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A Letter from Your Teachers

Dear Friend,

We are excited that you have decided to apply for Kroka Expeditions’ Vermont Semester program. Together with a group of exceptional students and teachers, you will venture into uncharted territory: a 600-mile long journey of learning in the wilderness. Your decision to join us will have a lasting impact on the rest of your life. In this mailing you will find an application, program costs and curriculum overview. First I will tell you a little about Ashirah and I who will be your core teachers.

My wife Ashirah and I led the second half of the 2004 semester program. We are excited and honored to work on the entire program in 2006. For us this program is not a six month experience with a beginning and end, it is an extension of our personal life style. Let me explain. On December 1 Ashirah and I left a log cabin we just finished building on our land in Maine to come to Vermont and begin planning this program. We both grew up in regular modern homes, but for the last seven years we have lived a simple subsistence life that combines indigenous skills, pioneer life, homesteading skills, and select modern technologies. In this blending of skills, designs and technologies we strive to create a life style that is good for the earth and fulfilling to our spirits. We have experience making and living in beautiful simple homes of native design. We are both avid craftspeople and find great satisfaction in handwork. We make things we need for our life style such as snowshoes, toboggans, baskets, bowls, mucklucks, fur clothing, and furniture. We believe it is important to live bio -regionally in order to maintain connections with the land and reduce the use of fossil fuel used to ship materials. For food we grow a big garden, buy from local farms, and gather large amounts of wild berries and nuts. We store food by drying, fermenting, canning and root cellaring.

We have extensive experience in wilderness living and expeditions. Besides many trips of our own we have led summer programs for Kroka Expeditions for the last five years. We also lead trips for Earthways School of Wilderness Living and Mahoosuc Guide Service.

Last winter we spent three and a half months of uninterrupted time in the bush practicing our skills. We started in late fall in our canoe that was piled high with snowshoes, a toboggan, tools, traps and packbaskets full of homegrown dehydrated food. We lived free and mobile in a tent Ashirah had sewn, and spent our days hunting and trapping to provide ourselves with meat and furs. When we returned from the bush we met 2004 semester students in northern Vermont, and lead the spring portion of their journey. Currently we are creating a homestead in Temple, Maine where we have made a field for gardening and a small log cabin.

Now you know a little about us; we are excited to learn about you. Once we receive your completed application we will arrange a time for a personal interview. We are prepared to assist you in obtaining academic credit through your school. We will also contact your school to set up an individual education plan and establish ways in which to transfer academic credit. When appropriate, we will be happy to travel to your school to make these arrangements. Please feel free to contact Kroka Expeditions at 802-387-5397 or kroka@sover.net with any questions. If you would like to talk with Ashirah or I directly, feel free to contact us in Maine at 207- 778- 0318.

The Vermont Semester is a unique and difficult experience. If you choose to join us you will be challenged physically, socially, and spiritually. You will need to awake in the early dawn in subzero temperatures to start a fire and haul water from a hole in the ice. You will need to learn to speak openly and honestly to the group and to look within yourself to understand the roots of your emotions. The rewards of this sort of work are great, and the implications are far reaching. We do not intend for semester graduates to forsake the modern world and live in the past. We do intend for you to take the skills you develop, such as a strong will, care for others, and love for the earth, and implement them in whatever path you choose. We know this will be an incredible journey for every student and teacher who is involved along the way. We look forward to receiving your application and learning about your thoughts, dreams and goals for this program.

Kroka Expeditions is committed to helping interested students afford programs. Please don’t let questions about finances keep you from applying.

Chris Knapp, Ashirah Knapp, Head Teachers