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Hello family and friends!

Here we are, finally in our new home at Kroka, and I’m excited to deliver to you our first update of the trip. It’s been one week since we all arrived here with open minds and hearts, excited, nervous, and eager to start our journey. And what better way to start it than with a group bonding experience! Well we certainly got one, but not in quite the way we had anticipated. On Sunday, only the second day of our trip, five of us came down with a powerful bug that has spread over many parts of Maine and New Hampshire; a stomach flu that’s short but not so sweet. The bug includes a long night of puking, followed by a day of much needed rest. As the days went on, the bug succeeded in getting to all of us, with the exception of William, the last man standing (our loyal medic and taking care of us all). But it was the high spirits and helping hands of the group that really pulled us all together. The bug proved to be quite the unifying ordeal. Now that we have cleansed our bodies and minds, we are all happy and well again.

(Jesse, after joining the horizontal club)

Despite the minor setback we have still managed to get many things done in our first week. Adjusting to our new lifestyle has been the biggest. To live like this is a privilege, and it takes work. Daily jobs are given and rotated amongst the group. Those jobs are firewood, cooking, outhouse, gathering water, sweeping and farm chores. Together we each take care of a necessary element to live our life, and we are getting more efficient by the day. Once we’ve taken care of the work needed to maintain our lifestyle, we can work on other things to help prepare for our trip. And once we’ve accomplished enough to feel sufficient, we play.

(Eric, patching a sled-bag)

A day in the life of Kroka goes a little something like this…
We rise with the sun and do our morning chores. Once we’ve completed our work we have morning meditation. This can be one of the most valuable parts of the day. It is the time we have to get in touch with nature and to become aware of our surroundings. We find a spot by ourselves, outside, and take it all in. After morning meditation we have breakfast all together. Before each meal we sing a song of thanks and hold hands. After breakfast we have morning hula (no, not the dance.) A hula is a check-in where we share with the group what’s going on with ourselves, mentally, emotionally and physically. The times we have in between meals are spent working on various tasks, necessary for our trip. This past week some of these things have been sewing our mitten shells, learning about the weather, dehydrating fruit and vegetables for the trail, gluing our gators, making handles for our knives, and butchering a deer; a new experience for some. The entire group participated in the deer butchering in some way, and we thank the deer for the gift it’s given us. We will use the meat for making stew and jerky, the fat for cooking, and the hide for moccasins. After dinner we have evening hula, then some free time before we head off to our cozy dwellings.

We try to get a ski in every day, as well, but the weather lately has made the conditions hard for skiing. Although beautiful, it’s been hot for January, causing so much of our snow to melt, and the last two days of rain has made the little snow we have hard and icy. But the snow was good enough to ski at Grafton ponds on our field trip on Thursday. We got to practice classical skiing and worked hard on our technique. After a long morning of skiing we headed out to Paul Harlow’s farm to collect our organic vegetables that we’ll be eating for the next 3 months. You can imagine the massive amount of food that is.

(Lisl and Taylor skiing at Grafton ponds)

In addition to the daily jobs we have here at Kroka, each student has a “big job”. Each job is a different roll that is crucial for our journey. This big job will be our responsibility for the next 3 months. We worked as groups to decide what big jobs were needed, and who would take on the responsibilities of each job. Joey and I, Taylor, are the Scribe and Treasurer. We will be bringing to you the updates of our life here. Joey is also the Pot King Pin. Jesse is our Photographer. Solina is the Trail Food Manager, and Celeste, the Layover Food Manager. John is our Navigator and William, the Medic. Eric is our Gear Manager; Nick is the Chief Coordinator, and Jed, our very own Hygiene Queen.

As I write, the rain is pounding hard on the yurt. The sound is subduing. Today is a quiet day. The rain brings fresh water and a sense of peacefulness that seems to have captured us all. In the yurt people are focused on their individual projects. Sewing, writing, cooking. It’s really starting to feel like home. In just one week we’ve become a tight knit community, operating smoothly, all things considered. Somewhere in these few days we went from a group of individuals from different places, to a unified family, living together, learning together, ready to take on this exciting adventure.
For the Vermont Semester, this is Taylor, the scribe.


(Eating ice locally made cream, in celebration of Solina’s 19th birthday!)