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12 Jan. 2006 -- The moon shines brightly on trodden paths, which weave in and out of Birches, bridges, yurts, and tents. Ski boots and long underwear are drying by the heat of the woodstove. A pot of pine tea is steaming on the table. The chalkboards are full of colors and words, of the days' schedule, announcements, assignments, and an overview for butchering a deer. As we sit around the circle during our Night Time "Hula" (hula sounds so much better than "meeting", doesn't it?), tired from the days' activities, happy, with
full bellies and smiling faces. . we share how the day went, how we feel, and anything else that comes into our minds. For the most part, the Hulas sound something like this. . "Today was really amazing! I was excited to wake up early and do morning chores. . splitting wood by headlamp was fun. I enjoyed singing in the van together. . skiing was awesome!! I'm really
excited about our skis. . it felt great to get out there on the snow. . It's been wonderful getting to know everybody. . The knife-making was so cool!. The food was delicious!

This six-month journey has finally began, although the preparations have been going on for a long time. The Big Yurt, which acts as our main place of gathering, is filled with Vermont and Maine organic vegetables, pickled this and canned that, homemade medicinal remedies, dried herbs and spices,
homegrown teas, and other delicious treats. . all of which have been generously contributed by Vermont Semester families. Our bodies are being nourished by this beautiful land which surrounds us, as we consume a diet of almost all local foods.

We spent a day on a Farm Tour, visiting three local farms; Basin Farm, where we picked up spelt flour, Livewater Farm, which provided us with raw milk, and Harlow's Farm, which loaded us up with vegetables and pig fat and meat. We are kept busy constantly changing sliced vegetables on the drying racks placed above the stove as part of a major dehydration process for our trail food. The "Fat Master" of the day keeps a watchful eye on a large pot of lard, which we're rendering from the pig that was slaughtered by some of the Semester students in October. We have a five-gallon bucket of yogurt culturing each night, the largest loaves of sourdough bread anyone has ever seen, brightly colored jars of saurkraut, and have successfully cooked lard cookies! The food is healthy, nourishing, provides warmth and energy, and not to mention delicious!

Daily schedules have been established for January. Cooks rise at 5:30, the rest of the group at 6 for morning chores, until breakfast at 7. Our morning chores consist of gathering and splitting firewood for the "dorms" and Big Yurt, taking care of the Outhouse, getting drink and wash water from the stream, tending the cookstove, cleaning the Yurt, general sweep of camp, and other jobs that need to be done. Before the days' activities, projects and skiing practice, we each take ten minutes of quiet meditation time in a special spot which we chose around our camp. This is a time for contemplation and to clear our minds and spend time with ourselves. During this time we also take weather observations, so that we may begin to predict and recognize weather patterns. So far, we have observed that we need more snow!

We gather at 6 for supper, followed by an evening activity, which may be a Main Lesson, singing songs and playing music (we're quite a musical group), or working on various projects, such as carving knife handles, hand- and
machine-sewing mukluks and mitten shells, taking a bath, writing pages for the Group Journal, keeping personal journals up to date, writing thank you notes to all of the people and organizations who have contributed to the Semester Program, or stretching.

Misha has been joining us as a ski instructor. We've practiced cross-country and skate skiing at Grafton Ponds Ski Area and downhill skiing at Stratton Mountain. For those of us who are not as experienced on skis, there has been much improvement, and we are setting up more intensive training programs to get ready for the Expedition.

During the days that we're not skiing, we have been working on various projects and having exciting lessons, such as knifemaking, sketching, and storytelling. Knifemaking was taught by Michael Kohout, a very passionate and energetic teacher. This process started by cutting and filing a piece of steel into the desired shape of a blade. The bevel was formed by filing and sharpening on a sharpening stone. Two holes were drilled through the blade, as well as two pieces of wood for the handle. The blades were then placed in hot coals until they lost their magnetism. They were submerged in oil as soon as they were taken from the coals. After the black color from the oil was sanded off, Michael took our blades and heated them to 500 degrees in an
oven. The final steps were to secure the blades to the handle with rivets, which we pounded in. Now we are working on carving our handles to fit the hands which made them.

Our artistic abilities were challenged during an art lesson with local artist, Margaret Stearns. We worked on looking at objects and gathering as much information as possible, then quickly sketching the object. As we bumped into each other, searching her crowded house for forty objects to quickly sketch in one hour, most of us realized that quick sketches are more difficult than we thought, yet they will play an important role during our Expedition when we won't have much time to sketch the beautiful trees or animals that we see in the wilderness.

Kirsten Kjellberg visited us for a storytelling lesson. We shared stories, wrote a couple exercises and talked about the power of stories and how important they will be on the trail to entertain, inspire, and remember, as we sit around our tent each night.

As I sit in the yurt typing these words... the soft constant bubbling of lard permeates my ears (and nose)... as well as the low whispering of voices, as people work diligently finishing pages for their Main Lesson Books and working on their Big Jobs. And I'm sure that all of you reading this have been waiting anxiously to know what are these Big Jobs. From now until April, these are the working hands, minds, and bodies to make this Expedition our own:

Navigators ­ Hans Mayer and Hannah Theriault-Morgan have divided sections of the Catamount Trail and are figuring out how far we will need to travel each day to make it to our layovers.

Digital Man (formerly known as Electricity Guru) ­ Paul-Ivan Derreumaux is keeping a close eye on our solar system and generator, as well as taking pictures with a digital camera. He's also figuring out if it's going to be possible to bring along a human-powered generator, which will provide light for us on the trail.

Trail Food Manager ­ Evan Brill is experimenting with amounts, ingredients, and cooking times so that we may have a solid idea of what the food will be on the trail.

January and Layover Food Manager ­ Lucas (formerly known as Daniel) Pomerantz puts the yogurt to sleep each night, plays a leading role in the dehydration and jerking of meat operations, as well as

Photographer ­ Daniel Luckhart is figuring out all the details of his camera for the trail, and walks among us snapping photos of all the exciting
activities we are doing.

Gear Manager ­ Tom Rosenberg is putting together the Expedition gear list, as well as keeping track of all the tools we are using for projects, such as sharpening stones, files, batteries,

Medic ­ Tommy Robertson is caring for our health by constantly making pots
of fir and pine tea, spreading moleskin across our blisters, meeting with a homeopathic doctor, and organizing the Expedition Medical Kit.

Coordinator ­ Lily Frey is making schedules, scheduling appointments, and coordinating with visiting teachers.

Business Manager and Treasurer­ Colin Borowske is the keeper of the credit card, the checkbook, and the power to pay our visiting teachers. He also
acts as our representative when we meet visiting teachers.

Hygiene Queen ­ Sarah Champine has set up a two-person wash station in the Big Yurt, organized systems for our towels, washcloths, and dirty laundry, and will start researching health issues that we may come across on the trail, as well as ways for everyone to keep healthy and clean.

Kitchen Master ­ Andy Staudinger has organized our food system, running back and forth from the Big Yurt to the food room, refilling containers of oats, nuts, raisins, flour, etc. . . . as well as compiling a kitchen gear list for the Expedition.

Scribe ­ Ilene Price (that is me) takes notes for the group, organizes the thank you note operation, Group Journal, and is constantly writing this e-mail update in her head. Once the Expedition starts she will create an Expedition Log.

We are all working hard, living a good life, and keeping all of our friends and families who made this Program a reality for us in our minds and in our hearts. We extend our deepest thanks and appreciation to you! We hope that you are doing well, enjoying the season, and not missing us too much. The Parent Send-off Day is scheduled for Saturday, January 28th, starting with breakfast at 9 o'clock.

TO APPLY OR LEARN MORE Please call us at 1-603-835-9087 or email our Semester Coordinator, Lisl Hofer, at lislkroka@gmail.com to request a view book or an application.

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