NHVSP 2011 Update 5

 After parents day we frantically packed our bags, cleaned up camp, had an awesome dinner of leftover desserts at Lisl’s, and a big bacon, egg and orange juice breakfast at Misha’s.  Then we left on foot, skis on our back, headed into the west. We met Lisl on the way with a bag full of big warm chocolate chip cookies, and shortly after we put on our skis on the side of the road, we learned a lesson from Misha (don’t eat snow!) and skied across Lake Warrren.

Our little home in the woods.

Soon, our expected 5.5 k for the day turned into 9.5, after which we learned to set up camp, collect boughs, find dry firewood and process it. Just before darkness, help arrived in the form of Stefan Hofer (Lisl’s son and a semester graduate). We learned that one has to eat more than usual in the wilderness in order to have energy for an active lifestyle and to keep warm.

On the trail

Over the coming days, we learned the lifestyle we were to live for the next weeks, fell into the rhythm of quickly packing, eating and downing 4+ bowlfuls of water, then skiing until the afternoon while minimizing stops, and setting up camp quickly and efficiently. We had two liveovers over the last two weeks in which we didn’t move camp, so we slept in, washed, did our laundry and learned about Wilderness First Aid and knot tying. Everyone learned parts of their big jobs, which they didn’t expect, from Zane (aka “Poopsic” - Russian for Cupid) having to designate a pee tree, to Rosa cooking four days in a row (cooking entails waking up at 4:30 AM). We experienced cold winds to thunderstorms and gentle flurries to violent blizzards.

Chloe, Serene, and Rosa.

On day four we decided that breaking trail through two feet of snow for nine miles was not a good option, and instead we roadwalked for 12 kilometers from Athens to Grafton,  We were too late for a visit to the Grafton Cheese Factory, where the immense amounts of yummy cheddar cheese we eat are made. Instead, Misha went and bought us apples and chocolate. We did a total of 17.5 km that day, and luckily found an old CCC cabin on the side of the trail to stay in for the night.

That worked out perfectly as there was a huge thunderstorm at night, which iced up conditions for the next few days. Our journey included some downhills, which featured faceplants, falls and classic crashes out of which everyone came smiling. One memorable downhill was after our second liveover when we bushwhacked through perfect powder, being able to choose our own trails through the woods, down gentle slopes and over giant jumps.

Chris Knapp leads a bud and twig drawing class.

One day after our service project for Farm and Wilderness, which entailed shoveling a pond for their annual ice cutting weekend, we slept in their summer screened porch – some on the spice shelves, some on the pasta shelf, some the cereal shelf and some on the sauces and spreads shelf. We also discovered their stylish composting toilets, which are double-seated thrones with no walls called Kybos.

50 degrees at Farm and Wilderness.

We got to Farm and Wilderness just last Monday, Feb 14. To our surprise we found out that we were a day early! So we got a nice head start on the tons of academic work that had to be completed. The trailer arrived the next day and we met Nate and our new teacher for the next leg, Chris.  Those of us with delaminating Fischer skies replaced them for a new model, which proved to be faster and more controlled downhill performers. We also went on a grand social event with Chris who introduced us to all his friends, Red Maple, Spruce,  White Pine, Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch, White Birch, Oak and many more. We are now busily preparing for the next leg, in which the focus will shift from learning how to travel in the bush to the crafts and knowledge of long term  bush-living.

         -Nimrod

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY TO JON!!!

Jon, Birthday Boy and Camp Manager preparing our new tent.

The Poet’s Yurt

Each step deliberate

Each movement with a goal

We trudge forward

Towards the north

Around us the woods glisten in the sun

The snow falls on our shoulder

The wind whips our bodies

The cold wraps around us

      Driving us on.

Each day longer than the last

Each moment filled with a new challenge

With each ache and pain

   We find a new strength

With each desperate fear,

      We come closer

To one another and the world around.

         -Rosa deJong

Seeking Truth

A new way of life

Beginning to take place

Our hands willing the tasks

Our minds holding the knowledge

With every stride

We glide closer to our hard earned destination

The snow falls

The sun glistens through the trees

We steadily climb each mountain within ourselves

We cry, we laugh, we hold each other

The forest whispers honesty and truth

To guide us down the path to the

       Home of our beings

       -Serene Summerfield

      

Quote of the Trail: “If you will it, it is no dream”  -Theodore Hertzl

Serene's sketch of red maple - form, bark, bud, and twig.

NHVSP 2011 Update 4

Dear readers,

Peter Marques from Tentsmiths

  We returned from Conway last night and now I sit here and write the last update before we leave for the trail. The grand, juicy piece of the last week is, of course, our trip to Conway, where we sewed our tent with Peter and Phyllis of Tentsmiths Company, the top company for replicating authentic tents. Almost as impressive as the tentmakers themselves were the sewing machines, which could stitch up to 5000 stitches per second, and were computerized to back tack for you and cut the thread. Back tacking is the reinforcement added at the beginning and end of a stitch so it will not wear off easily. 

Our new semester tent

We arrived in Conway on Monday and jogged through the town while eating apples to the sewing company. We then heard a fascinating one-and-a-half our lecture about tents, seams and fabrics. We went to our hostel room and each had a shower and went to bed.

   The next day we divided into two groups. One group worked with Peter and Phyllis, cutting out tent patterns and starting to stitch together the roof and walls. Working with master sewers and sewing machines was very enjoyable, and personally I couldn’t take my eyes off the machine for the whole day except for a quick lunch break. The other group went on a remarkable expedition with Misha. They climbed up Mt. Washington and had an amazing adventure. I wasn’t there, so Tobias will tell you about the adventure:

“Our day started early. We were woken up by Misha’s urgent/excited voice long before sunrise. Everything had been loaded up the night before so immediately after a cheesy breakfast (cheesy as in there was lots of cheese) Tim, Julian, Mathilde, Rosa, Jon, Misha and myself (I’m Tobias) plopped our sleepy selves into the red Kroka van. It was a cloudy day and we couldn’t see any of the massive mountains that we knew existed all around us. In fact, our first glimpse of Mt Washington was a third of the way up the road to the Pinkham Notch headquarters where we picked up a trail and started skiing up the biggest mountain in the northeast! Most of us found out soon enough that it’s easier to hike up Mt Washington than to ski up it. One by one we put our skis on our packs and trekked. Misha skied up a good third of that mountain before he had a good slip backwards and exclaimed, “no more skiing.”

Hour after hour we watched the tall trees turn into small trees and small trees turn to shrubs and rocks until we finally emerged above tree line at the bottom of Tuckerman’s Ravine, a popular springtime skiing venue. We lost the trail in the deep snow, but we didn’t need a trail, silly! We only had to go upwards.

After a long climb the trail flattened out, but the wind at the top was bad. Or at least at that point we thought it was bad wind, we later found out it was just a light tickle from the mammoth force of nature. We continued toward the summit, but visibility was bad and the wind was picking up. We could see about 20 feet ahead and were relying on the rock formations that lined our trail. Finally we saw a building, found the road and took shelter from the wind in the entryway of the weather station at the top. As we were eating sticks of butter, dancing for warmth and trying to figure out how to get to the road that would lead us down, the door to the weather station swung open. “Oh!” yelled the surprised weatherman. “Is everyone ok?” we assured him we were fine. After one last warm-up dance we started down.

We put our skis on and soon hit miles of beautifully groomed downhill trails. We made it back to the van around 4:30. We have no pictures, only memories. The world will never understand this life changing event but we have it for ourselves.”

-      Tobias Yandow

The next day, the groups switched.  The climbers helped Peter and Phyllis sew our tent together while my group of seven took a lift to the top of Mt Wildcat and skied down the 13 miles of the Wildcat Valley trail. Conditions were amazing and the steep backcountry trail challenged all of us. We flew down the mountain, falling many times, but always getting up with a cheer.  At some point we hit groomed trails, the most ideal skiing situation available. However, we had to branch off our route, back into ungroomed backcountry trails, we skied through the backcountry for several hours until reaching the van.

Rosa planning biscuit amounts with Nate

Chloe packing peanut butter

We are now deep in direct preparation for the expedition, packing food, gear and clothes for the trail. We are eagerly awaiting parents weekend, and the final sendoff!

   -Nimrod Sadeh

HAPPY 58^th BIRTHDAY LISL!!!

­­­­                                            The Poets Yurt

A dip into the icy cold water after the sauna

Sequoia sempervirens

Rooted deep in the serpentine soil

For thousands of years you stand,

Sword ferns bowing at your feet.

Satiated by the cool, moist air,

Under your outstretched arms.

On an otherwise scorching July day.

How is it that you have such great posture,

When you stand three hundred and fifty feet tall?

   -Jake Olsan

Self knowledge is a tricky thing

It is a constant see-saw

Of teetering, trying to find

The point of balance.

We fan and pick ourselves up

Again, wiping the dirt away

always stronger  because of it.

I watch as the days go by

And my work deepens

My mind changes

   -Serene Summerfield

Zane and Sam 

Rosa and Serene

A cardboard box of chickens.

I carried the unsuspecting hens to

A traffic cone cut short

A well sharpened knife

A careful willing hand

Snow stained red

Gutting washing plucking

A bowl of chicken soup.

   -Tim Morse

Quote of the Trail: “Some people cause happiness wherever they go” Oscar Wilde.

Today is February 1st, our expedition has begun. The next update will arrive from our first layover at Farm and Wilderness on February 18.

Approaching Lake Warren

Finally our backpacks are packed and we are on the way

NHVSP 2011 departing from Marlow, NH -  300 miles of skiing ahead of us!!!!

NHVSP 2011 Update 3

Expedition preparation with Misha

Our knives are named, our stuff sacks are all sewn and our mitten shells are completed as we keep preparing for the winter expedition. Almost every day now, we have expedition preparation with Misha. Today we received our compasses and laid out all the 30+ maps on the yurt’s floor. We found our route north through the Green Mountains of Vermont. Misha and head navigator Julian gave us a navigation/map reading class and told us of the terrain we will face on the trail. 

After being taught yogurt making by Emily, we tried our own yogurt. It was delicious, but watery. We think it was too warm during its incubation period, the eight hours in which yogurt has to sit, undisturbed, at about 46°C.

Another veggie dehydration party

Our trail food manager Rosa has been on a roll with drying sourdough biscuits, vegetables and jerky. We have spent many nights crying around the table of the big yurt while cutting a sack of onions to dry. We have been experimenting with all kinds of sourdough: from dry biscuits for the trail to pizza, pancakes and brownies.

The weather has been fine up here in Marlow, blessing us with a very snowy winter. Only yesterday the weather angels went astray and sent us a wave of sleet, covering all the snow with a layer of ice. From experience I can tell you that there is almost no way of slowing down or turning while skiing downhill on ice. We hope that the upcoming snow will cover the ice before we go on expedition on February 1^st.

With the weather came a wave of illness, which has been sweeping through Kroka village, leaving students and teachers left and right with nasal congestion and coughing.  Many theories have arisen about how we all became sick: some say it’s the cold (though it’s been heating up here lately) and some, like myself, say it’s because we’re not outside enough.

Tomorrow we will be going to Granite Gorge for downhill skiing, with a lift ticket! We are all very excited for this opportunity to practice our snowplows and tele-turns, in addition to adding variety to our routine of sewing and skiing.

Mathilde Vikene from Norway

After being taught about the properties of Egyptian cotton, a strong, tightly woven fabric, we will be going to Conway for 3 days to sew the tent with master sewers from Tentsmiths company, who make traditional tents which are often seen in movies.

That is all for this week. The next update should come right before parent weekend!

        -Nimrod

The Poet’s Yurt

Silent needles knit

The fabric of my sanity,

Weaving calm consciousness

Into the cluttered rush of my mind.

Time fades with each stitch,

For each row a moment in my life.

The finished work will tell a story,

Not of fame and glory, no

Of inner growth and letting things go

And so I’ve found knitting lets your mind flow,

                                                       In a special way.

                                                      A kind of meditation

                                                     Like a monk in a crazy creek.

                                                          -Zane Reid

Quote of the Trail: "Perseverance, secret to all triumphs" -Victor Hugo

Rosa conquering the big hill

"The people I love the best can’t fit into a stereotype, or even necessarily, a generic sneaker size. The people I love the best are entirely their own, present in whatever form they represent. The people I love best are forever honest, to themselves and to others. The people I love the best, love themselves, their own skin, their own bones and soul. The people I love the best, get so much love and hard work from me, for I love their rhythms, uniquely radiant. For, the people I love the best are the people whom I love the best."

         -Chloe Walier

Tobias 

Tim drilling holes in our skis

Serene and Julian 

NHVSP 2011 Update 2

New Hampshire Semester 2011

Second NHVSP Update!

First ski expedtion

The first update seems like yesterday and already, limbs aching from our first daylong ski, I’m typing up the next! Our knives resting in their sheaths, ready to use, and now we await the naming ceremony, in which each one of us will give our knife a special name. Every day, we progress farther towards our goal: to be ready for February, when we start skiing north.

The last day in the workshop was well remembered. It was the day when we finished our handle and used our blades for the first time; cutting the leather for the sheath. We made 13 beautiful sheaths with personal and unique designs. We then each wrote our first NH-VT Semester 2011 Main Lesson Book page, a neatly designed and written page with personal reflections about the meaning of having a self-made knife. As a Waldorf student (in Waldorf education, school books are made in a similar way), I noticed that my fellow students and I were giving more attention and care to the knife project and the page than we would normally have done at school.

Our handmade knives and sheaths

Food dehydration 

Today we went on the first real trial for the navigator (Julian) and trail food manager (Rosa) – a day trip around the area with our skis. Some of us, like myself, carried packs filled with food and extra layers for everyone, getting the feel of skiing with a backpack for the first time. After the huge blizzard yesterday, the snow is very deep (two feet) and powdery - a perfect opportunity to practice our trail-breaking technique for the winter! The first person in line skis as hard as he or she can for 30 seconds to break a trail in the mass of white powder. Then, he or she stands aside and gets in the back of the line, and the next person in line takes over breaking the trail. We also learned about layering and the importance of carrying a warm extra layer with us on the trail, and pulling it out of the pack quickly anytime we stop, before the heat generated by the exercise is gone.

After the night’s break I am back, writing this update while half of the group is busy learning to use the sewing machines and beginning their stuff-sack projects. They are not using scissors to cut the thread; they’re using their handmade knife. Later we will go skiing. We will work more diligently then ever on our skiing skills because Misha told us of the great adventure we will have before we hit the trail. We are going to wake up early, drive to the white mountains, ascend the great peak of the tallest of them, and ski all the way down the glorious slopes of Mt. Washington.

      -Nimrod

Nimrod leading the pack

The Poet’s Yurt

(Where our poetic creations go)

I like winter

I like cats.

I don’t think cats like winter,

They get lost in the snow.

I wonder if cats like me

As much as I like winter.

I wonder if I would like winter

If I was a cat.

I wonder if liking winter

Has to do with being taller than the

Snow.

Maybe I should go out west,

And find out.

         -Tobias Yandow

“Standing at the top of the hill, looking down at the snow, the jump, and the box behind. My goal today is to clear the box. Still standing at the top, looking ahead, I can see this jump as a metaphor for the whole Kroka experience. I see the run to the jump as the first three weeks here at Kroka base camp. The jump itself is the scramble to get ready for the expedition. Now I am flying through the air. For a few seconds the world rushes by like it will on the river and trail. And finally the landing. Coming softly back to earth like we will return here, to Kroka. And the final projects we do once we return will be like the final turn I make to slow down and come to a final stop. Sweet!”

-Tim Morse

Ski expert Tim from Maine

“The people I love the best are gone

They walk, leading their lives

I sit, watching mine lead me

That is not to say I love them less

I love them as myself

But that is not enough

Perhaps more

Like stone their feeble minds

In solidarity with my actions

Practice, being held separate

Love, being blind to the both

-Jacob Olsan

Quote of the Trail: “the people I like best, jump into work head first” –Marge Piercy

Julian, triumphant at the bottom of the rock

Sam, one of our many musicians

NHVSP 2011 Update 1

Our first skiing lesson with Misha

Tim Morse and Rosa DeJong

After arriving on Wednesday and eating the traditional Kroka potluck, we said goodbye to our parents and started the five month long journey with our teachers Nate, Lisl and Lu. We are a group of 13 students:

Sam (16) from New Hampshire – likes long walks on the beach, poetry and rose gardening.

Bridie (17) from Vermont – likes singing, fishing, archery, hiking and puddle jumping.

Jon  (20) from Florida – enjoys beaver dams/ponds/ the beaver themselves, banjo and carving holes in the ice.

Julian (16) from New Jersey – likes soccer and getting caught in the rain.

Rosa (17) from New York – loves trees, long underwear, fresh air, drawing and being alive.

Mathilde (20) from Norway – enjoys wintertime dipping, skiing, singing, making things by hand and laughing.

Tim (15) from Maine –  appreciates food, sleep, sailing and skiing jumps.

Jake (17) from California – likes banjo, jam bands, riding bicycles, downhill skiing, climbing, hiking, music, art, forests and fishing.

Zane (16) from Massachusetts – enjoys snowboarding, carving, camping, writing songs and books, sitting with a good group of people and chatting.

Tim, our ski manager, drilling holes in skis

Serene (20) from Colorado – loves the ocean, hiking, dipping beeswax candles, hugs, singing, circles, collecting stones, laughing and living.

Chloe (18) from New Hampshire – appreciates a good session of knitting, with a nice cup of tea, a rip-roarin’ contra dance and straight gigglin’.

Tobias (17) from Vermont – loves snacks, packs, flax, hugs, cakes, gloves, jet packs, mountains, cheese, dirt, power metal, cats, couches, running through the darkness, greeting the morning and wizards.

Myself, Nimrod (16) from Pennsylvania - I like reading, carving, cooking, writing updates and more.

The knife handle takes shape

On Thursday, we set out on our next great adventure – skiing with Misha! We tumbled and rolled in the snow but managed to follow a straight line by the end of the morning’s class. We had loads to do after lunch.  Some of us started knitting a hat with earflaps, while others went with Nate to the workshop to begin working on our hand-carved, cherry-burl knife handles. Everyone made good progress. Chloe broke the end of the saw she was working with and set the tip deep within her knife handle.  Then, we enjoyed dinner together and settled down for the evening.

We are now more settled into the rhythm of the day.  We get up at 6:15 and do our chores; some split firewood, some cook, some sweep, until breakfast. We then have our morning class, lunch, afternoon class, two hours of free time and, before we know it, dinner is served, the indoor evening class is spent and we go to bed in our sod-covered lodges and our warm sleeping bags.

We are all assigned big jobs: some are responsible for the maintenance of the camp, some organize our food schedule and make sure we eat a healthy diet, I write this update and more. Zane was first to act on his job as Medic after Tobias cut his finger, and we all hailed that moment as our duties settled in, bringing on our shoulders a weight of responsibility most of us never felt before.

On Friday, we went on a bushwhacking ski run around Kroka to experience what is it is to ski in the wilderness. Every day, we learn new things and prepare for February, when our 300-mile skiing expedition will begin.

-Nimrod

The knitting has begun

Mathilde Vikene and Nate

The Poet’s Yurt

Snowflakes falling soundlessly,

Swinging gently from side to side

On their way.

A small creek rushing past stones,

Conquering branches in its path.

Green leaves, yellow-green, newborn -

Just there, you can barely see them -

Smelling the first air out of their shells,

Hear that sound? That’s the wind blowing,

There must be pines near, they have their

Own special sound.

A bird flying high, the new from the next hilltop.

A comforting hand on a shoulder, a shared glance.

Oh! She shouts, not only with voice,

But with her whole body

That’s amazing!

The beauty of the world “resonates”

In the cavity of her chest,

Playing her heart strings,

Flowing out of her throat.

May these months bring this girl closer to me.

                                         -Matilde Vikene

The Wrong Knob

Crummy and smelly is how I felt,

Days of toil do that to a man.

Warm I was, under my layers,

Then suddenly freezing, pain,

Courageously thrusting my head through the stream

Searing, no, flowing down my back,

Torturing, no, healing my skin.

Then it’s over: “Oh refreshing!”

I felt elated, because in my shower,

I just did luckily, turn the wrong knob.

- Julian Dahl 

Jon

                                            

Jake