworker, is guiding us and helping with the design. Some people are shifting rocks and leveling the foundation, while others are measuring the timbers we cut and skinned, sorting them into posts, beams and rafters.

We will be working hard this week to finish everything up before we leave for Ecuador. It’s hard to believe we only have more 9 days!

Pesto Recipe

Frost is on the way. We harvested the basil from the garden and made it into delicious pesto:

3 cups packed-in basil (no stems)

3-4 cloves of garlic

1/4-1/2 tsp. salt

some pepper

3/4 cup grated parmesan

1/4 cup pulverized nuts (pine nuts best, we used walnuts)

1/2 cup olive oil

Blend it

Until next time, for the New Hampshire-Ecuador semester, this is April, the Scribe.

NHESP 2009 Update 1

Hello everyone!

It has been over a week since we arrived here at Kroka. So much has happened, I don’t even know where to begin.

I guess I will start by introducing myself. My name is April Littell, and I will be writing the weekly updates for the 2009 New Hampshire - Ecuador Semester. I am 19 years old and the only student here who has never attended school. I’ve always followed my own interests and passions, which include farming, wilderness living, designing and creating things, spirituality, food and cooking, the list goes on and on. I am very excited and happy to be getting involved with Kroka and connecting with the like-minded people I find here.

Imagine, a group of young people from all different walks of life. Naturally it has been a little bit of a rough start, getting used to living with simplified needs and in such a close knit group. At first, we were pretty discordant. The first night when we were all in the big yurt, our classroom and meeting place, everyone picked up a different instrument and started playing a different song. It sounded awful! But slowly we are starting to get in tune with each other and learning to sing and play in harmony. We really are all for one and one for all.

We are twelve students in our group, 2 lead teachers and 2 assistant teachers. Our teachers are some of the most caring people I’ve ever met. They are all really cool and wise beyond their years.

We are still in the beginning stages of forming what has the makings to be a very powerful and supportive community. Every morning we wake up at dawn and start the day with chores. We rotate between cooking, getting water, farm chores, gathering and splitting wood, and gardening. It is brilliant waking up to a beautiful sunrise and the smell of the cold fresh morning air. Most mornings, after chores and before breakfast, we bike to nearby Gustin Pond for an early morning swim. It is so beautiful and enchanting to see the mist swirling over the water. Sometimes on chilly mornings, jumping in the water is the last thing you want to do but once you get in, it feels really good. By the time we arrive back to camp the cooks are ready to serve us a hot tasty breakfast. A couple of mornings we had yoga class instead of biking. It felt good to relax and stretch our bodies and learn of the benefits of yoga and meditation. (Thank you Nicole!)

All of our meals are cooked over an open fire. All our water we carry up to the camp in buckets. Eating together is a big part of the day and we always begin with a song and a moment of silence.
The food has been “muy delicioso”, and a lot of it comes from the garden here. I am pretty excited because yesterday Ross went to Pitcher Mountain Farm for some meat, which many of us are craving for.

Our days have been packed with chores, lessons, and projects. The projects started small with sewing our own pillows. Next we carved wooden spoons, from which we’ll be eating all of our meals with for the rest of the semester. We have almost finished sewing our own backpacks. Learning to work with the sewing machines was challenging for a lot of people, but in the end we all have made something we can be proud of. Our next project is designing and building a wood shed, as well as incorporating some timbers that we have cut from the forest here.

We have regular lessons, both with our main teachers and with guest teachers. Lily taught us to sharpen our knives, and Marcea is teaching us Spanish. We have had classes on soil science and done some soil and compost testing with Marina Belenky, who teaches at Brandeis University in Boston. We’ve learned from Lisl about weather science and how weather works. We’ve also been learning about forestry and bike stuff from Ross. Thomas has been teaching about permaculture and he shares with us ideas about living in community. My mom (Sandy Littell) came and talked about nutrition, and we’ve started to incorporate some of the principles we’ve learned into our cooking. Misha is teaching us about watersheds and the water cycle, and of course the forest. He is also going to teach us to make birch bark baskets. The other day Misha took us for a long trek through the woods and swamps across the Grassy Brook flats to gather spruce roots for sewing our baskets. We had to wade through chest deep water and muck, and through beautiful rustling dry grasses and sedges. It was unbelievably fun. On our walk Susanna found some clay and spread it across her face. I was walking ahead of her, and I jumped up a foot when I turned around looking at this gray-faced little wood sprite behind me. By the time we returned home with our spruce roots we had a new appreciation of the water and forest.

On Saturday we had our first “big” expedition. We walked seven miles through the woods to Bill and Katie’s house in Gilsum, NH. It was fun and exciting to find our way through the woods. Joey, our Navigator, did an admirable job of not getting us completely lost. We mostly followed the brooks and swamps because water is a good reliable landmark. Finally, we arrived at their house. Katie is a Waldorf teacher and Bill is the famous “Badger Bill” of the Badger Balm Company (at least that’s what I have known him as a kid growing up in Gilsum.) We stacked and split some wood for them, and in exchange they fed us a delicious dinner.

Katie taught us some new songs, and Bill told stories. We each got to take our first shower in over a week. Everyone exclaimed about how much they

now appreciated hot running water, after a week of bathing in ponds and icy cold streams.

This week we are on a weeklong expedition, bringing only what we can carry on our bikes. We are riding to various farms, camping and working at each one for a day or so. Everyone is busily preparing while Hannah Miller is stepping into her role as Food Manager, trying to plan out and pack our food for the trip.

Enjoy!
Until next week when we return from our adventure, Hasta luego!
For the New Hampshire-Ecuador Semester 2009, this is April, the scribe.