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20 Jan. 2006 -- The dark shadow of the footpath guided my feet through the slush; past the girls’ dorm, over rocks and through newly formed streams from this unusual January rain, across the suspension bridge, swaying over the roaring creek, and up the stairs into a warm yurt filled with smiling faces and a delicious meal of "rotting squash medley", as Tommy calls it. . . . I can assure you that it tastes much better than it sounds. It is the first supper in a few days in which venison hasn’t been on the menu. Our meals continue to set our taste buds into joyous celebration, as we nourish our hardworking bodies with curried corn stew, noodles and cheese with venison sauce, corn bread with yogurt and applesauce, spelt sourdough bread, granola, apple and carrot salad. . . . I could go on, but there are many more exciting things to share with all of you. . . .

The days are packed from before the sun shines its’ light upon the tips of our axes and shovels, to long after it has left us scurrying about camp like ants with headlamps, leaving few moments to ask what should I do with myself now? There are about ten different projects that could use more work, is the honest answer, from keeping an alert nose pointed towards the lard cookies baking in the oven, to sliding our knives up and down the sharpening stone, to using the treadle sewing machine to add reinforcements to the expedition tent, to adding the last streaks of color on a thank you card, to rotating the groups’ ski clothes drying above the woodstove, to picking bits of marinated venison jerkey out of our ski boots because one of the many drying racks fell behind the stove, where our boots are kept dry. This life is becoming more comfortable as the difference between learning and living becomes more fuzzy, and this group of sixteen grows tighter. But there is always more experience to be gained from the many guest teachers that continue to share their lives with ours.

Our featured knife specialist, Michael Kohout, came back to see us through the next step to completing our knives; the wooden inserts. This is a carefully split, chiseled, glued, and carved piece of wood to snap our blades into place into the next step to completing the knives; the leather sheath! This was a very special process taught by a very special leatherworker in a very special workshop. We traveled to New Hampshire to squeeze into Russ Bigelow’s shop, which was no small feat! His shop is filled with hundreds of leatherworking tools, old saddles made from sturgeon skin and whale bones, and a whole bunch of anything else you can think of. We soaked the leather, cut it, wrapped it around our knives and wooden inserts, and straddled sewing horses to stitch them up, using a traditional stitch for sewing saddles. The final step is rubbing the sheath with a smooth, hard object to get that beautiful sheen.

As we shave the hair from our arms to test the sharpness of our knives. . . . Ashirah teaches us first aid. . . . what to do in the event of a deep wound. . symptoms and treatments for minor and systemic infections, burns, blisters. . frozen body parts, hypothermia, hyperthermia, heat stroke, heat exhaustion (if it doesn’t get cold we might be treating more of this than frost nipped fingertips). . the three major body systems and how to assess them in an emergency scenario. . the wonderful medicinal properties of fir pitch, raw honey, spaghnum moss, betodine, and mud.

As we think about health and first-aid, we are also thinking quite a bit about nutrition. A guest teacher, Katja Swift, visited us from Randolph, Vermont, to talk about the importance of food. . . . food that is nourishing to our bodies. The good news is that we are pretty much right on track with what Katja considers a nourishing diet. . lots of colorful cooked vegetables, animal meat and fat from animals that have eaten what they are supposed to eat, fermented foods, seasonal and local fruit, minimum sugars, raw milk, and lots of Kasha! She inspired in us the thought that science scratches the surface of diets that have been for thousands of years nourishing Native people around the world.

Another guest teacher, master tentmaker Peter Marques, the founder of Tentsmiths, shared this same idea with us about tents. He talked to us about the history of these amazing portable shelters. Along with the knowledge gained from his passion for tents, we now also have a home for our expedition! A fine Egyptian Cotton home of twelve triangles, four roof panels, sixteen wall panels, and a door which is to be determined. . . . we’ve been told that it is nearly identical to that of George Washington’s own tent. After a two-day marathon of snipping, cutting, careful measuring, and quick decisions to the soundtrack of buzzing sewing machines, the big day of the inaugural laying of the fir boughs is drawing near. Can you smell that rich scent of the forest now? It is the smell of our woods. . of warmth. . of a freshly groomed ski trail. . of frozen streams. . of the silence of winter. . and of gusts of snow, dancing in the crisp air of a blizzard. . . . a blizzard which provided us a day of excellent skiing up an unplowed dirt road next to our camp.

A team of shovelers cleared the driveway, bridges, and paths, while two others shouted to each other over the strong gusts, struggling to locate the woodpiles up the hill. The Morning Hula was full of bright eyes and humongous smiles, excited that winter was finally dumping her magical powder under our eager skis. It has been somewhat of a challenge for some of us to balance necessary ski training to accomplishing the goals and tasks we set for ourselves regarding our Big Jobs. It is hard to believe that the Expedition is a mere ten days away. But each day we accomplish more and take steps to reach January 30th prepared and confident.

• Lily buries her nose in a binder filled with schedules, dates, addresses, and calendars.
• Hannah and Hans surround themselves with maps and Catamount Trail guide books.
• Sarah scurries about the yurt taking note of the bath schedule, laundry buckets, how much handsoap we are going through, and researching giardea.
• I (Ilene) am sitting on the floor next to the stove late at night typing this email, making sure the group is keeping up with Group Journal pages, and that the wonderful people who have contributed to this program have been written colorful thank you letters signed by everyone.
• Paul-Ivan has constructed a human-powered generator from bicycle parts so that we may generate light on the trail, and runs back and forth from the yurt to the solar shed keeping a close watch on our power usage.
• Tommy chases us around the breakfast table with his bottle of echinacea, medical tape, pine needle tea, and non-adhesive gauze.
• Tom is kept busy planning and compiling lists for our Expedition gear.
• Andy is collecting mice from the food pack-out room, deciding which pots and utensils we will bring on the Expedition, and making sure food containers get refilled as we go through ingredients.
• Evan announces that he needs people to grind oats into flour with our food mill, and calls in important orders of dried potato flakes and ninety six rolls of toilet paper to Associated Buyers.
• Lucas has gone into production mode cranking out trays of lard squares each night and writing down amounts of ingredients and leftovers from our January meals.
• Colin is the man with the money, paying our many guest teachers for their work and making phone calls to contacts.
• Daniel floats among us, snapping photographs to document our daily activities and lessons with guest teachers, such as the continuing art lessons with Margaret Stearns and a community dinner we hosted in the yurt for families who are close to our hearts.

We danced, sang songs, and played music well into the evening, bringing us closer together as a community. . and it is quite a special community we are forming. During our Nighttime Hula tonight we discussed what community means to us. Like-minded goals, love, honesty, generosity, shared experiences, individuals forming a whole, helping each other, self-respect and respect for the group. . . . it is these feelings that will guide us up the trail. . . .

REMINDER: This is an outgoing email and should not be responded to. Please direct comments, questions, or anything you’d like to share to Kroka Expeditions (office number 802.387.5397) If there is someone who you know would like to receive this update please enter the address in the "Join our mailing list" box on the left of this page.

Family Send-off Day is Saturday January 28th, 2006 beginning with breakfast at 9:30 A.M. at the basecamp in Newfane, Vermont. Thank you for your love and support. We wish you all happiness, good health, laughter, and joy! . . . . and sweet dreams of powdery white snow. . . .

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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