Week one in Ecuador!

We’ve arrived! After a week of waiting, longing and preparing we are finally in Ecuador and united with Wicho, our semester mate, and Nadino, our other semester leader.

We left Kroka at four in the morning on Monday in hopes of seeing the sunrise over Boston Harbor; however, due to traffic we missed it and had to take Nathan’s word that on the equinox the sun rises due east. Despite our lateness we had a fascinating navigation class on the beach and had time to walk the shore and soak up the power and magnificence of the ocean. The flights were easy and uneventful (just as they should be) and we used them as an opportunity to knit, write letters and catch up on sleep. We arrived in Quito late at night, but Wicho and Nadino had potato soup, popcorn and lemongrass tea waiting for us when we stumbled up to our home just past midnight.

Tuesday was our first real sleep-in of the semester – some of us stayed in bed till 8! The morning was truly magnificent with a slight breeze and a blue, blue sky dotted with perfect white clouds. From the Chozon, our common space, we can just see the snow-capped peak of Cotopaxi rising majestic above the surrounding mountains. After a scrumptious breakfast we went on a tour of Palugo, our basecamp here in Ecuador. Palugo is different from Kroka in that while Kroka is primarily a community and wilderness school, Palugo has many independent parts. There is an organic garden and CSA, one of the few in Ecuador. Then there are the Brown Swiss Cows which Francisco, the father here at Palugo, has lovingly bred to be the best in Ecuador. And lastly there is our part, the Nahual wilderness school. It is a beautiful place to live and learn, with enormous mountains surrounding us, the most magnificent outdoor kitchen in the world and the gentle mountain air caressing our faces.

Wednesday and Thursday we spent adapting to life in the Andes, getting to know Wicho, and learning about the culture and history of Ecuador. Wednesday we walked through thorns and past communities into Pifo, a small town near Palugo. There we bought rubber boots, ate a huge lunch and had the chance to walk around in pairs to practice our Spanish. Thursday we took a bus to Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, where we explored the historic section and Nicole taught us some of the history of Quito and of all of Ecuador. We saw some giant ornate churches,  watched street performers, and spent time walking around plazas and practicing our Spanish by asking random people “ Como se llama este arbol?”  (What is this tree called?) While most of the people we asked had no idea, it was a fun experience and in the end each pair collected the names of five different trees in the Plaza de Independencia.

Now we are settling into life on the equator, making knives and immersing ourselves in this place, so different from New England, as we grow as individuals and come together as a community.

Hasta Luego,

Mary Kate

Reflections

Silliness of my Mind

1# Little

Yellow

Diamonds

Illuminating my

Almond eyes.

            ~ I love you <3

2# Joyous

Antidote to

Calm my

Overflated

Bubble.

            ~ I love you <3

3# Crave

All that

Sing

Songs of

Adoration

Not

Dreading

Rejection but

Allowing.

           

            ~ I love you <3

4# Calling on

Endurance to

Let me

Love

All.

            ~ I love you <3

 ~ Emma

Reflecting back on our New Hampshire Farming Experience:
Onion

It is dark and cool here -  and tight. My shape presses up against others – firm, round and papery, fighting for space. I can feel the moisture below me and I reach for it, threading my pale roots through the rich soil. Upwards, my leaves push for sunlight, in amongst thick stems and grasses, seeking the warmth. Inside their hollow greenness I change it, storing it away inside myself for the long coldness that is coming. When my leaves will wither into brown nothingness and I will lie hidden, dormant, insulated by the earth around me waiting. Waiting for the the faintest stirrings of movement around me, of heat seeping slowly into the soil. For the cue to push up fresh leaves, soft and sensitive, in a burst of released energy. Stretching upwards, I soak up the light, forcing it into the beginnings of the ever growing kernels until, full and ripe, they are caught on the wind and flung away, ready to create  new life, and I, empty, slowly rot away.

~ Rosalie

Learning about the new composting toilets at Nahual

Laura and Elsbeth enjoying a class.

Meeting Palugo's chickens.

Meeting Nahual's gear room. The bikes on the wall will take the semester over the Andes. Ayra is ready to ride!

Team pyramid!

From the farm to city

Emma working on her knife

Mary Kate and Rose working on their knives.

Harrison and Nadino's son, Yachag, working on their chords.

Michael teaching students about Ecuador's ecology.

Blog #3: Preparations Begin!

This week was a jumble of schoolwork and working out, deep conversations and everyday chores.
Monday and Tuesday were spent designing a new entrance sign for Kroka and learning about Permaculture. Designing was fun, but also tested our abilities to think practically about what is feasible with our materials, experience and time.

On Wednesday, Grandfather Ray came to Kroka and led us on an early morning walk through the woods. I am not sure exactly what we learned, but I know that somewhere between entering the forest silently before dawn and emerging with the first light of day, we changed. Something about the stillness and the hidden beauty, or maybe simply the spirit of the awakening world transformed us. We will now always carry with us the energy of the awakening forest on the quiet morning.

On Thursday, we switched gears completely from schoolwork and reflection to an overnight whitewater practicing trip with Misha and Pasha on the Deerfield River. It was fast-paced and wonderful and we learned a lot, from how to do an on-side turn to how to open up and share around the fire. The scenery alone was enough to make the trip spectacular, with the hills rising up on either side of us, the trees on the brink of turning and the water moving swiftly all around us.

We returned stronger and slightly wetter on Friday night and were swept away immediately into parent weekend. Our families arrived on Saturday and left after lunch on Sunday and in between we got to spend time with them and to reflect on this time of transition in our lives. It was a weird and wonderful experience to share our home and lifestyle here with our friends and family. We really loved taking our parents on the beautiful walk to the Beaver Pond and showing them around. Saturday night was spent dancing the Virginia Reel and sharing our stories as the rain beat down from the monochromatic sky. Saying goodbye on Sunday was hard, but as we rode away on our bikes for a quick trip to Gustin Pond we took a step forward as a group.

These past few days we have been waking up and running before chores and going straight into academic work and sign building with a few Spanish classes after breakfast. Academic time has produced beautiful pages for our semester book which will serve as a compilation of all we will learn on this journey. While half of us work on writing and drawing, the rest of us have made huge strides in the creation of Kroka's new entrance sign, working alongside Hugh in the round, wood-smelling yurt workshop.

This Thursday and Friday we will be learning first aid and hopefully getting certified in Wilderness First Aid. Then it will be a frenzy of preparations and goodbyes before we fly on Monday!
We are ready now to go to Ecuador, ready for the physical challenges and also the deeper challenges that will push the spirit within us to greater heights.

Hasta Luego,

Mary Kate


Reflections


Jump out of bed and stamp
your feet on the ground.
Feel the rotation of the Earth
and appreciate our perfect distance from the sun.
Fill your lungs with the cool, smogless air
and take time
To really see
To really dance
Throw your self conscienceness
to the wind and find
the you that will be.

~Bethany



Community

As the weeks go by people change
Change is what inspires us to keep moving
Moving gives us a sense of freedom
Freedom is what every human strives for, but it is our community that roots us together
Together we are free but sturdy like a great oak spreading her branches wide and majestic
toward the sky

~Lucas 


I am the Harness

I am the piece of weathered leather that hangs from the barn wall.
I am the piece that straps around the strong glistening bodies of the horses.
I am old and fitted to my tasks.
I am often covered in dirt and sweat and soaked with the heat of the unrelenting sun.
I carry in my leather stitching the knowledge of farmers to till the land.
I also carry the magic and wonderment of the horse.
These animals who hold power so great we can hardly fathom, yet we attempt to harness.
Harness with my soft brown leather and worn buckles,
That strap in and around their powerful bodies.
Bodies that know the earth, the sky,
A harness that holds the fire, the power.

~Elsbeth

Thoughts on Being a Tree

And then I thought
What is this life?
What are these roots, these rocks, these branches?
Why don't I move like the mouse,
Soar like the seagull overhead,
Creep like tha caterpillar on my bark?
Who chose this stationary life,
A life of strength and majesty?
What does it mean to stand tall as a tree?
What can I help but that my branches are wide, my roots deep?
What is it really, to be a tree?

~Mary Kate

Harrison doing morning exercise with Pasha and the crew

Lara paddling in the stern

Rose, Laura, and Mary Kate celebrating the journey

Walking the railroad line

Elsbeth and Emma paddling a rapid

Mary Kate and Isaiah paddling a rapid

Laura and...can you tell who is in the stern truly learning to white water paddle?

Harrison and Lucas heading into the rapid

Harrison and Lucas working to stay upright

Harrison and Lucas learning to swim a rapid with a smile

Adin and...can you tell who is in the stern truly learning to white water paddle?

The van is ready to go paddling!

Bethany with a "pollo" or young chicken.

Laura sawing in the workshop

Emma sawing in the workshop

Lara carving out letters for the sign

Amy working on the sign

Our first expedition: Biking and Farming!

We're back! This past week we visited four different farms, biking and working and learning. Each farm provided us with a different view of organic agriculture in New England and we came away from the expedition with a new appreciation for how our food is grown and where it comes from.

We left Tuesday morning and barely made it a kilometer before Isaiah got a flat, so we spent a nice hour by Lake Warren while he went back to Kroka for a new tire. Then we pulled ourselves together and biked 34.6 km through forests and over mountains in a thunderstorm to Hillside Springs farm. We arrived soaked just after the clouds parted and the sun began to shine though and warm our tired bodies. That night we set camp in a magical spot in the woods next to the horse pasture, and awoke early to pull and top onions and learn from Frank the farmer about New England history, biodynamic farming and his own vision of how to feed a community. Frank and his wife Kim came to the land in the early 2000s with a vision of an organic farm powered by horses (seriously, they have four beautiful horses and no tractors.) Now they run a CSA that feeds 100 families, and grow everything with love according to biodynamic and organic standards. It was truly inspiring to see a small family farm thriving and setting an fabulous example of organic, local eating.

On Thursday we said goodbye to Hillside Springs and biked to Harlow's Farm via a 5-hour detour on trails through the woods. The trail was relatively easy mountain biking most of the time, and we spent a good amount of time on old railroads converted into trails so the paths were flat, sometimes with earth sloping steeply away on each side and sometimes with rock formations growing up around us. While the extra time caused us to push back our schedule, in the end the woods were so enriching that it was worth it. We slept that night in a field at Harlow's Farm and spent the morning working the fields and listening to Paul Harlow's farming story and vision. Harlow's stood out for us in sharp contrast to Hillside Springs. At Hillside Springs Frank is intimately in touch with the land and works hand-in-hand with his customers; at Harlow's, Paul acts as a supervisor and most of the work is done by employees and fancy machinery. Paul dreams of feeding this area of Vermont and New Hampshire someday but right now he ships off the bulk of his delicious organic crops to grocery stores throughout New England.

We left Harlow's in time to bike only a few kilometers to Basin Farm before lunch, where they fed us lots of wonderful food and we helped them harvest squash. Basin Farm is a community founded on the Twelve Tribes religion that strives to follow the teaching of the Bible by living together and sharing in the work, the worry and the joy. It was a very interesting experience to spend a day with a community so very different from Kroka yet holding some of the same principles such as community and respect for the earth.

Saturday morning we bid farewell to everyone at Basin Farm and biked up out of the Connecticut River Valley towards home. Originally we had planned to camp in the woods but after searching and not finding a good spot we voted to push through to our next farm, Orchard Hill. There was a beautiful campsite at Orchard Hill and it was a wonderful last night for the expedition, plus they had composting toilets!! In the morning we talked to Anton and learned about the history of his land and its evolution from a big organic apple farm and cider maker in the 1970's to the cooperative, school, farm, bakery and orchard that it is today. We left before lunch, apples stuffed into the nooks and crannies of our dry-bags and backpacks and arrived back at Kroka stronger, deeper and closer to each other. This being our first expedition we learned a lot, and it gave us a taste of what we can expect on longer expeditions in Ecuador.

As I write this Wicho and Nadino are beginning their journey from Ecuador, and we cannot wait to join them and become a complete group in two weeks!

Hasta  Luego,

Mary Kate

Recipe of the Week

Vinny

A delicious, refreshing,  antibacterial,  anti-Lyme-disease, hydrating (and did I mention 

delicious!) drink we had at Basin Farm:

Just mix together 1 cup local honey, 1 cup raw apple cider vinegar and one gallon of water and voila!

Reflections

Sometimes I wish that I could just capture a moment forever. Not just a picture because there is only so much that a picture can capture; it can't capture smells or sounds or emotions or thoughts.

Even if it could, however, there are some things that are unexplainable. Like the sun shining through the mist on an early morning, or a night at a campfire with the fire crackling peacefully, people talking, singing in the background, and in the distance a flash of lightening shining through the clouds every ten seconds. These are the moments that remind me how amazing the world is, and how

 special my time at Kroka is. 

~Amy

 Things I'd never done before Kroka:

1. Consider waking up at 5:30AM "sleeping in"

2. Cut my hand on a bottle of sunscreen

3. Pick raspberries

4. Cut my hands on collard greens

5. Pick onions. Or pretty much anything, to think of it

6. Spend an entire afternoon walking in the woods barefoot

7. Spend a night tending a fire with only one other person in the woods

8. Share my conditioner

9. Bike up a mountain in a pouring rain thunderstorm

10. (Attempt) to carve a wooden spoon
~Laura

Frank plowing fields with Elsbeth at Hillside Springs

Frank plowing fields with Laura at Hillside Springs

Students together upon returning from the biking expedition.

Harrison playing the backpacking guitar

Lucas enjoying his swim

Adin is about to jump over the river while Rose, Laura, and Amy head into the pool to join Bethany between Basin Farm and Orchard Hill.

And so it begins

Hello! My name is Mary Kate and I will be maintaining a weather log, taking notes and sending out periodic updates detailing our marvelous adventures this semester.

So much has happened this first week that it seems ridiculous that only a week ago we were strangers. It seems like a lifetime ago that past semester alumni presented us with an acorn and wished us all the joys and challenges of a beautiful journey. This past week we have biked at 5 in the morning as the sun rose, sung together at meals, cooked together, cleaned chicken trailers together and learned to live together as a community.

On Thursday Laurel, Nicole and Mathias assigned us our big jobs which each of us must take responsibility for in order for the group to function as a community.

Lucas is our camp manager. He will design our home on expedition and keep it organized at base camp. He also puts our stuff in trees if we leave it where it doesn't belong.

Isabel (Izzy) is our hygiene manager. She is in charge of making sure we bathe and brush our teeth as well as learning about humanure and grey water systems here at Kroka.

Laura is our logistics manager and time keeper. She is responsible for knowing what we're doing and making sure it gets done.

Bethany is our trusty medic. She is responsible for making sure we have clean water, caring for us when we are sick, supporting us when we are down and fixing us when we get hurt.

Lara is our navigator. She planes routes and arranges transportation and makes sure we get where we need to go.

Emma is our food manager and it is her job to to make sure we are all fed. She plans menus, calculates the amount of food needed for expeditions, and works hard to fuel our community.

Isaiah is our energy manager. Here at Kroka he is responsible for everything related to fire and he gets to research alternative energy sources such as solar. He is also responsible for monitoring our overall energy consumption.

Harrison is our gear manager and it is his responsibility to make sure we have the correct gear and that the gear is kept in good condition.

Elsbeth is our our treasurer and semester book manager.  She monitors our money and facilitates the creation of our beautiful semester book.

Adin is our repair manager. He is in charge of making sure our bikes tools are in good working order and will fix them when they are broken.

Amelia (Amy)  is our sewing and craft manager. She will organize all of our crafts and projects and make sure we all finish sewing backpacks before expedition!

Rose is our kitchen manager and food processor. She will make delicious expedition food like dried fruits and sauerkraut and is responsible for keeping the kitchen supplies is good condition.


As we all learned the ins and outs of our big jobs this week we've fallen into the rhythm of life here at Kroka. We start each morning early with a bike ride as the sun rises and return to base camp just as the mist rises off the pond, the sunbeams warming our faces and shining pure and defined through the crisp morning air. Then we do farm chores, cook and clean until it is time for breakfast (we've had the most amazing breakfasts.) The bulk of each day has been spent sewing backpacks with Lisl, learning wilderness skills with Hans, discussing navigation with Nathan and having hilarious Spanish classes with Elissa in which, among other things, Adin became a princessa mariposa hermosa (beautiful butterfly princess.) Each evening we come together to eat a beautiful dinner, go over the day, play music and take time to talk and grow as a community. Our days are full of meaningful work and learning.

Saturday night we split into pairs and spent the night in the forest under the stars with only the clothes on our backs, matches, water, firewood and our newly made backpacks to carry it in (and of course some cookie dough to cook over our fires). It was a wonderful experience to be completely one with the night, hearing the small sounds of the dark forest, so different than all the daytime noise. We felt the earth below us and the starry sky above us and strength of the trees around us and each of us learned and grew as an individual. Some of us had more success with the fire and actually getting sleep than others, but all of us walked out of the woods the next morning more grounded and closer to our solo partners and the wilderness. It was an amazing experience and one that we will now carry within us and draw strength from.

On Sunday we took a special trip to visit Bill and Katie, the founders of the WS Badger Company, creators of healing balms and believers in ethics in the business world. In their beautiful house we ate the best gluten-free lasagna ever made while we listened to  Bill's stories and Katie's ideas on what they see as a good business model (one that allows parents to bring their babies to work and actually feeds their employees.) We ended the evening with a song and left with a new sense of direction and hope for the world.

Tomorrow we leave for a week-long bike expedition to various farms, now a cohesive community with each of us an indispensable part of the whole.

Hasta Luego,

Mary Kate

Reflections

Community

Laughing and singing

Singing we join our hearts 

The heart of the forest 

Forests teach and create

Create loving souls

Souls that share

Share a common goal

The goal to be alive

Alive and wondering

Wondering about other lives

Lives that bind together

Together as a community

 ~ Lara

Intentions

Coming out of Kroka I hope to have enough self-awareness so that wherever I go

 I will not loose myself.

~ Harrison

If it should break it would mean death or pain,

Yet the caterpillar hangs

By an invisable string

Of his own making.

Why does he do this?

Perhaps it is what he has always done.

Perhaps he knows no easier way.

Perhaps he feels no fear.

Or, perhaps he knows that if he doesn't

He will never find his wings

~ Adin

Harrison sewing his backpack

Bethany playing with Ayra in the sewing room

Isaiah sewing his backpack

Izzy learning navigation in Nathan's navigation class

Lara sewing her backpack

Mary Kate and Lucas working with Lisl in the sewing room

Rose working on her backpack

Nathan teaching navigation in the Carriage Barn

Amy and Laura studying a map

Elsbeth enjoying some solo time in the field

Emma working on her Big Job

The 2014 Semester Crew ready to ride!

Laurel taking on an off-road water crossing

Students helping Katie and Bill stack wood for winter

Students listening to Katie and Bill's stories