KROKA

Written by Maya Karpovich, age 11
(Recipient of the 2008 Julie Seiler Memorial Scholarship Award)

I believe that the more connected you are to the Earth, the more connected you are to yourself. I’m a woodsatorian. Or at least that’s what I call myself. Love the forest, the winding rivers, even the damp soil between my toes. I’ve learned that I feel happier and more connected to myself when I’m in the woods, so I try to spend time there whenever I can.A few years ago I was looking through a catalog when the words “wilderness camp” caught my eye. I looked closer. The camp was called Kroka Expeditions of Vermont. My eyes moved down the page. The camp’s logo was “Where Consciousness Meets Wilderness”. I smiled. A few weeks later I signed up for Kroka, hoping for the best. That was a decision I am so glad I made.It’s now been three years since the first time I went to kroka. The camp is a perfect fit for me. I just came back from a one-week program at Kroka and I still feel somehow more connected to the earth. The program was called “Wilderness Adventures for Girls.”

At the beginning of our adventure, we canoed on Somerset Reservoir – a wild and remote lake in southern Vermont – for a little less than two hours until we arrived at our destination. At this peaceful place we set up our camp. We put up our tents and created a cozy home in the wilderness. By this time most of our stomachs were singing a welcome song, so once we had satisfactorily set up our camp, we sat down for a scrumptious supper we had cooked ourselves.

That night, Johanna, one of our counselors read us a story – “The Talking Earth.” We huddled together by the fire to keep warm on this rainy night. As I listened to the story my mind started to wander. I felt as if I had just returned from a long trip and now I was back, back to singing around the fire, back to a sense of community at Kroka, back to a feeling of peace and harmony with Mother Earth. Kroka is feeling more and more like a home to me all the time. I stood up as I realized Johanna had finished the reading. We stumbled to our tents and fell asleep almost at once to the calls of the loons, each girl immersed in her own thoughts of our first day on this beautiful lake. The next morning we were awakened by singing… “Morning has come…Night is away.… Rise with the sun and welcome the day…” We unwillingly stumbled out of our warm sleeping bags, and rose to this new day and adventure.

This morning and every morning of the trip we all did chores-chopping firewood, collecting water or cooking. When the cooks were ready we all sat down to a yummy homemade breakfast. But before eating we sang songs. It is a Kroka tradition to sing before meals. I’ve learned some of my favorite songs at Kroka. After singing, we “pass the hand squeeze.” In other words we squeeze each other’s hands in a circle. Then we say a blessing and scarf down our food and lick our bowls clean.

After our bellies were comfortably full, we picked a fairly clear spot in the forest and did yoga stretches. We did some stretches laying on the earth and some standing. My favorite pose was The Tree, a stretch done standing with one leg lifted with your hands held together above your head. After stretching we swam in the cold lake water.

Another day found us picking some juicy blueberries on an island only a short canoe ride away from our camp. We had planned on looking for blueberries on a larger island close by, but decided to explore the smaller island and boy, was that a great idea. We found the biggest blueberries any great blueberry picker could wish for! The next morning we made a blueberry sauce from the monster berries.

The next day we had a different kind of adventure. On this day we split into two groups: the spoonmakers and the mudbathers. I was a mudbather. We bushwhacked through the forest until we arrived at the edge of the lake we were camped on. When the whole band of mudbathers had reached this spot, we all waded into the cold water. The familiar sensation of the freezing water had ceased to take me by surprise since our first swim. I willed myself to go into the lake. We swam to a beaver pond of some sort. It was basically a mud hole filled with water, but it was exactly what we were looking for. Once the rest of the small group arrived, we couldn’t resist any longer. We were already reaching into the murky water for mud when the last stragglers arrived. There was mud flying through the air. After a considerable amount of time had passed, we decided it was time to stop. We were covered in mud from head to toe! After everyone had ensured that they were as muddy as possible, we sneaked back to our camp, the mud was drying on us. When we got there we ran into our camp, shivering almost as loud as we were screaming, and screaming almost as much as we were laughing!

A few days later we decided to give the spirits of this place a thank you, and build fairy houses. As I was having trouble with my fairy house, I decided to take a look at some of the other girls’ houses. One house looked a bit like a lodge made of soil. Another was made of grass tied on sticks, and yet another house was made of birch bark and mushrooms. I looked at many more fairy houses, all of which were very creative, and finally decided to build my fairy house under a leafy bush by the lake. When I was finished I placed seven blackberries on a little birch bark hammock for the fairies. “Thank you Fairies,” I whispered into the wind. “And enjoy your feast.”

Time passed. Days came and went, and we found ourselves nearing the end of our trip. Our last night at Somerset Reservoir found me feeling as if there was something that needed doing, a goodbye of sorts. A goodbye to the lake. With out thinking, I asked if anyone would like to take a nighttime swim. It was a crazy idea, but something in my heart told me it was the right thing to do. I needed to do this even if I was the only one doing it. But no, a few others girls offered to come too as I knew they would. We were all great friends by now. We silently walked down to the water. I caught my breath as I looked up into the sky. The full moon was shining overhead, and I sensed she was watching us. As I stepped into the water, I nearly screamed. It was icy cold. After we were nearly numb from cold we dived into the water in the same second. The sudden sensation of diving into an iceberg lasted only a few seconds, and then we were out, hastily gathering our belongings, and sprinting to the warm fire.

I was the last to go. I had murmured a word of thanks to the moon before following the others.

The next morning we ate a quick breakfast, before packing up the canoes to go back to Kroka. I took one last look at my fairy house before we left. I smiled a secret smile as I realized the blackberries I had left for the fairies were gone. We left our home (for it had become like a home to us.) singing. We sang songs of all kinds, and in our voices rose a kind of goodbye to this beautiful place. Our voices were joyful, even funny. We knew we would return, even if it was only in our dreams.

If you are interested in applying for the Julie Seiler or the Noah Simring
Memorial Scholarships, please go to www.kroka.org