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2/16 – 3/2

Hello friends! I am extremely happy and excited to write to you from On The Loose Expeditions/Maple Wind Farm in Huntington, Vermont. As I write to you half of the group is packing out food for our next leg, the other half is spread about this beautiful farm collecting eggs, mucking stalls, rebedding pigs, and bottle-feeding newborn lambs. We feel right at home at this layover in “The Spruce Yurt”, tucked into the hills, overlooking beautiful mountains, which we run outside to gaze at the awesome orange and pink color that spreads beyond them each night. We are happy to support and learn about this sustainable farm, which we share many ideas about the land and farming practices. We are also happy to enjoy fresh scrambled eggs from their chickens each morning!

This layover has felt more relaxed within our closer community, as we have spent 288 more hours together since Farm and Wilderness. . 288 hours of sharing stories walking down Rte. 100 (or laughing at Tommy, who, due to the heat and blazing sunshine, was walking in his boxers), laughing uproariously while being blown sideways crossing Chittenden Reservoir, comforting each other’s tears, discussing leadership, hiking side-by-side up and down mountains, digging out snow shelters, yelling over each other’s shoulders as we soar down winding hills, singing Happy Birthday to Daniel (who turned 17 on the 28th), helping each other pull the sled uphill two miles, yelling in response to construction workers atop roofs that we’re headed to Canada, finding creative ways to set the tent where there’s no snow to set our skis (aka tent poles) into, discussing the rise and fall in value of chocolate dollops, lard cookies and marinated jerky on the Day Food Stock Market (the latter two having gone up in value), thinking that you’ve stayed awake for the entire chapter of “The Education of Little Tree”, only to find out the next morning that you hadn’t, and being flung out of thick bushwhacks with scratches on our smiling faces. . . . that at least covers 198 hours. . the rest has been spent snuggling together in deep sleep, dreaming of navigational updates, pulling the tent ropes tighter, gear and treadle sewing machines in space, feet made of cheese, Paul-Ivan standing behind a meat counter, and (my personal favorite) Chris and Ashirah being our parents.

The day we waved goodbye to Farm and Wilderness we walked nearly 12 miles in 52°F tropical heat down busy roads, then another 3 on the Catamount/Appalachian/Long Trail. We did, however, get to ski the last mile through slushy snow; conditions that we wouldn’t normally be excited for, but boy were we ecstatic!! After a thick and muddy bushwhack we came out onto a spectacular beaver bog, where Grandfather Ray spent the next two days with us on a trail “liveover” (we’re done with layovers. It’s much more fun and productive to live). Grandfather encouraged us to think about and share our thoughts on any differences we noticed between the speed of our lives now compared to the speed of our lives before this Expedition. . Goals for our future. . Our roles within a small and efficient community. . The Oneness of the spirits and people (human and animal) on this Earth and how we are all connected.

The second day of our “liveover” brought some exciting weather. What started out to be a calm day with wind from the Southwest, turned into strong gusts and a hailstorm from the Northwest. We experienced a few minutes of bustle as we hustled to retrieve the top stovepipe and tie down stronger tent stakes. The roaring winds calmed to a gentle whisper (or at least to a normal talking voice) as we went out for a walk in the woods, seeing what there is to see, and learning about being gardeners of the woods. We found some Goldenthread (nature’s Aspirin) and Spruce Gum (nature’s Bubbalicious). Our walk concluded with all of us peering inside of a live beaver lodge, smelling their musty scent, and hearing creation stories from Grandfather of 350-pound beavers, who once roamed this land, and rabbits with short ears and long tails. We headed back to the tent for more discussion, stories and a “Beaver Lodge Meditation”, where we traveled into the lodge itself.

Grandfather bid us farewell down an icy hill. . at which the bottom we removed our skis for the remainder of our 9-mile day. And this, my friends, commenced The Vermont Semester: 600 miles by Boot and Canoe! We came upon a large Reservoir, cinched up every cinchable thing on us, and headed into the wind. The wind it blows! Had the 40 m.p.h. winds been to our backs, we could have lifted right up off the ground and flown over the mountains. But. . the wind was to our faces and sides, sending us in all directions, pushing us back, hitting our noses, and creating yelps of laughter and amazement among us. We reached the other side; stripping clothes off from getting too hot. . or putting more on from getting too cold. We set camp that night on the edge of a beautiful beaver bog and felt excited at how cold it felt.

This next paragraph is a difficult one to write. . and I’m sure a difficult one to read as well. Lucas made the decision to leave on this day (Feb. 19th). The same silence that I feel now is similar to the thick silence that filled the tent after Lucas walked out. I cannot say whether Lucas left us or we left Lucas, but we will travel our separate ways. Lucas was an extremely important member of who we were and his strong presence and beautiful song are missed. Lucas. . wherever you find yourself. . we wish you courage, strength, and growth. It will take time for us to see past this experience as being a loss. . but the healing and growth will come with time and it will no longer be a loss, but a change. . and a wonderful and happy memory of two months spent skiing, laughing, singing the yogurt to sleep, cooking lard cookies, and sharing our lives with a truly amazing human being.

We continued with our skis sticking up out of our packs, our steps slightly more somber as we hiked in thought of our friend. We fell asleep that night on a dirt path in the woods, beside a magical creek, singing a peaceful tune.

On February 20th, we hiked 8 ½ miles to Blueberry Hill Inn and Ski Center, where we spent the night. We walked on roads, hilly trails, and underneath power lines. The group divided two miles from our destination; some going over Hogback Mountain, and others sticking to the road. Upon arriving at the Center, Evan and Chris repacked food, making our packs lighter for our new method of transportation, as well as decreasing the occurrence of leftovers. A few others from the group split and stacked wood in exchange for spending the night and using the Centers’ facilities.

We were joined by two wonderful guest teachers this evening; Greg Sharrow, from the Vermont Folk Life Center, who interviewed Rupert LaRock, a longtime Ginseng (aka Shang) Hunter and Trapper. Greg interviews a lot of “old-timers” and studies and teaches about oral history, tradition, and the philosophy behind engaging people in conversation to gain knowledge. One of the most important things that we came away with from Greg is that you can learn from everyone that you can just by talking and asking questions. You never know when the clerk at the Movie Rental Shop will turn out to be an organic dairy farmer, who sells milk, cheese, and cream, and who may need some extra help for his operation.

Rupert held our undivided attention, as he enthusiastically and passionately described Shang Hunts, which he has been doing for over 30 years, as well as his philosophy on the preservation of the plant. Contrary to what many Shang Hunters believe, the way to save this plant is to share as much information as you can about it in a loving, respectful, and honest way. He talked about ways of keeping Shang patches healthy, so that they grow stronger each year. One of the ways is to plant the berries from each plant you take. He also told us that one of the biggest threats to Ginseng is logging, which destroys the land that the plant needs in order to grow. His eyes beamed with the excitement of tending something in the wild, rather than domesticated in a garden.

Trapping, which is a topic that we have continued to discuss, read and write stories about during this leg, was very interesting to hear Rupert talk about. He holds a positive outlook about the way in which todays’ youth is starting to think about trapping and hunting. He said that his son is doing more than he had done to protect the animals, which is more than his grandfather had done, and so on. Rupert sparked interesting discussions for us about the differences between the occupation of trapping, which involves trapping in extremely large numbers for the money, and sharing a different kind of connection with the animals. .and trapping out of necessity for the meat and the fur, as well as sharing a deep connection to and knowledge of the animals. This launched us into a history lesson of the Hudson Bay Company and encounters with Native Americans and how one impacted the other.

The morning of the 21st found us walking down a dirt road, until we approached a man with a sled and a team of eager dogs. The man was Ed Bleckner. . the dogs were Jeeter, Chico, Miko, Lightening, Mantle, and Maris (I apologize for any misspellings). Due to the lack of the white stuff, our dog sledding lesson was slightly less hands-on than we were hoping. However, our spirits stayed high as we listened to Ed talk about each individual dog, different breeds of sled dogs, the commands he uses, his sled and different kinds of sleds, and the traditional uses of sled dogs. We each got a chance to put on and remove a dog harness, as well as a booty (I never knew that a dogs’ paw could get cold). Ed explained that a dog team is just like any other team or community, in which everyone depends on everyone else. . and the three most important things are Trust, Love, and Understanding.

We waved goodbye to Ed and his six companions, as well as to our skis and ski boots, which felt a little sad. Hans’ family was kind (and close in mileage) enough to meet us on the road with our winter boots and take our skis and ski boots. Thank you Mayers for making our hiking excursion more comfortable on our feet. We continued our trek across Sugarhill Reservoir and through gorgeous woods, until we decided to set the tent in a tight space next to a beaver flowage. We are realizing that along the entire state of Vermont, there are spaces tucked into the trees that are the exact size of our tent. This was one of them. Andy, Hannah and Evan slept under a tarp to wake up the next morning “with high hopes of being buried in powder, but no such luck” (quoted from Hannah’s Group Journal).

On this beautiful “custom-fit-for-our-tent” spot, we spent a three-day trail “liveover”. We excitedly gathered around Chris as he began building a bough lean-to shelter, which we would then build in groups of two, or in the case of Tom and Tommy, on their own. Within our groups we shared a few axes and saws. We spent the remainder of the day and into the evening scurrying about choosing the perfect spot for our shelters, collecting enough boughs for a thick bed, as well as a roof and walls, and enough poles for the frame of the structure and firewood to last the night. Chris and Ashirah did not share too much with us about how to build our shelters, leaving it up to our own eyes and creative minds to use what was already right in front of us in the woods, such as fallen trees as a cross-pole, large rocks or the huge root system of a large fallen tree as a wall, or a branch as a strong crotch-piece. The idea is to not get stuck in constructing a shelter in one particular way, but to look around and use what is already there.

As the sun laid itself down behind the hills, we cooked ourselves supper within our small groups, then went to bed with only the clothes on our backs and a fire to keep us warm. . and in some cases a fire and a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad. The next morning we took a shelter tour of everyones’ shelters and talked about the great things of each one, as well as constructive criticism of how to make them warmer, stronger, more comfortable, and safer if there had been any strong weather. Many of us made it the whole night without sleeping bags in 25°F, waking up every hour or so to pull another huge log onto the body-length-sized fire. And in Hannah and Lily’s case. . waking up every few minutes with a slight burning sensation of the legs. We spent the rest of the afternoon coal-burning and carving spoons, writing creative narratives to show the different perspectives of trapping animals, and taking down our shelters, except for Tom, who spent another night in his.

We woke up on the 24th to snow falling! Our weather predictor of the day, Paul-Ivan, predicted light flurries through the morning, clearing up later in the day. We packed up camp, and continued to push 14 miles through the fat snowflakes in our snow boots for most of the day. Those “light flurries” became heavy flurries. . “through the morning” became most of the day. . We received the gift of 9 inches of fresh powder! We walked through magical woods. . lots of Birches, pretty dirt roads, streams with mounds of snow dotted them to let us know there were rocks hiding below. And for those reading this who are more familiar with the 2004 Semester Program, we skied down Stefan’s infamous hill. “We camped in the mountains with a golden sunset, that touched my heart” (Quoted from Lily’s Group Journal). We ended a joyous day with a discussion on leadership, in which we posed many questions to think about and came up with great ideas as to how to be better leaders within our own community. In the end, we realized that we are all our own leaders, leading our own lives moment to moment. . and there will always be someone else with a different idea than our own to follow.

February 25th became a trail “liveover” day. Hans’ family joined us for lunch, bearing gifts of Cottontail Rabbit meat from Hans’ brother, Eric, bread and butter, and our skis and ski boots!! We built two snow shelters, called quinzies, each about 5 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter, using our sleeping pads as snow dump trucks. After the quinzies had time to set for a few hours we dug them out with pots, shovels and frying pans, which somehow turned into a massive snow brawl of tackling, somersaulting and rough-housing. We feasted on delicious rabbit stew (Thank you Eric!) for dinner.

The Quinzy sleepers joined the Tent sleepers the next morning and the decision was made to split into two groups for the day once we reached Lincoln Gap (Elevation 2424 ft.), due to a very steep mountain climb that was not a good idea for a few people with sore knees. Daniel, Sarah, Ilene, and Chris, with Paul-Ivan as our “sherpa”, took the less-steep route on the Catamount Trail, while the others tied their skis to their packs and practically crawled on the Long Trail up the very steep and icy Mount Abraham, then climbed Lincoln Peak, and skied down at Sugarbush Ski Area. I wasn’t there to witness, but I heard the exciting story of Hannah’s famous telemark turn, which found her in the trees, tangled up with body parts in places that did not seem possible. The sore-knee group did not exactly travel an easy route. The Catamount Trail twisted and turned and had steep uphill and downhill, but the view was beautiful! We had a very windy and snowy crossing of the Sugarbush Golf Course, which required yelling to the person four feet in front of you. Our groups came back together next to a beaver flowage before dusk and told each other stories of the day.v A 10:30 deadline on the morning of the 27th had us in a slight rush. We had a nice ski on the Catamount Trail through beautiful woods to the Fayston Elementary School, where we were giving our first presentation. “It’s one thing to live the life you think is right, but it’s also very important to be able to present what you think is right to others (Quoted from Tom’s Group Journal). We presented our program and way of life to an amazingly attentive audience of. . . . one man. Thank you for coming Doug! We shared a delicious lunch, provided for us by Doug B., who put in incredible efforts setting up our presentation, for which we are very grateful. It was a great experience to give a presentation and a good learning for us for future presentations, which will hopefully be better attended. Chris, Ashirah and Stefan gave us the opportunity to choose and set camp by ourselves, in continuing this gradual process of handing over more and more of this Expedition to us. We are beginning to think more for ourselves in this life and are learning to work better together as a tighter community. The last day of our third leg, February 28th! Happy 17th Birthday to Daniel! We indulged in a birthday breakfast of biscuits and leftover pizza from our presentation. We left Finn Basin and skied/herring boned uphill for two miles, reaching a beautiful summit, which gave us sight of Lake Champlain and New York. Thankfully for some and regrettably for others, the ride down was not nearly as steep as the climb up. . resulting in “half a mile of the most superb-delicious downhill one could ever dream of” (Quoted from Daniel’s Group Journal). . nice and smooth (until Stefan took a digger on that rock with the sled), and laughter-filled, with Andy, Hannah and Evan striving to “catch some air” at each bump and dip in the trail.

We arrived at On the Loose Expeditions in the late afternoon, and so began our third “liveover”. The usual activities of “liveovers” have been taking place, with more of a focus on helping out with farm chores here. Lucas came to spend time with us yesterday. . a very strong and meaningful act of him to do. It was wonderful to see him, hug him, sing songs with him in our circle, and to know that there lies a whole lot of love and gratitude among our community. Looking back. . It’s hard to believe that this email is so lengthy. . but, like I said, it has been 288 hours.

This has been a joyful delight to write to you all! We hope that you are all doing fantastic and have enjoyed February. . may March be bright and bring more of the white stuff! You are in our thoughts. . . . thank you for reading.

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